In 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China, and the city of Beijing was in chaos. At this time, a German doctor practicing medicine in China, Harbel, was forced to leave Beijing. Before leaving, he took with him a box of medicinal herbs called "keels".
In fact, the "keel" is a fossil of ancient mammals. Later, Haber gave the "keel" to the German vertebrate paleozoologist Schlosser. After careful study, the professor actually identified an ancient primate's tooth. Is this tooth human or ape??
It wasn't until more than 20 years later that he learned that this was a surprising discovery.
Chinese have a special love for dragons, known as "keels" not only the fossils of Zhoukoudian, but also the oracle bones discovered in 1899 (Source: Internet)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" >, Prelude: Investigation and Test Excavation</h1>
In the early years of the Republic of China, the Swedish geologist Anderson was hired as a mining consultant of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of the Beiyang government, and he never forgot the tooth that Schlosser found in the "keel". So a group of technicians were recruited, and after granting simple fossil knowledge, they were instructed to search for fossils throughout North China.
Anderson kicked off the excavations at the Zhoukoudian site, but his greater contribution was in the field of Neolithic archaeology in China, known as the "father of Yangshao culture."
In 1918, the Zhoukou store in southwest Beijing caught Anderson's attention. At this time, Zhoukoudian is still a nameless small mountain village, the environment is closed, and the traffic is very inconvenient. The people who have lived here have been firing lime and mining coal for generations.
Location of Zhoukoudian in Beijing (Source: Network)
In the spring of 1921, three foreigners appeared in Zhoukoudian: Anderson, the American Granger, and the Austrian scholar Shi Dansky. There is a hill in Zhoukoudian, and local farmers say that many "chicken bones" are often found on this mountain.
After investigation, Anderson and his party found that these bones were not actually chickens, but some relatively small mammal fossils. After being led by the local people, Anderson and others came to The Keel Mountain. Here they found fossils of swollen deer, rhinoceros and some quartz fragments.
Zhoukoudian Keel Mountain (Source: Network)
After the work was completed in 1921, because there were no paleontologists in China at that time, the specimens were transported to the laboratory of Uppsala University in Sweden for collation and research. Including specimens excavated and collected in Zhoukoudian in the years after 1921.
1921 trial excavation of the Zhoukoudian site (Source: Network))
On October 22, 1926, in the small auditorium of the Union Hospital, Anderson officially announced to the outside world that human tooth fossils had been found in Zhoukoudian, Beijing. Chinese scholar Liang Qichao and French paleontologist De Rijin also made academic reports. The news of the discovery of human tooth fossils in Zhoukoudian thrilled everyone present.
At this moment, Zhoukoudian has become the focus of the world's attention, and the mysterious veil of Dragon Bone Mountain is slowly being unveiled.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" >2. Everything is ready: the excavation work begins</h1>
The discovery of human teeth in Zhoukoudian deeply attracted the attention of a Canadian physical anthropologist named Bu Dasheng.
Before that, Bu Dasheng was convinced that Central Asia was the birthplace of mankind, and he was preparing to go to Xinjiang for an expedition. The discovery of Zhoukoudian's human teeth changed Bu Dasheng's itinerary in China, and he devoted himself to the excavation of Zhoukoudian with great enthusiasm, and began to travel everywhere for the excavation and research funds of Zhoukoudian. With the efforts of Bu Dasheng, the Rockefeller Foundation in the United States promised to donate $24,000 to sponsor the excavation of Zhoukoudian.
Bu Dasheng was a professor at Peking Union Medical College at the time. In 1929, he was appointed honorary director of the Cenozoic Research Office of the China Geological Survey (Source: Network)
Bu Dasheng also contacted Weng Wenhao, director of the China Geological Survey, hoping to jointly excavate the Zhoukoudian site with the China Geological Survey. Bu Dasheng's suggestion was warmly responded to by Weng Wenhao.
