A total of 6 skulls, 12 skull fragments, 15 mandibles, 157 teeth, femur and tibia fractures were unearthed from Peking man fossils, belonging to more than 40 men, women and children. More than 654.38 million stone tools, burning ash sites, burnt stones and bones were discovered.
Through the study of these archaeological materials, it is proved that Peking man created a unique paleolithic culture about 690,000 years ago, which had a far-reaching impact on the development of paleolithic culture in northern China. The discovery of Beijingers also advanced the history of fire by hundreds of thousands of years, leaving a thick pile of ashes in the cave where they lived.
UNESCO World Heritage Committee1987 65438+February approved Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site as a world cultural heritage.
Zhoukoudian-Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site-Evaluation by World Heritage Committee
Zhoukoudian Peking man site is located 48 kilometers southwest of Beijing, and the scientific investigation of the site is still in progress. And new human remains from BC 18000 to BC 1 1000. Peking man, officially named "Chinese ape-man Peking species", is often called "Homoerectuspekinensis" in science and "Homoerectus pekinensis" in English. Fossils of Homo erectus in China. Peking man lived about 700,000-200,000 years ago. The site was found in Gulong Mountain in Zhoukoudian, Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing. Beijingers came to Zhoukoudian about 600,000 years ago and lived here intermittently for nearly 400,000 years. About 200 thousand years ago, Beijingers left here.
Beijing people have higher cheekbones. The average brain volume is only 1532 ml. Short and thick, male height 156 cm, female height 144 cm. Short legs, long arms and head forward.
There is a thick layer of ash in the cave where Beijingers lived, which shows that Beijingers have used fire and saved the fire. This site was discovered by Swedish geologist An Tesheng and American paleontologist Danschi in August of 192 1, and excavation began in 1927. 192965438+On February 2nd, China archaeologist Pei Wenzhong excavated the first complete skull, but the skull excavated in this period disappeared on 194 1, which became a mystery in history. The only existing physical specimen is the Peking man skull model discovered from the top accumulation layer in 1966. Later, stone products and bone horn products were discovered. China people who participated in the excavation in those years included later academician Jia Lanpo. With his death, a batch of photos excavated in that year were neglected.
Fossils of Homo erectus in China. They are usually called Beijingers and China people. From a cave near Zhoukoudian in the southwest suburb of Beijing. This deposit was discovered in 192 1 and excavated in 1927. 1929 65438+February, the first complete Peking man skull was excavated here, and later stone products, bone horn products and fire relics were discovered. 1937 The July 7th Incident broke out and the excavation of Zhoukoudian was suspended. After 1950s, many human fossils were unearthed. Counting the discoveries before and after, more than 40 personal human fossils, more than 6,543,800 stone products and bone horn products, nearly 100 kinds of mammal fossils, hundreds of bird fossils and a large number of ash layers left by fire have been unearthed. These discoveries make it the most systematic and abundant Homo erectus site in the world. The discovery of Peking man is of great significance. It proves the existence of Homo erectus, clarifies the sequence of human development, and provides strong evidence for the theory of "from ape to man". 199 1 year, Beijing ape-man site was designated as a world cultural heritage by UNESCO. Beijingers have come a long way in the process of human evolution, but their appearance still retains many primitive features. For example, the skull is flat, the brow ridge is prominent, the face is short, and the snout extends forward; The average brain volume is only 1000 ml, which is only about 2/3 of that of modern people. Short stature, male height is about 156 cm, female height is about144 cm; Legs are short, arms are long, and the head leans forward, which makes people feel unstable. In fact, its limbs bones are close to those of modern people, and it can walk stably and upright. Beijingers choose seasonal, flint and sandstone from the river beach and hillside near their residence, and strike stones with stones to make tools such as scrapers, drilling tools, sharp tools, carving machines and chopping tools to meet the needs of dismembering prey, chopping wood spears, chopping wood for heating and digging roots. Some scholars believe that bone horns were made at that time. Besides hunting, eating wild fruits, young leaves, root tubers and small animals such as insects, birds, frogs and snakes are also daily food sources. Layers of charred Pu Shu seeds were found in caves, and American Indians still eat this wild fruit. Deer, antelopes, and perhaps wild boar, buffalo and other large animals will occasionally become the prey of Beijingers. Their bones often appear in caves with clear cutting marks on them. People in Beijing can use fire, and piles of ashes show that the fire was well managed at that time. According to the unearthed animal and plant fossils, scientists know that there used to be dense forests and rich aquatic plants in Zhoukoudian area, and the climate was warmer than that in North China today. With the fluctuation of global climate, cold, warm, dry and wet have alternated frequently for hundreds of thousands of years. People in Beijing can use fire, which greatly improves their ability to adapt to the environment.
