Definition: In 1918, Swedish geologist and archaeologist Johann Gunnar Andersson, began excavating a site near Zhoukoudian, a small village near Beijing. In 1921 he and Austrian paleontologist Otto Zdansky found two hominid teeth. Canadian anthropologist Dr. Davidson Black named the species to which the teeth belonged Sinanthropus pekinensis Black and Zdansky, which American geologist, A. William Grabau, shortened to Peking Man. It is now called Homo erectus pekinensis or Peking Man. In 1928, Chinese paleontologist Dr C. C. Young and geologist Wenzhong Pei found two lower jaws of Peking Man. And then on December 2, 1929, Pei found a skull cap of Peking man that was almost complete. More bones were later found leading to an estimated height of 156 cm for the male and 144 cm for the female based on the length of the femur. Cave-dwelling Peking Man made tools and used fire.
Source: The Peking Man World Heritage Site at Zhoukoudian
This entry on Peking Man is part of the Ancient/Classical History Glossary.