After consultation, the two sides reached an agreement, the third paragraph of which on the ownership of fossil collections stipulates that all collected specimens shall belong to the China Geological Survey; however, anthropological materials, on the premise of not being transported out of China, shall be kept by Peking Union Medical College Hospital for research purposes.
It was this spirit of cooperation that eventually led to the excavation of Zhoukoudian Keel Mountain.
Weng Wenhao (1889-1971), a famous scholar, became the chief executive of the National Government, and can also be regarded as the limit of learning Youdeenshi in the Republic of China period
In 1927, under the leadership of the Swedish paleontologist Bu Lin and the famous Chinese geologist Li Jie, large-scale archaeological excavations at the first site of Zhoukoudian began. On the barren Zhoukoudian Keel Mountain, the technicians planed and dug, but they did not attract much attention from the world, even the villagers of Zhoukoudian were not interested. However, it is this large-scale and purposeful excavation that has opened a new chapter in human understanding of its origins.
Bu Lin, Bu Dasheng, li jie at the Zhoukoudian site (Source: Network)
Since the 19th century, modern science has grown up with the development of capitalism. At that time, the struggle between science and religion was fierce on the question of human origins. Religious people deduce that the day God created mankind was Sunday, December 23, 4004, at 9 a.m., and from then on, it has been multiplying.
(Source: Network)
But many scholars agree with the Darwinian doctrine of "apes with ancestors". The German evolutionist Haeckel also proposed a hypothesis: there is a transitional form in the process of evolution from apes to humans. Haeckel called him the "Ape Man." Scientific hypotheses need to be empirically proven, and only by presenting solid scientific evidence can we change the understanding of God's creation of man.
In 1891, Dutch anatomist Dubwa discovered ancient fossils of hominids on the Indonesian island of Java, including a skull and a complete thigh bone. The skull resembles an ape, and Dubois named haeckel the "ape man" who named him. Because the thighs resemble people, it shows that he can already walk upright. This is the famous Javanese ape man.
Javanese Ape Man Restoration Avatar (Source: Internet)
In 1895, Dubois brought the discovery back to Europe and published it at a scientific congress. But he found that he was greeted not by applause or flowers. Because science at that time was bound by traditional ideas, no one could believe that human beings had a history of 500,000 years. Dubois's discovery was opposed by religious figures. The scientific community also believes that he found not the ancestors of humans, but a deformed human or a living gibbon in Asia.
More than 20 years later, Dubois's like-minded people gathered at The Zhoukou store in Beijing, dreaming of new discoveries to prove the "apes with ancestors" doctrine.
Will they find ape-man fossils?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" > 3. First test of the ox knife: from finding the teeth to the mandible</h1>
As the summer of 1927 approached, Yan Xishan's forces and the Feng warlord Zhang Zuolin engaged in a scuffle near Beijing. The situation around Zhoukoudian is also unstable. Despite this, the excavations have made unprecedented progress. By winter, the archaeological team had found a large number of cave deposits.
In 1927, the first site of the Zhoukoudian site was excavated. (Source: Network)
Three days before the end of work, on October 16, Bu Lin rushed back to the office from the construction site with a satisfied smile on his face. He found a complete human molar.
Based on this tooth, the excited Bu Lin imagined the image of a Beijing ape man and deliberately drew a Chinese morning glory flower on the ape man's neck. On this painting, Bu Lin wrote a sentence: "When the world is young, human beings are very pleasant and happy. ”
The beijing ape-man imagination depicted by Bu Lin (Source: Network)
The human tooth also made Bu Dasheng extremely excited, and he wrote to Anderson: "We have finally got a beautiful human tooth, which is indeed exciting news. ”
Based on this human tooth, Bu Dasheng first proposed a new species of ancient ape man, the Chinese ape man Beijing species, referred to as "Peking man". It is believed that the "Peking people" lived in the Tertiary Period, about 500,000 years ago. Since then, Bu Dasheng has traveled the world with fossils, hoping to gain the recognition of the academic community. But the international academic community believes that he is ignorant and bold, and has come to such a significant conclusion with so little material.
