Peking ManIn 1927, evidence of Peking Man, a well-preserved left lower molar was uncovered by Swedish paleontologist Birgir Bohlin at a large-scale archaeological dig in caves inside Zhoukoudian Cave, outside Peking (now Beijing), China. After studying the new tooth and the earlier finds, Davidson Black deduced that they were from an early human ancestor that he named Peking Man, Sinathropus pekinensis. The search for hominid fossils had been going on since Spring; the tooth had been found just three days before work was to stop. Further teeth and jaw fragments were found in 1928, and a well-preserved, nearly complete skull of an adolescent was dug out in 1929 at the same site.[Image: Peking Man skull reconstruction] |
