Peking
Man site (Zhoukoudian) is 48 kilometers southwest
of downtown Beijing near Longgushan (dragon skeleton
mountain). Many artifacts related to Peking Man and
Upper Cave Man (10 to 20 thousand years ago) have
been found on the mountain since 1929.
In
1973, in the southeast corner of Longgushan, another
site of ancient man was discovered. Scientists have
named the ancient men who once lived at the site ¡°New
Cave Man¡±. The term comes from the fact that
ancient men are supposed to have lived in the period
between Peking Man and Upper Cave Man.
The
discoveries at Zhoukoudian are of great significance,
for the sites date the cultural history of Beijing
back to 600,000 years ago. It is could be considered
one of the birthplaces of world civilization, so the
people of Beijing are very proud of it. Zhoukoudian
has become a scientific research base for the study
of anthropology and has been named a key cultural
preservation unit by the State Council of the Chinese
government. |