Fossils of human molars found in Bulin (Source: Network)
However, the ridicule of the international academic community did not dampen Bu Dasheng's enthusiasm, and he decided to look for more important evidence to prove his point.
In 1928, two more young people were added to the excavation site, one of whom was named Yang Zhongjian, who had just returned from studying in Germany and came to preside over the excavation of Zhoukoudian at the invitation of Weng Wenhao. Yang Zhongjian's teacher was the Schlosser who found the fossil teeth of ancient primates.
The other is Pei Wenzhong, a college student who just graduated from Peking University's geology department, when he was just 24 years old. In his work, Pei Wenzhong showed great talent and serious attitude, and was very much appreciated by Brin.
Yang Zhongjian (left) and Pei Wenzhong
Although nearly three months of good times were wasted due to the war, the harvest was much better this year than in 1927, with more than 500 boxes of ancient animal fossils collected in total.
Before the end of the work, an adult's right mandible appeared in front of people, on which three intact teeth were preserved. This made Bu Dasheng feel extremely excited. In his opinion, these materials are enough to prove the real existence of the Chinese ape-man Beijing species.
Soon, the research work of Zhoukoudian also achieved results. In this year, Yang Zhongjian cooperated with De Rijin to write the "Preliminary Report on the Geological and Paleontological Research of Zhoukoudian".
In 1928, Pei Wenzhong, Wang Hengsheng, Wang Gongmu, Yang Zhongjian, Bu Lin, Bu Dasheng, De Rijin, and Balbo were at the zhoukoudian site (from left to right).
In the report, Yang Zhongjian and De Rijin drew a stratified map of the fossils of Zhoukoudian, drawing 10 layers of fossil accumulations at the Peking Man site from top to bottom. In the 6th layer of the pile, the fossilized animal bones are very abundant. De Rijin and Yang Zhongjian determined that the age of the accumulation clearly belonged to the Pleistocene. This method of hierarchical research laid a solid foundation for the later research of Zhoukoudian.
Stratigraphic section of zhoukoudian site 1
However, at this time, the excavation of Zhoukoudian encountered a low tide. By 1929, representatives of the Rockefeller Foundation had shown their reluctance to reinvest, and the experts who had presided over the excavations had left. After discussing with Bu Dasheng, Weng Wenhao decided to hand over the excavation of zhoukoudian to pei Wenzhong, 25.
Academic and administrative work was concentrated on Pei Wenzhong. However, his mood was very low, and he later wrote in a memoir: "After Bu Dasheng, De Rijin, and Yang Zhongjian left, Yamanaka suddenly felt lonely and lived a lonely life. The fifth layer of the mountain work is very hard, and how we collapse and explode does not work, I think the mountain work is quite chicken ribs. ”
In the autumn of 1929, the top of the first site (Ape Man Cave) was excavated (Source: Network)
Despite this, the persistent Pei Wenzhong, together with the workers, dug up the hard layers of rock little by little. At this time, a large number of ancient animal fossils are displayed in front of people.
At the end of November 1929, news came from Peiping that due to weather conditions, the excavations had been stopped. But Pei Wenzhong decided to make the last attempt of the year. What will this last attempt bring to people?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="45" >, shocking the world: the first skull was invited out of the cave</h1>
At 4 p.m. on December 2, 1929, a sunset hung on the Keel Mountain of Zhoukoudian on the outskirts of Beiping, and the excavation of fossils was being carried out intensely, and people cherished the last excavation time of the year and hoped for exciting discoveries.
Deep in the huge opening, the mechanics dug the parts to the point where they were too narrow to be narrow. Suddenly, people found that there was a gap stretching in the south direction, was there still a hole?
The mechanics looked closely, and sure enough, it was a hole. After Pei Wenzhong heard the news, he immediately decided to go down to the cave to check it out himself.
