Zhoukoudian! This large area, which is home to the missing Peking man is not your ordinary archaeological site and museum. The Peking man is also known as Sinanthropus pekinensis, who lived in the middle Pleistocene.[1] The Peking man site at Zhoukoudian is 42 km south-west of Beijing so it did not take long to arrive at this site. As we entered by bus we were greeted by a giant Peking man head and by two stone plaques that describes the Peking man site as one of the World’s top tourist attractions and a sign saying “Peking Man World Heritage Site.”

As early as 1961 China declared the site for state protection and for cultural relics. The site was survey in 1918 by John Gunnar Andersson and in 1926 his assistant Zdansky discovered teeth in 1926. The Canadian Davidson Black proposed the new genus Sinanthropus pekinensis and in 1927 gained the support of the Rockefeller Foundation in 1927. The first of three skulls was discovered by Pei Wenzhong until they were lost in World War II.[2] We climbed a long driveway slope, which only cars were allowed to enter and not busses so we walked up along with people carrying supplies for renovations. The site had a basketball court which stood out from everything else, but of course the people who work here also need to exercise. At the site there was a Pale anthropological Research Center at Zhoukoudian where we were given information about the site. As we left to approach the museum another giant Peking man head greeted us.

Inside the museum was a large replica of the entire Peking man site, and inside were statues of the founders. Normally, people are not allowed to take pictures inside the museum, but we were given special privileges. Inside the museum laid the tools that the Archaeologists used to dig up the Peking man site and a history of the events. Many animal bones, skulls and the tools used by the Peking man were displayed along with replica skulls.

A map showed the distribution of Homo erectus 500,000 years ago across Europe and Asia. They lived during the interglacial period, which was warmer than present day Zhoukoudian. On the side laid a replica of the case that was believed to have been lost along with research notes taken during the excavation. The site was recognized by the United Nations as a place of universal value in 1987. There were life size statues of how Peking man was believed to have used tools along with murals of everyday life 500,000 years ago.

The Peking man was originally believed to be gatherers who lived “mainly on fruits, shoots and tubers of wild plants as well as bird eggs.” Through hunting they fed on insects and 47 species of both small and large animals alike from birds to buffalo. The Peking man’s tools were not simply made one way they had three different kinds of ways to create tools. The first was bipolar flaking, the second was hammer percussion and third was block-on-block technique. A lot of the tools found at the site were made out of “vein quartz, sandstone, flint, and rock crystals” collected from the river or slopes. The river is known as Zhoukouhe which provided fresh water as well.[3] These items made scrapers, points, choppers, bruins and awls. The Peking man was similar to humans due to the fact that there is a “ridge at the posterior side of the femur” suggesting it did walk upright. The Peking man had a smaller brain than that of modern humans, but the size was significantly larger than modern apes. Other differences between the Peking man and modern human included that the Peking man has a low and flattened forehead with brow ridges that stick out and more robust teeth. A diversity of human fossils was found were found at the Peking man site representing at least 40 individuals. Although slightly controversial it was believed that the Peking man could control fire. This provided the obvious gain of preserving heat, keeping predators away and cooking food making it easier to digest in the stomach. Pieces of ash were displayed in the museum as evidence. Large predators were on display in the form of bones and a replica model of how it would look alive.

The museum had a map of the dig at the Peking man cave had discovered 13 layers of rocks with the Peking man skull being discovered on the 11^th. There was also an upper cave which is located on Dragon Bone Hill and 8 individual of proto-mongoloid was found. Also inside this upper cave were stone artefacts including a bone needle suggesting clothing and ornaments for ancestor worship was already being sewn. There were 20 other localities, four of which yielded human fossils with significant finds they were also displayed in the museum mainly with animals that were found to exist around the same time. A final picture was displayed at the end showing the evolution of human beings.

Behind the back near locality 2 was a cemetery where many important people who discovered the Peking man site are remembered. The sign at locality 2 describes the animals and deposits that were discovered there. We went past the uppercave to look within from above, several important finds were here including the bone needle afterwards we moved on to locality 3. As we headed down to the deeper cave we could feel the temperature drop suddenly, which cooled us down greatly.

We went inside Pigeon hall, which was named because it was used by pigeons before it was excavated and opened at the back. Tools and parts of jaws were found in the Pigeon hall making it also an important dig site and passage to locality 1. The Pigeon hall was massive and tall and had an interesting hole on the side which allowed sunlight in or moonlight depending on when one is there.

After a walk and a climb down we were at the Peking Man caves and beside was a description of the profile which was the same as inside the museum. The cave site was tall and had many noticeable layers, but there was much vegetation growing on it. Afterwards we walked our way back up and it took us back to where we originally started! We then headed towards the restaurant to have ourselves a delicious meal before heading off to the tourist shop where Dongya picked up his Peking man statue.

[1]Xing, Gao. The World Culture Heritage in Beijing: Peking Man site at Zhoukoudian. 2004.

[2] Xing, Gao, 2004. p.20

[3] Xing, Gao, 2004.

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