Chapter 2 Section 1 Peking Man and Earlier Relics

Humans evolved from ancient apes.This truth seems very simple now, but it has not been accepted by people for a long time. It was not recognized by the world until the first skull of Peking Man was discovered in 1929. Beijing Yuanren Cave (the first place in Zhoukoudian, Beijing), located on the north slope of Longgu Mountain, Zhoukoudian Town, Fangshan County, southwest suburb of Beijing, was discovered in 1921.During the excavations in 1921, 1923 and 1927, three human teeth were discovered, and after research, they were named "Chinese ape-man Peking species" or "Beijing Chinese ape-man".The first skull of a Beijinger who shocked China and the world was discovered on the afternoon of December 2, 1929. Later, artificial stone tools and remains of fire were also found. In 1937, due to the full-scale war of aggression against China launched by the Japanese imperialists, the excavation work was interrupted. The precious fossils that have been discovered, which have attracted worldwide attention, were all obtained by a few Americans before and after the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941. Whereabouts are unknown.After the founding of New China, the excavation work was resumed, and a large amount of fossil data was obtained in various excavations.By 1966, a total of more than 40 individual fossils of Peking Man, more than 100,000 pieces of stone tools, and abundant bone tools, horn tools, and fire remains were discovered.The Peking Man Cave is the most abundant and most systematic human site in the early Paleolithic period found in the world.

The cultural deposits in the Peking Man Cave are more than 40 meters thick, and were roughly formed between 700,000 and 230,000 years ago, and Peking Man began to live here about 460,000 years ago.The stature of Peking Man was shorter than that of modern humans, about 162 centimeters for men and 152 centimeters for women.The skull of Peking Man was low and flat, the eyebrows and spine were thick, and the brain case was twice as thick as that of modern humans. Chin.The features of the entire head are relatively primitive, close to the Javanese Homo erectus found in Indonesia, but already have obvious characteristics of the modern Mongolian race.

The food source of Peking Man mainly depends on hunting and gathering.The tools are mainly stone tools, and possibly bone-horn tools. Among them, the small stone "pointers" are exquisitely crafted and have not yet been seen in other sites of the same period in the world.Peking Man is known to cook food, and its fire is mainly obtained from natural fire, which can preserve fire.The use of fire completes the character of man. The discovery of Peking Man laid the foundation for the study of ancient humans and their culture in my country, and the establishment of the People's Republic of China created conditions for the rapid development of this subject. Over the past 40 years, more than 170 ancient human fossils and Paleolithic cultures have been discovered across the country, all over the provinces except Hainan and Xinjiang.Among them, fossils with well-preserved human skulls include Dali people in Shaanxi, Jinniushan people in Liaoning, Dingcun people in Shanxi, Xujiayao people, Yinshan people in Anhui, Changyang people in Hubei, Maba people in Guangdong, and Tongzi people in Guizhou. From more than 200,000 years ago to more than 100,000 years ago, it belonged to early Homo sapiens, and it is an important material for studying the development of Homo erectus to Homo sapiens (modern humans are also Homo sapiens); Fossils such as Ziyang Man in Sichuan and Chuandong Man in Guizhou are dated about 100,000 to 10,000 years ago and belong to late Homo sapiens. They are of great significance to the study of the origin of human race, especially the origin of Mongolian race.The cultural remains of the late Paleolithic age discovered in North China include Zhiyu, Qinshuixiachuan, Shuo County, Shanxi, Xiaonanhai, Anyang, Henan, Hutouliang, Yangyuan, Hebei, Yumenkou, Hancheng, Shaanxi, Liujiacha, Qingyang, Gansu, etc. .The important sites distributed in the Northeast include Xiaogushan in Haicheng, Liaoning, Yanjiagang in Harbin, Heilongjiang, Angangxi in Qiqihar, etc.Important sites distributed in South China include Bailian Cave in Liuzhou, Guangxi, Baiyanjiao Cave in Puding, Guizhou, Maomao Cave in Xingyi, Fulin in Hanyuan, Sichuan, and Zhangertang in Tongliang. In the 1990s, relics such as human settlements and stone tool mills were discovered in Jigongshan, Jiangling, Hubei.The discovery of these cultural relics has contributed to major academic issues such as connecting the cultural development sequence of the Paleolithic Age from early to late, explaining the cultural connection between the North and the South, and the cultural exchange between the East and the West.In addition, the world-renowned discoveries of the Lantian Man, Yuanmou Man and Xihoudu culture have advanced the age of Homo erectus and Paleolithic culture in my country to 1 million to 1.8 million years ago.

The Lantian human skull fossil was excavated in Gongwangling, Lantian County, Shaanxi Province in 1964, and belonged to a woman in her 30s.Its skull features are more primitive than those of Peking Man, such as lower frontal scales, larger and thicker brow ridges, a brain volume of about 780 milliliters, and larger teeth than Peking Man.Recently, it has been determined that the geomagnetic age of the site where the skull fossil is buried is 1.1 million to 1.15 million years ago.The stone tools of the Lantian people mainly include chopping tools, scrapers, and three-edged pointed objects, etc., which are relatively rough. Among them, the three-edged pointed objects have a triangular cross-section, which is very distinctive.

In May 1965, two teeth were found in the river-lake deposits near Shangnabeng Village on the edge of Yuanmou Basin, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province. They are the oldest Homo erectus fossils found in my country.These two teeth are both upper medial incisors, one on the left and one on the right, belonging to the same adult individual.The teeth are thick and strong, and the basic shape is close to that of Peking Man, but they are obviously primitive.Most scholars believe that the geomagnetic age of the stratum where these two teeth are buried is around 1.7 million years ago.Only seven Yuanmou Man stone tools have been discovered, but as early as 1961 and 1962, 32 stone tools and antlers with cut marks and burnt horns were found near Xihoudu Village, Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province. The age is 1.8 million years ago, earlier than the Yuanmou people.This shows that as early as 1.7 million years ago, there were human activities in the south and north of our country.