Pei Wenzhong found a rope, tied it around his waist, struggled to the bottom of the cave, and then slowly followed the dim light. Suddenly, Pei Wenzhong saw an exposed flat round thing, and after careful observation, he couldn't help but exclaim that it was a skull!
In 1929, the first Peking ape skull site was excavated (Source: Network)
Since it was late, some people advocated digging again the next day. But Pei Wenzhong still insisted on digging it out. He pried it with a crowbar, and the skull popped out of the soil. Judging from the broken parts, this ape-man skull is much thicker than a modern human skull. The ancient "Beijingers" have traveled through the wind and dust of history and finally reappeared in the human world.
Due to the wrapping of the dirt, it was impossible to see the true face of the skull for a while. Pei Wenzhong took the skull fossil back to the dormitory, and the mechanic Wang Cunyi carefully dried it by the fire.
Pei Wenzhong spent a sleepless night.
The person who returned to Peiping to deliver the letter was gone. However, in order to let Peiping know the news as soon as possible, Pei Wenzhong sent a telegram to Bu Dasheng early in the morning: "Qing has a skull, extremely complete, quite human-like." ”
Bu Dasheng, who was far away in Beiping, hardly believed that Pei Wenzhong had such good luck, and in a letter to Anderson on December 5, he wrote: "Yesterday, I received a call from Pei from Zhoukoudian saying that he would bring back a complete ape skull fossil to Beiping tomorrow, and I hope he is true. ”
Pei Wenzhong wrapped the skull in luggage and brought it back to Beiping, and Bu Dasheng carefully observed it and confirmed that it was the ape skull. More than 20 days later, the skull specimen was repaired. This skull of a "Beijinger" from about 500,000 years ago proves Bu Dasheng's original judgment.
In 1929, Pei Wenzhong held a reinforced skull.
After the skull of the "Beijinger" was wrapped in plaster, Pei Wenzhong deliberately held it on his chest and took this photo. Many years later, when Pei Wenzhong saw this photo without his complete head, he jokingly said: "My head is not important." ”
As soon as the news was announced, it quickly became an explosive news in the global academic community. Because human bone fossils were extremely rare at that time, this discovery was praised by scientists who agreed with the theory of evolution in foreign academic circles as the most moving discovery in the history of ancient human research.
After Bu Dasheng's meticulous restoration, the skull became flawless, and the mysterious "Beijinger" showed people his unique style for the first time.
The discovery of the "Peking Man" skull provides strong evidence for the ape-to-man doctrine and gives an answer to the question of whether the "Javanese" discovered by Dubois is a man or an ape. However, there were still people in the academic circles at that time who doubted: could the skull alone determine that the "Peking man" was an ape man and not an ape?
The use of fire is an important symbol in the history of human development. In 1930, Pei Wenzhong found pieces of earth and ashes that had been roasted by fire at the site of the "Peking People". So do "Beijingers" really use fire?
"Pekingese" burn stones
In the winter of 1930, when the specimens of charcoal blocks found at the site of the Peking Man were brought back to Europe, Dr. Gobert, an authority in the Mineral Research Laboratory of the Paris Museum, after chemical experiments, made an analysis: this is indeed a charcoal block left over from ancient times. But is this a trace of human use or a trace of natural fire? Scholars have debated this for more than eighty years, and the debate is still not over today.
Although the evidence for fire was questionable, it was not long before a stronger piece of evidence emerged. While cleaning up the soft buildup on the ground, a large number of gravel debris was found. Pei Wenzhong found that the debris was significantly different from the surrounding rocks, but came from the river farther outside the cave, and deduced that the stones were moved to the cave by "Peking people".
"Peking man" "disc scraper
Pei Wen and his men later used the simulation method to hit the stones collected by the river one by one, and found that the stone tools they made were very similar to the stones in the cave. Pei Wenzhong further deduced that the "Peking people" used these stone tools as tools to obtain the necessities of life. Pei Wenzhong believes that the discovery of stone tools is even more important than the discovery of skulls, because stone tools prove that "Peking people" are people.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="65" >5</h1>
In March 1931, two more young people came to the Zhoukoudian excavation site. One is Bian Meinian, a graduate of Yenching University, who has studied geology and biology. The other was the famous scholar Jia Lanpo, who was later known.
