Peking Man facts for kids

Peking Man (currently Homo erectus pekinensis) is an example of Homo erectus. The remains were first found between in 1923 and 1937 during excavations at Zhoukoudian near Beijing, in China.

In 2009 the finds were dated from roughly 750,000 years ago, and a new ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be dating suggests they are in the range of 680,000–780,000 years old.

The original fossils disappeared in 1941, but casts and descriptions remain. They show that this subspecies looked similar to modern humans and Neanderthals, and used stone tools. Most likely fire was used, and it is currently unknown if interbreeding was between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, and if this is an ancestor or member of the Denisovan peoples of East Asia. No religious or symbolic findings are yet associated with this subspecies.

Images for kids

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  Reconstruction of the first Peking Man skullcap

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  Bust of Peking Man at the National Museum of China

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  Zhoukoudian Locality 1 where the first relatively complete skullcap was discovered

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  Ernst Haeckel suggested early humans dispersed across the now-disproven hypothetical continent "Lemuria" (above).

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  1936 restorations of various fossil skulls (note the Piltdown Man was declared a hoax in 1953 and the Peking Man skull was revised in 1937 and again in 1996.)

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  Weidenreich's 1937 reconstruction of a female Peking Man skull

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  Cross sections of Peking Man Skulls III (A) and XII (B), and Java Man Skull II (C)

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  Mid-shaft cross-sections of Femora I, II, IV, V, and VI

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  Reconstruction of hyenas at the Zhoukoudian Museum

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  Scraper from the Zhoukoudian

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  An ash layer at Zhoukoudian

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  Skulls I and II

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  Skull II

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  Skull III

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  Skulls IV and V

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  Skulls V and VI

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  Skulls VI and VII

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  Skulls VIII and IX

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  Skull X

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  Skull XI

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  Skull XII

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  Maxillae from Skulls III, V, VI, and X

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  Femur I

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  Femora I and II

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  Femur III

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  Femur IV

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  Femur IV reconstructed

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  Femora V and VI

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  Femur VI

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  Femur VII

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  Humerus I

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  Humerus II

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  Humerus II reconstructed

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  Clavicle I

See also

In Spanish: Hombre de Pekín para niños