TheRed Deer Cave people were a prehistoric population ofmodern humans known from bones dated to between about 17,830 to c. 11,500 years ago, found inRed Deer Cave (Maludong,Chinese:马鹿洞) andLonglin Cave inYunnan andGuangxi Provinces, inSouthwest China.
The fossils exhibit a mix of archaic and modern features and were tentatively thought to represent a late survival of anarchaic human species, hybridization betweenDenisovan hominin andmodern humans, or alternatively just "an unfortunate overinterpretation and misinterpretation of robustearly modern humans, probably with affinities to modernMelanesians".[1][2] A partial genome sequence by Zhang et al. in 2022 suggested that, despite their morphologically unusual features, they weremodern humans related to contemporary populations in East and Southeast Asia, as well as the Americas.[3] This DNA sequence was later brought into question, with the sequence possibly being contaminated by modern human DNA,[4] followed up by a response in 2025 refuting this.[5]
Evidence shows large deer were cooked in the Red Deer Cave, giving the people their name.[6]
In 1979,petroleum geologist Li Changqing discovered a block of fine-grained sediments containing human remains, animal fossils, charcoal, and burnt clay from a cave near the town ofDe'e,Longlin County,Guangxi Province, China. These are categorised as belonging to a single specimen, LL-1. He promptly shipped them toKunming in the neighbouringYunnan Province for further study, whereupon amandible (lower jawbone) and some body bones were extracted. In 1989, the Red Deer Cave nearMengzi City, Yunnan Province, was also excavated for human remains. The significance of these finds would not be realised untilDarren Curnoe,Ji Xueping, and colleagues began dating and describing existing collections of East Asian human fossils to better evaluate the poorly documented Asian archaeological record in 2008. They found the Red Deer Cave and Longlin people feature a suite of modern and archaic traits, yet lived surprisingly recently. Charcoal remnants inside thebraincase were dated usinguranium–thorium dating to only 17,830–13,290 years ago for various Red Deer Cave human specimens, and 11,510 years ago for LL-1. They restarted excavation of Longlin Cave in 2008, and yielded a few more human fossils, but most of the known material from the cave was recovered in the initial dig. In 2010, they were able to remove the rest of the skull and body fossils from the Red Deer Cave block.[7]
The dating of the bones has led to confusion and division among researchers. The anatomy of the bones, prior to successful DNA testing, suggested they were archaic humans, like earlyHomo erectus orHomo habilis who lived around 1.5 million years ago in Africa.[8] In 2013, Curnoe, Ji, and colleagues hypothesised that the cave people possibly represented a new species.[9]
In 2015, Curnoe, Ji, and colleagues suggested the Red Deer Cave people represent a hybrid population betweenearly modern humans and one or several unidentifiable native archaic species, since they bear a peculiar combination of archaic and modern features not exhibited in any other specimen. Modern humans may have entered China as early 130,000 years ago, as evidenced by theZhirendong remains; though, owing to an unusual mosaic anatomy, the classification of such early specimens is debated.[10] Later that year, they concluded the femur is far outside the range of variation for a modern human (that the Red Deer Cave people must be archaic). They suggested they either represent the enigmaticDenisovans—a poorly known group of late-survivingHomo which was apparently dispersed across Asia, currently only identifiable by their genetic signature—or a long-removed lineage from an incredibly early dispersal ofHomo out of Africa which had not evolved a characteristically human body plan, such as that represented by theDmanisi hominins. The latter scenario has also been proposed forH. floresiensis, which survived rather recently as well, probably due to being isolated on the island ofFlores. They speculated the Red Deer Cave people persisted for a similar reason, isolated in the mountains.[8]
In spite of their relatively recent age, the fossils exhibitarchaic human features.[8] The Red Deer Cave dwellers had distinctive features that differ from modern humans, including: flat face, broad nose, jutting jaw with no chin, large molars, prominent brows, thick skull bones, and moderate-size brain.[1] As with some other pre-modern humans, their body size was small, with an estimated mass of 50 kg (110 lb).[11] Their features were also considered to be unusual within the "context of variation seen within Late Pleistocene hominin crania".[2]
Curnoe's previous works showed the bones and teeth were remarkably similar to that of archaic humans.[8] The height of themandibular symphysis at 27.7 mm (1.09 in) is within the range of modern humans, and the thickness at 12.5 mm (0.49 in) the range of Neanderthals andMiddle Palaeolithic modern humans. Themental foramina (a hole in the mandible) is placed rather low at 26.9 mm (1.06 in) from the base, whereas modern humans and Neanderthals are normally above 30 mm (1.2 in). The height of the first twomolars and the thickness at that level is nearly identical toUpper Palaeolithic Asians, but the molars themselves are proportionally quite broad like those of Neanderthals or Middle Palaeolithic humans.[9]