The study found that Beijingers are usually in groups of dozens. Life span is short, and most people die before 14 years old. The widest part of Peking man's skull is slightly higher than the left and right ear holes, and gradually narrows upward, showing a parabolic outline. This is different from the fact that the widest part of the modern skull moved to the middle of the skull, and it is also lower than that of Neanderthals. Beijingers have flat skulls and sloping foreheads. Although higher than apes, but lower than modern people, slightly lower than Neanderthals. The average brain capacity of Beijingers is 1043 cubic centimeters, which is between apes and modern people. Their skulls are about twice as thick as those of modern people. The brow bone is thick and protruding forward, and the left and right sides are connected. There is an obvious sagittal ridge in the middle of the head, and a well-developed occipital lobe pillow in the back of the skull. Beijingers have a short face, a long snout and no chin. The nasal bones and cheekbones are flat and wide, and the cheekbones face forward, indicating that their noses are wide and their faces are low and flat. There is an obvious mandibular round pillow in front of the medial face of mandible. Their teeth, whether crown or root, are weaker than apes, and the texture of crown is simple, but it is much thicker and more complicated than modern people. In addition, the lingual surfaces of canine teeth and upper central incisors have finger-like protrusions extending from the basal tubercle to the cutting edge; The lingual surfaces of upper central incisors and lateral incisors are obviously shovel-shaped. The primitive preservation of Peking man's head is similar to that of Javanese, so they all belong to the development stage of Homo erectus. Peking man's front teeth are shovel-shaped, his nose is wide, his face is low and flat, and there is a mandibular pillow in front of his jaw, which shows that he has obvious characteristics of modern Mongolian race. The medullary cavity of Beijing people's lower limbs is smaller and the tube wall is thicker (femoral medullary cavity only accounts for one third of the minimum diameter of spine, while modern people account for half; The tibial medullary cavity is smaller), but the size, shape, proportion and muscle attachment point are similar to those of modern people, which proves that they are good at walking upright. In addition to the smaller medullary cavity and thicker wall, the bones of Beijing people's upper limbs are closer to modern people than their lower limbs, which shows that their upper limbs have been able to carry out activities very similar to modern people. The height of Beijingers is about 1.56 ~ 1.57 meters, calculated from a relatively complete femur length found.
Stone tools used by Beijingers
Beijing people's cultural relics include stone products, bone horns, fire relics and so on. Stone tools are mainly stone chisels, and stone core tools are few, and most of them are small. The raw materials include timely, sandstone, quartzite, flint and other gravels from the flood plain outside the cave, as well as crystals from granite slopes two kilometers away. According to the different stones, Jingba dogs use gravel as a hammer to make stone chips by direct hitting, anvil hitting and smashing. Among them, bipolar stone cores and bipolar stone chips made by smashing method account for a large proportion of all stone products, which constitutes one of the important characteristics of Peking man culture. In the second step, stone hammers are often used to directly knock, mainly on one side, and most of them are processed from section to back.
There are many kinds of stone tools in Beijing, such as kitchen knives, scrapers, carving knives, stone hammers and anvil. They choose oblate sandstone or timely gravel and cut the blade from one side or both sides to make a kitchen knife. This kind of stone tool is large in size. "Scraper" is made of stone chips of different sizes, which have the shapes of disc, straight blade, convex blade, concave blade and polygon, and is the largest kind of stone tools. The number of "sharp tools" and "carving knives" is small, but they are beautifully made, small in size, and some are only the size of fingers. The production procedures and methods are relatively fixed, which reflects a certain technical level. (See the sharp instrument of "Beijingers" in the color picture. Among the known sites of the same period in the world, we have never heard of similar stone tools, and their exquisiteness is comparable. Stone hammers and anvils are their tools for making stone tools. From the striking marks left on the stone hammer, it can be seen that Beijingers are good at operating with their right hands. In addition, traces of use are often found on some stone chips that have not been treated in the second step. Beijingers live in caves and are engaged in hunting and gathering. The broken bones found in the ashes show that they already know the cooked food. Under harsh natural conditions, Beijingers rely on the strength of groups to carry out difficult struggle for existence. Seasonal changes, natural disasters, animal attacks and diseases all pose great threats to them. The age of dozens of Beijingers measured from fossils tells us that their mortality rate is extremely high, which can also reflect their poor living conditions.
Zhoukoudian Site Museum is located at the foot of Gulong Mountain in Zhoukoudian, Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing. It is a museum of ancient human ruins, which was founded in 1953. From 65438 to 0929, China paleoanthropologist Fei Wenzhong unearthed the first complete skull fossil of Peking man in Gulong, which shocked the whole world. World cultural heritage, national AAAA-level scenic spots, national key cultural relics protection units, and national 100 patriotic education demonstration bases. It's about 48 kilometers from Beijing. This is a world-famous ancient human and vertebrate paleontology archaeological site, and also the birthplace of Beijingers. 1. Take bus No.917 (Yancun Expressway) and bus No.836 at Tianqiao coach station or Liuliqiao East, get off at Zhoukoudian intersection and transfer to bus No.38 to arrive at Zhoukoudian ape-man site.
2. Take the subway Fangshan Line to Suzhuang Station, and then transfer to bus 15 and 3 1, get off at Zhoukoudian intersection, and transfer to bus 38 to arrive at Zhoukoudian ape-man site.
3. Take Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao (G4) Expressway to Yancun Exit, and take Jingzhou Road to Zhoukoudian.
Attraction tickets: 30 yuan, student 15 yuan.
Location of scenic spots: Zhoukoudian, Fangshan District, Beijing
Opening hours: 8: 30- 16: 30.
Accommodation and catering: set up guest houses and restaurants.
Native products: peaches, apricots, pears, apples, walnuts, persimmons, dates, etc.
Surrounding attractions: Zhuang Park