Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site

Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site: A Spatiotemporal Coordinate of Human Evolution

The Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site is located in Zhoukoudian Town, Fangshan District, Beijing. It is one of the richest and most thoroughly studied ancient human sites of its period in the world. Centered on Longgu Mountain, the site encompasses multiple fossil localities, systematically recording a sequence of ancient human activity from 700,000 to 10,000 years ago. In 1987, together with the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, and the Mogao Caves, it became one of China's first World Cultural Heritage sites, numbered 449. The site covers a total area of about 2.4 square kilometers, with the core area preserving a complete Quaternary geological section and abundant paleontological fossils, earning it the title 'Home of Ancient Humans.'

Overview

The Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site lies at the junction of the North China Plain and the Taihang Mountains. Longgu Mountain is composed of Ordovician limestone, which has been naturally dissolved over time to form caves. The site system includes 27 fossil localities, including Locality 1 (Peking Man Cave), Locality 3, Locality 4, Locality 13, and the Upper Cave, with Locality 1 being the discovery site of the Peking Man skull fossils. The stratigraphic accumulation at the site is over 40 meters thick and divided into 13 layers, clearly recording climatic changes and human activity from the Middle to Late Pleistocene. On December 2, 1929, Pei Wenzhong discovered the first complete Peking Man skull, shocking the world. Subsequently, scholars such as Jia Lanpo and Yang Zhongjian continued excavations, unearthing a total of 6 skulls, 12 skull fragments, 15 mandibles, 157 teeth, and a large number of stone tools and evidence of fire use. The site also yielded fossils of the Upper Cave Man (about 30,000 years ago) and the New Cave Man (about 10,000 years ago), forming a complete chain of ancient human evolution in East Asia.

Historical Development

The discovery and research of the Zhoukoudian site span a century, from accidental discovery to systematic scientific excavation. In 1918, Swedish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson noticed fossil deposits on Longgu Mountain while investigating coal mines in Zhoukoudian. In 1921, Andersson and Austrian paleontologist Otto Zdansky conducted the first excavation, finding two human teeth. In 1927, the Geological Survey of China and Peking Union Medical College cooperated to launch systematic excavations, and Canadian anatomist Davidson Black named the newly discovered ancient human 'Sinanthropus pekinensis' (Peking Man). At 4 PM on December 2, 1929, Pei Wenzhong discovered the first complete Peking Man skull in Layer 11 of the Peking Man Cave, pushing human history back from 100,000 to over 500,000 years. In 1936, Jia Lanpo discovered three skulls in 11 days, bringing research to a climax. Excavations were interrupted after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937. In 1941, the Peking Man fossils disappeared during the war and have never been found. After 1949, the Chinese Academy of Sciences resumed excavations, and in 1966, the frontal and occipital bones of a Peking Man skull were found. In 1978, the New Cave Man, dating to about 10,000 years ago, was discovered. In 1987, the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Since the 1990s, site protection and digital research have become priorities, and a new round of systematic excavation began in 2018.

1921: Andersson and Zdansky's first excavation found two human teeth

1929: Pei Wenzhong discovered the first complete Peking Man skull, aged about 15-20 years, with a cranial capacity of about 1075 ml

1936: Jia Lanpo discovered three skulls in succession, numbered III, IV, and V

1941: The Peking Man fossils disappeared during the Japanese occupation, becoming a major unsolved mystery in the history of science

1966: Frontal and occipital bones of a Peking Man skull were found, which, when combined with the temporal bone found in 1934, formed a complete skull

1987: Inscribed on the World Heritage List, becoming one of China's first World Cultural Heritage sites