Lead
November 11, 1988
The author published it in the third edition of Chinese Cultural Relics
"The Theory of Human Beings Starting at the Same Time with Fire"
In the text, the site of Xihoudu in Ruicheng, Shanxi
Yunnan Yuanmou Ape Man
Beijing Zhoukoudian ape man and other sites
The discovery of human beings is based on fire relics
Cite information related to early Paleolithic archaeological discoveries at home and abroad
Through deductive reasoning, inductive verification
The final result is:
The conclusion that the origin of mankind began at the same time as that of man
Today
The geological dating data of the Xihoudu site have new results
From the original 18 million years
Leap forward to 2.43 million years!
It can be said that this is good news
It has attracted worldwide attention and the Chinese people are excited
It turns out that academics believe that the world's human beings originated from the earliest
Africa's narrative needs to change
With the continuous enrichment of archaeological discovery data
Our country becoming the world's earliest place of origin for mankind will turn from hope into reality
▲Topography of the Xihoudu site
Recently, the French "L′Anthropolie" (Anthropological Journal) no. 11, 2020 published the latest dating data and related research results of the Xihoudu site in Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province. Based on the burial dating analysis of aluminium-beryllium isotopes (26Al/10Be) ratio collected from two Paleolithic sites at the Xihoudu site, the isotope age of the site was about 2.43 million years (2.43±0.06 Ma). The research was done in collaboration with Nanjing Normal University, Shanxi Institute of Archaeology, Purdue University in the United States, and Kingsoft University in South Africa.
The dating data of the original Cited Xihoudu site is 1.8 million years, while the newly released dating data of the site is 2.43 million years earlier. What does this mean? This means that for many years the academic consensus that "the earliest ancestors of mankind originated in Africa" has been shaken. Asia, especially china's Yellow River Basin, is entirely possible to be the earliest origin of human beings in the world.
Now it seems inappropriate for the humble work to unify the chronology of the lives of the Xihoudu ape man and the yuanmou ape man in the second stage of human use of fire. Because the new dating data of the Xihoudu site has been pushed forward from the original 1.8 million years to 2.43 million years, its fire stage should be the same as the age of the Ludolph Lake ape man, which belongs to the first stage of human fire.
From the professional perspective of archaeology, the advance of the dating data of the Xihoudu site is not just a matter of age. 2.34 million years, it marks the glory and prosperity of human evolution in a certain region of the earth. This glorious and prosperous region is not in other parts of the world, but in Asia, in China, and in the Guhedong region of Shanxi, China, and its significance and influence are extraordinary and far-reaching.
►The following is the content of the original text published by the author in the "China Cultural Relics News" that year
Humble original text:
How long has the history of human use of fire? Many archaeologists are still exploring this question today.
In the 1870s, when Henry Morgan was studying this issue, due to the lack of archaeological data, he could only use fire at the time of the middle obscurantist society, that is, the beginning of the acquisition of fish food (equivalent to the late Paleolithic or the beginning of the Mesolithic age), based on the ethnographic data that existed among Australians and mostLynians at that time. People's history of human use of fire is still stuck in the concept of tens of thousands of years.
From 1927 to 1957, a large amount of charcoal, ash and burned earth, stones, bones and seeds were excavated at the Zhoukoudian Ape Man Cultural Site in Beijing, as well as ash layers and burnt bones found at the 13th site of Zhoukoudian, which was slightly earlier than the "Beijing Ape Man", thus expanding people's horizons and changing people's understanding of the concept of time with fire.
▲The first place of Beijing Zhoukou store "Ape Man Cave"
▲ Burnt bones excavated from the Zhoukoudian Ape Man Site in Beijing
▲Stone tools made by the zhoukoudian ape man
When Jia Lanpo and Mr. Wu Rukang studied these materials, they pointed out: "The use of fire by human beings did not begin in the era of the 'Peking people'." At that time, the Peking Ape Man had a long experience in using fire. In this way, the history of human use of fire is pushed to 550,000 years ago.
▲ The ash layer on the ground floor of the Zhoukoudian Ape Man Site in Beijing
Since the early 1960s, a large number of new evidences of human use of fire have been discovered in France and China.
▲Beijing mountaintop cave ape man fire scene map
As far as I know, in 1960, not far from Marseille in southeastern France, when workers blasted to build a road, from a cave called Esca, they found what is considered to be the oldest fire relic in Europe - charcoal, burning stone, ashes, and five red-burnt earth ruins with a diameter of 90 centimeters on the ground, which are up to 1 million years old. In 1960, during the investigation and excavation of the Ruicheng River Cultural Site in Shanxi Province, Mr. Jia Lanpo and Mr. Wang Jian found burning antlers and limb bones of mammals. The ancient geomagnetic measurement of the Site of the Jiaohe Culture is more than 690,000 years old.