Jia Lanpo (1908-2001) (Source: Beijing Daily)
Born in Hebei, Jia Lanpo's mother took him to Beijing when he was 12 years old in order to give him a formal education. In 1931, by chance, he learned that the China Geological Survey had recruited trainees. After applying for the examination, he was admitted with excellent results, and was soon sent to Zhoukoudian and became a trainee under Pei Wenzhong.
In the spring of 1934, Bu Dasheng died of a sudden heart attack. The excavations were taken over by the German anthropologist Wei Dunrui.
Wei Dunrui was very eager to make more amazing discoveries, because the two skulls of the "Beijingers" found earlier, one was a juvenile individual and the other was a fragment of the skull, which made it impossible for the academic community to study the specific appearance of the "Beijingers" and further understand the evolution of the "Beijingers" group. To solve these problems, there must be the discovery of adult ape-man skulls.
(From left to right) De Rijin, Bian Meinian, Yang Zhongjian, Pei Wenzhong in Zhoukou store
A year later, Pei Wenzhong left Zhoukoudian to study paleoanthropology in France, where he studied under the famous prehistoric archaeologist Bu Riye. Bian Meinian also quickly went to Kalimantan, Indonesia. Therefore, Jia Lanpo naturally became the overall person in charge of the excavation work.
From left to right: Pei Wenzhong, Li Siguang, De Rijin, Bian Meinian, Yang Zhongjian
In 1936, the work was so monotonous that only Jia Lanpo was alone in presiding over the excavation of Zhoukoudian. When autumn comes, the environment gets worse. Wei Dunrui's control was too strict, the funds were becoming increasingly tight, and disappointment and impatience gradually spread.
On October 22, the mechanic accidentally found an adult female mandible, which was fairly intact. This strengthened Jia Lanpo's confidence, and he patrolled east and west, lest he miss a single clue.
On the morning of November 15, 1936, the mechanic Zhang Haiquan dug up a small piece of bone fossil in a relatively soft piece of sand, and when he was about to put it in the small thorn basket in front of him, Jia Lanpo happened to see it, and immediately asked him to stop and rush forward to pick up the bone piece and look at it carefully, thinking that this was a human bone.
Jia Lanpo immediately surrounded the area where the human bones were unearthed with ropes, selected three experienced technicians to clean up with him, and successively found a large number of fragments such as occipital bones, eyebrow bones, ear bones, etc., which belonged to the same adult skull fossil.
The scene when the skull of the third "Peking man" was discovered. (Source: Network)
Perhaps because of excessive mental tension, it was not until noon that Jia Lanpo removed all the fragments of the skull.
In the afternoon, the good news came again, and a fossilized adult skull was found at the same site. Jia Lanpo called Beiping overnight to inform him that Wei Dunrui was ecstatic when he heard the news, and immediately drove to Zhoukoudian, and after seeing the fossils, he praised them one after another and couldn't help but be overjoyed.
Another skull was unearthed in further excavations.
In 1936, an exciting harvest year came to an end. This year, a total of three adult ape-man skull fossils were found in a dozen days. With a spirit of earnestness and dedication, Jia Lanpo laid his place in the history of fossil discovery of "Peking Man".
1937 was the golden age of excavations, and the Rockefeller Foundation in the United States funded tens of thousands of dollars. There is greater hope for excavation. At the end of June, the technicians cleaned, numbered and packed the fossils as usual and sent them to the Zhoukoudian Railway Station for shipment to Beiping.
One day in early July, a sudden call came from the Zhoukoudian railway station, and the train to Beiping was impassable and the situation was unknown.
The next day, disturbing news came...
(Unfinished)