Discovery Swedish geologist
Johan Gunnar Andersson first started his explorations of the region in
1918 at an area called
Chicken-bone Hill by locals who had misidentified the rodent fossils that were found in abundance there, but it was not until
1921 that he and American
palaeontologist Walter W. Granger were led to the site known as
Dragon Bone Hill by local quarry men. Noticing some white quartz that was foreign to the area, he immediately realised that this would be a good place to search for the remains of primitive man. Excavations were undertaken by Andersson's assistant, Austrian
palaeontologist Otto Zdansky in 1921 and
1923, unearthing a great deal of material that was sent back to
Uppsala University in Sweden for further analysis. In
1926, Anderson announced the discovery of two human
molars amongst this material, and the
following year Zdansky published his finding, cautiously identifying the teeth as
?Homo sp. Sometimes called the Zhoukidian wolf,
Canis variabilis fossils were found at the Zhoukoudian cave system and archaeological site in 1934, and named by their discoverer,
Pei Wenzhong:
Zhoukoudian Project Canadian paleoanthropologist Davidson Black, who was working for the
Peking Union Medical College at the time, was excited by Andersson and Zdansky's find, and applied to the
Rockefeller Foundation for funding to undertake a systematic excavation of the site. Funding was granted, and the Zhoukoudian Project commenced excavations in
1927 under the supervision of
Chinese archaeologist Li Jie. That fall, a tooth was unearthed by Swedish
paleontologist Anders Birger Bohlin, which Black proposed belonged to a new species dubbed
Sinanthropus pekinensis. The
following year, Black's excavations uncovered more fossils of his new species, including teeth, a substantial part of a juvenile's jaw, and an adult jaw complete with three teeth. These finds allowed Black to secure an additional $80,000 grant from the Foundation, which he used to establish a research laboratory.
Cenozoic Research Laboratory The
Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the
Geological Survey of China was established at the
Peking Union Medical College in
1928 with the assistance of
Chinese geologists
Ding Wenjiang and
Weng Wenhao, for the research and appraisal of the fossils unearthed. Black stayed on at the Laboratory as honorary director, while excavations continued at the site under Chinese
paleontologist Yang Zhongjian,
anthropologists Pei Wenzhong, and
Jia Lanpo. Conditions at the site were primitive, with scientists having to ride out to the excavation on mules and staying at
caravansaries along the way. When the first skullcap was unearthed at the site in
1929, it was done by Pei, working in a 40-meter crevasse in frigid weather, with a hammer in one hand and a candle in the other. A second skullcap was discovered close to the first in
1930, and by
1932 nearly 100 workers were deployed at the site each day. Despite the conditions at the site, eminent researchers continued to visit. French
palaeontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin had been a regular visitor to the site since 1926. French archaeologist
Henri Breuil visited in
1931 and confirmed the presence of stone tools. That same year, evidence of the use of fire at the cave was accepted. The ever-industrious Black died one night at his office in
1934, with one of the skullcaps unearthed at the site on his desk. German
Jewish anthropologist Franz Weidenreich replaced him as honorary director of the Laboratory, and excavations continued, uncovering a further three skullcaps in
1936. Altogether, excavations uncovered 200 human fossils from more than 40 individuals, including 5 nearly complete
skullcaps, before they were brought to a halt in
1937 by the
Japanese invasion of China. Reports of Japanese atrocities include the torture and murder of workers at the site, with three bayoneted to death, and a fourth forced to pull a rickshaw until dying of starvation. In
1941, the bulk of the finds were lost, never to be recovered, while in transport to safety. Fortunately, Weidenreich had made copies of the fossils to preserve their physical characteristics.
Postwar excavations Excavation work was recommenced in
1949, unearthing new Peking Man fossils, including 5 teeth and fragments of thigh and shin bone. The
following year, a third premolar was discovered in the material sent back to Uppsala by Zdansky in 1921 and 1923. The Peking Man Site was designated "Type section of cave deposits of Middle Pleistocene in North China" by the Annual Congress of the National Committee of Stratigraphy of China in
1959, and a mandible fragment was unearthed. Excavations led by Pei in
1966 unearthed a premolar and two pieces of skull fragment – these were discovered to match fragments retained from previous excavations in 1934 and 1936, and the only extant example of a nearly complete skullcap was pieced together. Excavations at Locality 4 in Zhoukoudian, from
1972–
73, unearthed a
Homo sapiens premolar. Modern scientific dating techniques confirm that the site was occupied between 230,000 and 500,000 years ago. ==Excavation sites==