Human civilization is born of water, and Chinese civilization, as the only ancient civilization that has not been interrupted, has had water protection from the beginning of its rise. In the north of China, the Yellow River meanders to the east, outlining the lifeline of "several" characters in the vast northern territory. From the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the Loess Plateau, the Yellow River runs along the Lüliang Mountains and reaches the Yuncheng Basin, suddenly turning right from the valley to nourish the fertile land in the south of Shanxi. Up to now, updated archaeological materials show that the southern part of Shanxi is the cradle of early Chinese civilization.
In Ruicheng County, Yuncheng County, southwestern Shanxi Province, near Zhongtiao Mountain, 7 kilometers north of Fenglingdu Town, there is a small village on the banks of the Yellow River, Xihoudu. In the 1960s, archaeologists discovered 22 early Pleistocene paleovertebrate fossils and 32 important stone artifacts from Xihoudu. The small village of Xihoudu has become the oldest Paleolithic site in China, the site of Xihoudu, which is about 1.8 million years old.
Shanxi is currently the province with the most paleolithic sites found in China. So far, more than 700 Paleolithic cultural relics have been found in Shanxi, proving that humans have been thriving on this land for 2 million years.
West Houdu
I. What did the ancient humans of Xihoudu look like 1.8 million years ago?
Human evolution has gone through five stages: Australopithecus - Homo erectus - Homo sapiens - Modern Man.
1.8 million years ago, the Nishihoudu people were in the Homo erectus stage, and Homo erectus had free hands and could walk upright, and their free hands could collect wild fruits from trees, dig up roots of underground plants, and make simple stone tools. The average height of the upright person reaches 160 cm, the weight reaches about 60 kg, and the upright walks on their legs. The face is relatively flat, the teeth are larger, and the brain volume is less, about 1000 ml (about 1500 for modern people).
Second, what is the life of the Xihoudu people?
eat
The Xihoudu people mainly eat meat, eat all raw food, knock bone marrow sucking is their real state of life; collect wild fruits, roots, flowers, wild grasses, aquatic creatures; hunting animals, birds and so on.
wear
The Xihoudu people were still in the early stages of obscurantism, and everything was "natural and random." It should be noted that the temperature fluctuates greatly between 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago, and the temperature is very low during the ice age, so the Xihoudu people should use animal skins to keep warm in extremely cold weather.
live
No human habitat remains have been found at the Xihoudu site 1.8 million years ago, and presumably every day is one day of struggle with nature. Of course, natural caves, underground caves, and thick and sturdy trees must be their ideal resting places.
use
Archaeologists have found 32 stone tools (small in number, but precious) in the site of Xihoudu, and the Xihoudu people have selected harder quartzite, veined quartz and volcanic rock to make stone tools. The types of stone tools are stone cores, stone chips, choppers, scrapers and three-sided large pointed tools.
Longevity and survival
Homo erectus has a short average lifespan, according to the statistics of stone age (including paleolithic and neolithic) human fossils found worldwide, the average lifespan of stone age humans is only ten years old, presumably in the vast nature of the difficult evolution and survival of the ancient humans of Xihoudu encountered threats from nature (bad weather, geological disasters, harsh terrain and landforms, prehistoric animals, etc.) and other ethnic groups.
3. What was the appearance of Xihoudu 1.8 million years ago?
Fossils of 22 species of Early Pleistocene mammals (all extinct) were found at the Site of Xihoudu, including flat-fronted elephant, Shanxi Phi Mao Rhinoceros, Li's wild boar, Bu's true comb deer, coarse-faced axis deer, Shanxi axis deer, Jinnan elk, double-forked elk, Bu's antelope, ancient Chinese bison, coarse and magnificent cow, ancient plate-toothed rhinoceros, Chinese long-nosed three-toed horse, and Sanmen horse. The discovery of these animals proves that the landform, water, soil and vegetation of Xihoudu since 1.8 million years are complex and diverse, but the overall landform is a sparsely forested grassland, and the water area is widely distributed.
Imagine 1.8 million years ago running in this ancient land of ancient Chinese bison, Shanxi woolly rhinoceros, Jinnan elk and other animals, swimming in the water with a variety of fish... The humans of Xihoudu live and multiply in a changeable and challenging natural environment, slowly accumulating the spark of human civilization.