Within the last forty years fossil human remains have been found throughout
the length and breadth of China. These fossils span upwards of a million years
in time and represent a succession of forms from archaic humans such as H.
erectus to pre-modern forms of H. sapiens and early forms of
anatomically modern human beings.
The first discovery of H. erectus in China took place in the early
1920s with the recovery of isolated teeth at a limestone quarry on the outskirts
of Beijing called Zhoukoudian (old spelling Choukoutien). In 1927 excavations at
Zhoukoudian were initiated and more teeth of an early hominid were found. Dr.
Davidson Black, director of operations at the site, attributed all these teeth
to a new species of fossil human, Sinanthropus pekinensis, now
recognized by paleontologists as a local variant of the widespread Middle
Pleistocene species H. erectus. The first
skull-cap of H. erectus at Zhoukoudian was discovered in 1929 by
the Chinese paleontologist Dr. Pei Wenzhong. Major discoveries of H.
erectus in China were made at Lantian in Shaanxi province in the mid 1960s,
and more recently at Hexian, Yunxian and Nanjing.
Fragmentary fossil human remains in advance of H. erectus but not
fully modern have been known in China since the 1950s at sites such as
Changyang, Dingcun and Maba. It was not until the late 1970s however that more
complete material was collected at Xujiayao. In 1980 and 1985 complete crania
of pre-modern forms of H. sapiens were excavated at Dali and Yingkou
(Jinniushan). The Chinese fossil record of humans intermediate in time and
morphology between H. erectus and fully modern H. sapiens
now rivals that from both Europe and Africa.
