Location: Dragon Bone
Hill, Zhoukoudian Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing.
Round-topped Dragon Bone Hill lies northwest of Zhoukoudian, a town in
suburban Beijing. In the past, people used to quarry limestone on the
hill, and they often came across animal fossils that they used as a
medicine called Dragon Bone. Thus the hill was named Dragon Bone Hill.
At that time, nobody knew that the hill was home of Peking (Beijing) Man
(Homo erectus pekinensis), the ancestor of the Chinese People.
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"Peking Man" |
In 1921, Yohan Qunnar Andersson (1874-1960), a Swedish geologist and
archaeologist, visited the hill as adviser to the Mining Council of the
Chinese government. “I have a hunch that the remains of our ancestors
are resting underfoot right here,” he said.
His hunch was proved true by the Austrian palaeontologist Otto Zhansky,
who discovered two teeth of Peking Man. Then, in 1926, Yohan Qunnar
Andersson announced the discovery at a welcoming party in China for the
Prince of Sweden and his wife.
The systematic excavation of the fossils of Peking Man started in 1927.
The following ten years provided important discoveries, especially in
1929, when a team scientists led by Pei Wenzhong discovered the top of a
skull. The discovery caused a stir worldwide, and provided evidence that
Java Man in Indonesia was fully human. Since then, the cave lived in by
Peking Man at Zhoukoudian has become a world-renowned anthropological
site.
The remain of Peking Man were first discovered in a limestone cave
filled with more than 40 meters of deposits. The cave resembled a deep
well, and the deposits were stratified in 17 layers, with the remains of
Peking Man distributed from the third through the eleventh. Examinations
of six skulls, 15 mandibles, more than 150 teeth, and many pieces of
limb bones, as well as the layers in which the findings were unearthed,
revealed that Peking Man lived as early as 690,000 years ago.
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"Peking Man" was found here in 1926 |
The restoration of the unearthed skeletons of more than 42 individuals
of different ages and both sexes indicated that the trunk and limbs of
Peking Man were similar to those of modern man although Peking Man was
little shorter. The top of his skull was low and flat, the ridges above
the eye sockets were raised markedly, his face and mouth protruded, and
his chin receded, all apelike characteristics. He could walk fully
erect, and his cranial capacity was two-thirds the size of modern man’s.
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Zhoukoudian "Peking Man" Museum |
The geological and topographic features at Zhoukoudian and the animal
and plant fossils unearth at the first excavation site on Dragon Bone
Hill can give one an idea of Peking Man’s environment. In the rolling
hills northwest of Dragon Bone Hill, sabre-toothed tigers, boars, sika
deer, and rhinoceroses roamed. Vast grassland to the southeast was
frequented by megaloceroses, antelopes, and the primitive horse Equus
sanmeniensis. The river and lakes at the foot of the hill were inhabited
by beavers, otters, and buffaloes, and the caves were home to cave bears
and hyenas.
For food, Peking Man hunted deer and small animals and gathered wild
fruit, leaves, roots, and tubers. He fought against ferocious predators
to protect himself.
The discovery of a large quantity of stone tools showed that in the
course of struggling against nature, Peking Man learned how to make
stone implements, which he used to fell trees, trim wooden clubs, and
dismember game. Layers of ash found in the caves show that that Peking
Man could use of fire.
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Zhoukoudian "Peking Man" Museum |
In 1933, fossilized remains of Upper Cave Man, believed to have lived
18,000 years ago, were found in a cave near the crest of Dragon Bone
Hill. The skulls show that Upper Cave Man was of the ancient yellow
race. Also unearthed were stone implements along with a bone needle and
personal adornments of rather advance workmanship. Researches reveal
that Upper Cave Man lived by hunting and fishing and knew to sew
garments of animal skins. It appears that he practiced a kind of
primeval religion. Unfortunately, most of the unearthed remains of
Peking Man and Upper Cave Man disappeared in the hands of a few
Americans around the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7,
1941, and the whereabouts of the remains are still unknown.
In 1973, fossilized teeth of New Cave were brought to light at the
north-eastern corner of Dragon Bone Gill. Scientific dating determined
that New Cave Man lived about 100,000 years ago, between the periods of
Peking Man and Upper Cave Man.
Zhoukoudian has the most complete fossils of Homo erectus so far
discovered anywhere. It holds an unshakable and irreplaceable position
in the study of pale anthropology in World today. In 1987, the town was
designated as a World Cultural Heritage by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The wealth
of Zhoukoudian is now shared by all mankind.
Zhoukoudian was listed as one of the World’s Cultural Heritages in 1987.
Source: New
Star Publishers
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