▲Excavation site of Ruicheng Jiaohe Cultural Site 690,000 years ago
▲ Burnt bones excavated from the site of Xihoudu
▲ Xihoudu people with fire scene map
▲ Three-sided large pointed vessel excavated from the site of Xihoudu
In 1961 and 1962, when the Shanxi Provincial Museum excavated the Xihoudu cultural site 3.5 kilometers from the Jiaohe site, it "found some black, gray, and gray-green mammal bones, antlers and horse teeth." The gray-green horse teeth also exploded into fragments, no different from the burned bones and teeth of the Peking man site, and after testing, they were also proved to have been burned." "The absolute age of the Xihoudu site was preliminarily determined by paleomagnetism at least 1.8 million years ago."
▲Stone artifacts excavated from the Site of Xihoudu in 2005
▲Paleolithic tools and animal fossils excavated from the Lantian Gongwangling Ape Man Site in Shaanxi
In 1966, in the accumulation of the skull of lantian people containing lantian man in the Gongwangling of Lantian in Shaanxi Province, which was determined by ancient geomagnetism 100 to 800,000 years ago, black material was also found, all charcoal, and a small number of larger charcoal particles were visible to the naked eye. ”
▲The site of the lime cave ape man in the Yunfeng Brigade of Jiuba Commune, Tongzi County, Guizhou Province
"In the summer of 1971, the Guizhou Provincial Museum excavated ape-man fossils and other vertebrate fossils and stone tools in the lime cave of the Yunfeng Brigade of Jiuba Commune in Tongzi County, and found several pieces of charcoal and burnt bones." According to the comparative study of the fossil bones of the ape man in the ash cave and the fossil bone of the Peking ape, the age of the ape man in the ash cave is about the same or slightly earlier than the age of the "Peking ape man".
In the summer of 1973, the Geology Department of Wangjiazhai Coal Mine in Guizhou Province found ash and mammal fossils in the ash cave of Yiqi Commune, Shuicheng County. The following year, excavated by the Guizhou Provincial Museum, in the remaining accumulation of 10 meters wide, 0.3 to 1 deep, and 01 to 0.7 meters thick, more than 50 pieces of paleolithic materials were obtained, and the ash layer was 0.15 meters thick, which contained many burnt bones, burnt stones and a certain number of mammal fossils. The site is dated to the Middle Pleistocene.
In the winter of 1973, when excavating the fossil production area of The Yuanmou people in Shangnabang Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province, not only the stone tools made by the Yuanmou people were found from the strata, but also a large amount of charcoal chips were found. These chips are mostly mixed in clay and silty clay, and a small amount is also sandwiched in the gravel lens body, and the carbon chips are deposited up to 3 meters thick.
It is worth noting that these carbon chips are often associated with mammalian fossils, and some fossil bone fragments have artificial traces, and the largest carbon particles in the carbon chips can reach a diameter of up to 15 mm, and the small ones are about 1 mm. At the time of excavation, its distribution density was measured by random sampling, and on a plane of 4×3 centimeters, there were as many as 16 charcoal grains above 1 millimeter (13)! "The Yuanmou Ape Man lived about 1.7 million years ago.
▲ A map of the life of the Yuanmou ape man 1.7 million years ago
▲ The chopper found at the ruins of the Yuanmou Ape Man
These data show that the history of human use of fire can be gradually advanced from 550,000 years, 690,000 years, 800,000 years, 1 million years, 1.5 million years, and 1.7 million years to 1.8 million years ago. Can I still push it up? wait! Let's go back and see how some scholars have viewed the problem of human use of fire after the above discoveries.
▲Comparison of skull fossils and characteristics of the main stages of human evolution
In order to prove that the "Peking Ape Man" is one of the earliest ancestors of human use of fire, Li and Hu also looked for evidence to illustrate this problem from the process of brain volume change of ape people. In the same article, they wrote that the brain capacity of a 2.8 million-year-old Australopith australopithecus was found by Richard Leakey in 1972 east of Lake Ludolph in East Africa, which had a brain volume of 700 milliliters. To "Java Ape Man" only added more than 100 milliliters to 855 milliliters. The increase is rare in these 2 million years, with an average increase of less than 1 milliliter per 10,000 years. However, when it came to the "Peking Ape Man" with fire, the brain volume quickly increased to 1043 ml. An average increase of 10 milliliters per 10,000 years. After that, the average increase is more than 10 milliliters per 10,000 years. As far as Li and Hu are concerned, the history of human use of fire cannot break through the 700,000-year mark under any circumstances.
▲ Schematic diagram of the change in brain volume in human beings at different stages of the evolutionary process
But can the great discovery that we have cited so repeatedly be the existence of illusions? No! Definitely not! While the author cites the information in detail, it is not only to show that their existence is a fact, but more importantly, to explore the history that has not been revealed through them.
Once the history of the world, which has not been decided in the past, is confirmed in archaeology, then it should draw its own conclusions. Based on the archaeological data retrieved in this article, is it possible to draw conclusions about the history of human use of fire? Doesn't seem to work! Because as far as the earliest evidence of human use of fire has been discovered, no one has made a reasonable explanation in objective fact and theory.
