|
The Mauer 1 mandible is the oldest fossilized specimen of the genus ''Homo'' ever to be discovered in Germany. It was found in 1907 in a sand mine in the community Mauer, around ten kilometers south-east of Heidelberg. The Mauer 1 mandible is the type specimen of the species ''Homo heidelbergensis''.〔Otto Schoetensack: ''Der Unterkiefer des Homo Heidelbergensis aus den Sanden von Mauer bei Heidelberg. Ein Beitrag zur Paläontologie des Menschen.'' Leipzig, 1908, Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann〕 European researchers have classified the find as ''Homo erectus heidelbergensis'', which is to be regarded as a subspecies of ''Homo erectus''. In 2010 the mandible's age was for the first time exactly determined as to be 609,000 ± 40,000 years.〔Günther A. Wagner u. a.: ''Radiometric dating of the type-site for ''Homo heidelbergensis'' at Mauer, Germany.'' In: ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.'' Band 107, Nr. 46, 2010, S. 19726–19730 .〕 Previously specialist literature had referred to an age of either 600,000 or 500,000 years on the basis of less accurate dating methods.〔H. Dieter Schreiber u.a.: ''Die Tierwelt der Mauerer Waldzeit.'' In: Günther A. Wagner u. a. (Hrsg.): ''Homo heidelbergensis. Schlüsselfund der Menschheitsgeschichte.'' Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, S. 146.〕 ==History of its discovery== On October 21, 1907 the worker Daniel Hartmann unearthed a mandibular in a sand mine in the Grafenrain Open field system of the Mauer community in a depth of 24.63 meters, which he recognized to be the remains of a human.〔Schoetensack, S. 23.〕 He was aware of the likelihood of findings as the Heidelberg scholar Otto Schoetensack had the workers of the sand mine urged for 20 years to pay attention to any fossils, after in 1887 a well-preserved skull of a Straight-tusked elephant had come to light. Schoetensack had the workers taught the characteristics of human bones based on recent examples as he regularly visited the sand mine in search for "traces of mankind".〔 As it was dug out the mandible was flung in the air and was only discovered after it had already broken into two parts. Moreover, a piece of the mandible's left side broke off in the process and could never be retrieved. A thick cemented crust of coarse sands stuck on and around the canines and molars - a characteristic found on many of the Mauer fossils. The cementing had been caused by carbonation of calcium. On top of the bicuspids and the two frontal molars of the mandible's left side sat a six inches long and about four inches wide boulder of limestone, probably Muschelkalk, firmly connected to the sand crust. The subsequent removal of the crust's layers led to further damage, as tiny slivers of enamel burst off some teeth. Furthermore, the two left premolars went permanently missing as a result of inadequate storage during World War II.〔Schoetensack, S. 23. Die Entfernung der Kalkkrusten führte später zu weiteren Beschädigungen, u.a. platzten bei einigen Zähnen winzige Splitter des Zahnschmelzes ab. Als Folge einer unsachgemäßen Auslagerung gingen im Zweiten Weltkrieg zudem die zwei linken Prämolaren verloren (laut Dietrich Wegner: ''Der Fund.'' In: Günther A. Wagner u. a., S. 42).〕 The sand mine's contractor immediately reported the discovery to Schoetensack, who examined and documented the site and the finding. He presented the results of his studies in the autumn of the following year in a monograph, titled: ''"The lower jaw of Homo heidelbergensis from the sands of Mauer near Heidelberg"''. On November 19, 1907 Schoetensack stated in a legal document that mine contractor Josef Rösch will leave the specimen to the Heidelberg University as a gift.〔Schoetensack, S. 24.〕 The mandible remains in the University's Geological-Palaeontological Institute to this day as ''"the most valuable object in the natural history collections of the University of Heidelberg"''.〔Dietrich Wegner: ''Der Fund.'' In: Günther A. Wagner u. a., S. 19.〕 The fossil's collection number "GPIH 1" and "Mauer1" underneath,〔''GPIH'' steht für Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut Heidelberg.〕 marked in black small caps can be found on the inner side of the jaw's right joint. ''GPIH'' stands for Geological-Palaeontological Institute Heidelberg. Later finds of the Mauer sand mine are the Hornstein artefacts, found in 1924 by Karl Friedrich Hormuth, which scholars interpreted as tools of ''Homo heidelbergensis''. In 1933 Wilhelm Freudenberg discovered a frontal bone fragment which too, could be associated to ''Homo heidelbergensis''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mauer 1」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|