CHINA

BEIJING. SIGHTS OF INTEREST. Peking Man Site in Zhoukoudian
 

The site of Peking Man was discovered in Zhoukoudian village in the Longgu Mountain 50 kilometers to the southwest from Beijing. The first startling discoveries of human remains were found here in 1921, 1923 and 1927. There were just three teeth but the scientists came to the conclusion that they had belonged to the man of early human habitation in China during the Palaeolithic Age. A complete skull 
of an ape-man dating back 600 000 -700 000 years was discovered by archaeologists in 1929. In 1937 excavation at the Peking Man site was suspended and renewed later. Intact skulls, skull fragments, parts of arms, broken facial bones, femur, mandibles, shinbone and teeth, - all they belonged to more than 40 individuals of different ages and sexes. All skeletal remains let think that Peking Man or Sinanthropus Pekinensis was in fact virtually identical to the modern man in bodily form. The different shape and construction of the skull was a hitherto entirely unknown hominid genus and species. 

Measurement of the femurs shows that the average height of a male was about 156 cm and 144 cm of a female. The bones show that the life span of Peking Men was short and probably 68.9 % died before the age of 14 years while 4.5% only lived to the age of 50 years. They lived in-groups in caves. Ashes, tools made from bones and stone show that early people used fire for cooking and heating and survived hunting. Bone needles, animal teeth used as adornment, remains of necklaces, all these finds show us that Peking Man created remote ancient culture, a unique Old Stone Culture, that influenced the Old Stone Culture of North China. 

In 1987 the Peking Man Site in Zhoukoudian was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.