lantian man

Also known as "Lantian Chinese Ape Man" and "Lantian Man". Early ape-man fossils. 1969 ——1964 was found in Lantian county, Shaanxi province, China. It lived 500,000 to 600,000 years ago, and its geological age belongs to the early Middle Pleistocene. The fossils found are: a skull, an upper and lower clavicle and more than ten teeth. Morphological characteristics: the skull bone wall is extremely thick, exceeding the thickness of a considerable part of the skulls of Peking man and Java Homo erectus; The frontal bone is very wide and obviously leans backwards; The brow ridge is thick, forming a transverse ridge above the orbit; The brain is very small, estimated to be about 780 ml, and the height of the skull is very small. These characteristics clearly show that Lantian ape-man is more primitive than Peking ape-man and Java homo erectus. Associated animal fossils include saber-toothed tiger, saber-toothed elephant, claw beast, Niu Li and so on. Stone tools, such as scrapers, chips and cores, were also found in the early Paleolithic period.

China homo erectus fossils and early paleolithic cultural sites unearthed. Located in Gongwangling, east of Lantian County, Shaanxi Province 15 km, and Chenjiawo Village, northwest of Lantian County 10 km. 1963, vertebrate paleontology Institute of Paleoanthropology, China Academy of Sciences found human mandible fossils near Chenjiawo village; 1964 discovered human skull fossils in Gongwangling, 1965 ~ 1966 discovered stone products and animal fossils on a large scale. 1982 People's Republic of China (PRC) * * * and the State Council were announced as national key cultural relics protection units.

Gongwangling site is located in the highest terrace on the left bank of Bahe River, and its lower part is a thick layer of ancient gravel, on which red sandy clay ("red soil") with a thickness of about 30 meters is accumulated. Human skull fossils are buried in the lower part of red soil layer, and the geological age belongs to the early Middle Pleistocene. Paleomagnetic dating of fossil-bearing strata shows that the result was from 750,000 years ago to1150,000 years ago. Although the dating data has not been unified, it can still be considered that Gongwangling site is one of the earliest human fossils found in the north of the Yangtze River in China.

The human skull fossils unearthed in Gongwangling include a complete frontal bone, most parietal bones, right temporal bone and maxilla (including the second and third molars), the body and frontal process of the upper left maxilla, most nasal roots of the left and right nasal bones and an upper left second molar, and were identified as female individuals in their thirties. The skull wall of Lantian ape-man in Gongwangling is particularly thick, and the brow ridge is thick, almost forming a straight transverse ridge, which obviously extends outward. The frontal bone is very low and flat, and the brain volume is estimated to be 780 ml, indicating that Lantian ape-man has obvious primitiveness.

The human mandible fossils found in Chenjiawo are buried in the "red soil" layer of the highest terrace on the right bank of Bahe River. The geological age belongs to the Middle Pleistocene, and the paleomagnetic age is 500,000-650,000 years ago, which is equivalent to the mandibular fossil of Lantian ape-man in Chenjiawo, belonging to an old female individual in the early period of Peking ape-man culture, and generally close to Peking ape-man.

There are not many stone products unearthed from Lantian ape-man site. A total of 13 stone tools were excavated in Gongwangling red soil containing human fossils, including straight scraper 1 piece, 4 stone chips, 7 stone cores, and stone chips with traces of use 1 piece. If we add more than 200 pieces unearthed and collected from the Middle Pleistocene strata in the surrounding areas. These stone products are temporarily considered as the cultural relics of Lantian ape-man because of their similar strata and little difference in manufacturing technology, mainly including stone cores, stone chips, choppers, scrapers, big sharp objects, stone balls and so on. The stone tools are rough and primitive, among which the "three-edged and big-pointed implements" are similar to those unearthed at the sites of Xihoudu, Hehe and Ding Cun in North China. In addition, some ashes and carbon chips were found in the Gongwangling fossil layer.

There are 42 species of animal fossils unearthed in Gongwangling, most of which belong to the common species in the Middle Pleistocene fauna of North China, such as: Chinese hyena, Lee's wild boar, Sanmenma and Gejihua deer; There are also a few tertiary surviving species and typical species in the early Quaternary, such as Lantian saber-toothed tiger, China Naiwang claw beast, updated cheetah, short-horned cattle and so on. There are also a few common species in the Middle Pleistocene fauna of South China, such as giant panda, oriental saber-toothed elephant and giant tapir. This shows that the climate near Gongwangling is warm and humid. There are 14 species of animal fossils unearthed in Chenjiawo, which are common fauna in Middle Pleistocene in North China. The lack of animal species in the south shows that there is a certain age difference between them, which may indicate that the local climate has changed during this period.

Koudian Beijing ape-man site

UNESCO World Heritage Committee1987 65438+February approved Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site as a world cultural heritage.

Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site is located in Longgushan, Zhoukoudian, Fangshan District, Beijing. , about 50 kilometers from Beijing. 1929, China paleontologist Pei Wenzhong discovered the teeth, bones and a complete skull of primitive human here. And found the remains of "Beijingers" living, hunting and using fire, confirming that there were human activities in Beijing 500 thousand years ago. Archaeologists began to dig here and found a complete ape-man skull about 600 thousand years ago, named Peking man. Later, some stone tools and fires used by apes were found in Gulong Mountain. This discovery and research established the special and irreplaceable position of this site in the world paleoanthropology research. Zhoukoudian site is an ancient human site with the richest and most vivid human fossil materials, the most complete plant fossils and the most in-depth research in the world.

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. The average brain capacity of Beijingers is 1088 ml (modern brain capacity is 1400), and the estimated height of Beijingers is 156 cm (male) and 150 cm (female). Beijingers belong to the Stone Age, and the main method of processing stone tools is hammering, followed by smashing and occasionally anvil striking. Beijingers were also the earliest ancient humans who used fire and hunted large animals. According to statistics, 68.2% of Beijingers 14 years old died, and less than 4.5% were over 50 years old.

At the top of 1930 Gulong Mountain, an ancient human fossil, named "Neanderthal", which lived about 20,000 years ago, was excavated. 1973, a "new caveman" was found in two years, which indicates the continuation and development of Beijingers.

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.