Chairman
"The origin of humans in Korea should be clarified scientifically on the basis of the archaeological materials unearthed in our country."
Chairman
Chongphadae cave relics in Hwangju County, North Hwanghae Province is the one in the latter term of Palaeolithic era which has got a great significance in confirming the origin and kinship of Koreans.
The site is located in the back mountain of Chongphadae village (N 38°40'54", E 125°47'30"), the township of Hwangju County, North Hwanghae Province, about 40 km south of Pyongyang.
The Chongphadae cave is tectonically developed on the eastern edge of the Hwangju syncline in the Phyongnam syncline.
The caverns were almost horizontal, regardless of the slope of the cave bottom, and the layer thickness varied somewhat with respect to site, but mostly evenly.
Around the cave are scattered a layer of neutral gray jet, silt, and grey quartzite, and these same weathering products form the constituent material of the sedimentary layer.
The cavernous layer is divided into 15 layers, different from each other, by the composition of the sediments that make up it, grain size, color, etc. From the 13th layer of the sedimentary layer came the human fossil named Hwangju Man No. 7.
Hwangju Man No. 7 is a part of the left mandible, with a rough surface and relatively well developed bone fold. And the left first and second molars remained and the third molar did not emerge.
The height of the jaw branch is 61.1 mm, the width is 34.6 mm, and the index is 56.2, corresponding to the mid-size type (52.2 to 58.1).
The mandible thickness index, which characterizes the size and shape of the mandible, is 40.8, which belongs to the medium-size type (37.1 to 41.8).
The diameter of the jaw hole is about 6 mm and its index is 50.7, which is located in the middle of the mandible height.
The mandibular angle is 134°, belonging to a very large type (131-142°).
The molars have a dental group index of 106.1 and 96.1, respectively, which are close to the rectangle in shape.
The first molar has a tooth root, the front outer edge of which is blunt-edged rectangular and a blunt circular back edge. The teeth are severely worn, and the structure of the tooth root is not revealed.
The second molar has four cusps on the mouthpiece and corresponds to the typical +4 type. In addition, among the four cusps, the front cusp near the cheek is the largest and the back cusp near the cheek is the second largest.
Hwangju Man No. 7 is considered a man of about 40 years of age in terms of the size of the mandible, the surface wrinkles, and abrasion rate of the tooth root.
Hwangju Man No. 7 has together, in comparative morphology, the primitive features of some Neolithic man and the progressive features close to modern man.
The primitive feature is, first, that the mandibular bone thickness index is 40.8, which is small compared to modern humans. This index is similar to that of Ryonggok Man No. 4 (41.4) and Taehung Man No. 4 (41.3) at the Neolithic stage, known in our country.
The second primitive feature is the large width of the jaw branches. During human evolution, the small width of the jaw branch gradually decreased. The jaw width of Hwangju Man No.7 is 33.7 mm, which is larger than that of modern man (30.0 mm).
The third primitive feature is the large tooth root length. In the course of human evolution, the tooth changed in the direction of increasing the tooth root width compared to the tooth root length. The tooth length of the lower second molar of Hwangju Man No.7 is 10.2 mm, which is larger than the crown width (9.8 mm). Thus, the tooth group index, which reflects the size and shape of the teeth, is 96.1, similar to the Neolithic Ryonggok Man No. 2 (98.3) and Ryonggok Man No. 4 (98.2) known in our country. Ryonggok Man No. 2 is recognized as an early age.
In addition, the larger the volar posterior cusp is compared to the volar anterior cusp in terms of second molar chewing, a primitive feature that distinguishes it from modern man.
As we have seen, Hwangju Man No. 7 corresponds to the late Neolithic stage, as some of the primitive features of the Neolithic stage are present, and the mandibular bone thickness of the jaw hole region and the jaw hole position index are progressive features similar to those of modern humans.
Like this, Hwangju Man No. 7 is a valuable demonstration of a part of the human evolution in our country.