The Red Deer Cave femur is quite archaic, retaining some traits which have been lost in all anatomically modern humans. The subtrochanteric region (just below thelesser trochanter) is circular in cross-section and has a low total andcortical bone area, reducing resistance to axial (straight down) loads. The midshaft diameter is rather narrow, which could indicate the individual was short-statured. The femur also has a moderate pilaster value index (measuring the robustness of thelinea aspera), notably lower than in anatomically modern humans. In sum, the femur recalls far earlierLower PleistoceneHomo.[8]
The reconstruction of the Maludong femur confirmed it was very small with the outer shell, or walls, are very thin. The areas of the wall that were of high strain, and the femur neck, are relatively long; the place of muscle attachment for the primary flexor muscle of the hip (the lesser trochanter) was robust and faced strongly backward.[8]
There was much initial speculation that the Red Deer Cave people represent anarchaic human lineage, though researchers proved reluctant to classify them as an otherwise unknown, or little-known, species.[1] The remains from Red Deer Cave bear morphological similarlities to archaic hominid lineages such asHomo erectus andHomo habilis.[11] In particular, the RDC specimen was seen as anatomically most similar in most of the characteristics to an individual known as KNM-ER 1481,[8] a member ofH. erectus, who lived 1.89 million years ago in Africa.[12] The remains have been described as exhibiting some similarities toAustralopithecus (i.e more than the genusHomo).[13] It was also suggested that they might have resulted from mating betweenDenisovans andanatomically modern humans (AMH),[6] or, alternatively that they were an AMH population with unusual physiology.[1]
One theory suggested that the Red Deer Cave people were early humans that settled into the region more than 100,000 years ago and became isolated.[14] The high mountains and deep valleys are ideal in isolating species geographically, so it is possible for a species to migrate to the area and become genetically isolated over time. The environment and climate of Southwest China are also unique owing to the tectonic uplift of theQinghai-Tibetan Plateau.
The successful sequencing of ancient genomic DNA from the skull of the Red Deer Cave specimenMengzi Ren (MZR), reported in July 2022, showed that the skull belonged to an anatomically modern human population that was genetically affiliated withAncient Southern East Asians. The MZR specimen also displayed high affinities to modern East Asians, as well as, to a lesser extent,Indigenous peoples of the Americas, suggesting MZR-like geneflow to the ancestral Native American population prior to their isolation inBeringia.[3] Additionally, this woman belonged to maternalhaplogroup M9 - a genetic lineage that arose approximately 47,000-50,000 years ago, probably in South Asia.[3][15] The geneflow and affinity between the MZR-like population in southern China and Native American populations has been questioned in a subsequent study.[4]
The remains from the Longlin cave in Guangxi were found to belong to a different lineage dubbed as 'Longlin lineage' (also referred to as 'Guangxi ancestry'), and found to be distinct from the MZR specimen. The Longlin specimen was found to be basal to bothAncient Northern and Ancient Southern East Asian lineages, but phylogenetically closer related to them than compared to the more deeply branching East Asian lineages such as theTianyuan,Hoabinhian, andAndamanese as well asPapuan groups. Additionally, the 'Longlin lineage' shares a closer genetic relationship with theJōmon people, both being similarly related to northern and southern East Asian ancestries, indicating a similar separation time from the ancestral East Asian clade prior to the diversification of the widespread northern and southern East Asian lineages. The Longlin and Jōmon lineages however share different specific relationships with members of these groups.[16] Wang et al. 2025 found that the Longlin lineage can be modeled as admixture between a Basal Asian (Xingyi_EN) lineage and a southern East Asian (Qihe3-like) lineage.[17]
Although the 'Longlin lineage' is inferred to have not contribute ancestry to modern populations, a 9,000 year old specimen from theDushan Cave could be modeled to have derived around 17% ancestry from the 'Longlin lineage', with the remainder ancestry being from a Fujian Neolithic like source. This type of 'Dushan ancestry' was also observed in 8,300 to 6,400 year old individuals fromMainland Southeast Asia (c. 72%) with around 28% additionally deeply branching East Asian admixture associated with the Hoabinhian cultural complex.[16] This ancestry may be affiliated with earlyAustroasiatic speakers, although more recently, Austroasiatic speakers have been linked to a newly sequenced lineage (c. 7–5kya) from Central Yunnan (Xingyi_LN), which was closely related to both ancient northern and southern East Asians, but distinct from them.[18][17]
... MZR was identified as a southern East Asian who exhibits genetic continuity to present day populations.
All of the [Maludong] human remains were recovered from within a series of deposits dating from 14,310±340 cal. yr BP (OZM149; 292 cm depth) to 13,590±160 cal. yr BP (OZM145; 166 cm depth), a period of about 720 years. Moreover, the high fine-grained ferrimagnetic content of the deposits (Text S1), with their high magnetic susceptibility, suggests these were formed under warm, wet conditions, consistent with the Bølling-Allerød interstadial (~14.7-12.6 ka). Human remains recovered in situ during the 2008 excavation and a reasonably complete calotte (specimen MLDG 1704) derived from a subsection of these deposits dated between 13,990±165 cal. yr BP (OZM148; 235 cm) and 13,890±140 cal. yr BP (OZM146; 200 cm)
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