Judging from the way most scholars study the use of fire by humans, they are generally influenced by the view that "human beings use fire to cook meat from the beginning". Not bad! The use of fire by human beings does have a certain relationship with the history of human flesh-eating. Because the ancestors of humans were apes. Apes are basically vegetarian. In ancient times, apes not only could not taste the delicious taste of meat, but also feared the fishy taste of meat. To eat meat, you must hunt first, and if you have meat, you must roast it first. To roast, fire must be used, but to be precise, human use of fire begins with cooked food, and roasting meat with fire is after the hunt begins.
If we analyze the connection between human use of fire and the use of human beings to make tools and begin hunting, the beginning of human hunting can at least be the lower limit of the age when human beings began to use fire. Of all the Paleolithic tools currently found in the world, the vast majority are related to hunting. In particular, some of the oldest and most clumsy stone tools, the analysis of their use value is more related to hunting.
In the case of the choppers and scrapers in the Paleolithics, who is sure they have nothing to do with hunting? If this tool is not directly related to human hunting (or cannot be used for hunting), at least there is an indirect relationship, using choppers and scrapers to make wooden spears, javelins and the like for hunting, can it be said that it has no relationship with human hunting?
On further analysis, who is sure that any scraper or smasher with traces of use has not dissected the animals hunted by apes? No one dares, no one will do these things that are contrary to science. That being the case, it is not too much to consider the advent of hunting tools as the latest sign of human use of fire.
The author believes that if an ancient cultural site, as long as there are hunting tools left by ape people, although no other evidence of fire use has been found, we should also be sure that the ape people here have begun to use fire at that time.
▲ Xihoudu ape man with fire real scene restoration map
Humans have found the lower limit of fire time, so when is the upper limit? Because the question revolves around the argument that "man started at the same time as man with fire." Since the use of fire by human beings is discussed, it is impossible to go beyond the age of human existence. As a new point of view, a new theory is proposed, it is necessary to understand the origin of the problem itself.
Regarding how humans eat cooked meat, there is a legend in the United States: once primitive people encountered a fire, after the fire was extinguished, they went to see the animals that burned to death, touched it with their hands, felt very hot, and instinctively shrunk to their mouths. So, the tongue licked the gravy on his hand, felt that it tasted good, and ate the cooked meat from then on. Now, no archaeologist has escaped the influence of the idea that humans cook their own meat with fire.
▲ Yuanmou ape man with fire scene map
Can we imagine that in the early days of primitive man's life, a fire only burned a few animals? And is there a small amount of what remains of large areas of forest and natural vegetation that can be eaten by people? Did primitive people not know the aroma of the fruits and roots of various plants after being grilled by fire?
Morgan once said in the book "Ancient Societies": "Since the existence of human beings, intelligence has become a more prominent factor." Humans are likely to have included animals in their food programs from very early times. Physiologically, humans were an omnivore, but in very ancient times they actually used fruit as their main food."
As we all know: picking the fruit of plants and digging up the roots of plants is much easier than hunting down animals. At the beginning of primitive society, why didn't apes prioritize roasting the fruits and roots of plants that were readily available, but must hunt down animals that were not easy to obtain? Cooked meat is delicious, but when an ape man burns firewood on the first wildfire, the food baked can never be the body of an animal, but most likely the nuts or roots of some kind of plant. So, when did apes start eating cooked meat?
We have already discussed this problem, which is marked by the advent of hunting tools. But our emphasis on the fact that the objects of human cooked food are the fruits and roots of plants, not the bodies of animals, does this mean that the history of man's use of fire precedes the history of man himself—that is, before man makes tools? not! At present, the earliest stone tools found in the world are 51 gravel tools found by the Kenya Museum Expedition in 1968-1972 at several stone tool sites in the eastern region of Lake Ludolfo in Kenya, dating from 2.61 million years ± 260,000 years ago.
▲ Cutters and scrapers were excavated from paleolithic sites in the eastern region of Lake Ludolph in Kenya
Mr. Jalampo pointed out that "all the stone tools that have been discovered in the world today do not represent the earliest human initiation qualifications. Mankind's first stone knife was also found in more ancient formations. He added: "If someone asks me how long the culture of mankind has been, I recommend looking for it in a 3 million-year-old stratum." ”
▲Distribution map of major ancient human sites in China
It can be speculated that the earliest tools were modeled on more suitable natural objects, and they were a universal tool, and it relied on it to cut, smash, cut, and cut. And this universal tool is not yet available in the hands of our archaeologists. Therefore, the relationship between this universal tool and human use of fire has not yet been clarified.
I once set up a sign for the first time with fire for humans: that is, the first ape-man pinned his hope that the wildfire in front of them would never be extinguished. The first handful of firewood was placed on the pile of wildfires that were about to be extinguished, and this was the beginning of the use of fire by humans. If ape-men only knew how to grill food in a pile of seemingly unquenchable hot ashes at first, but never added firewood to this pile of wildfire charcoal ash, then this cannot be counted as the real beginning of human use of fire!
▲ Xihoudu people use fire to grill meat sculpture
Then again, what does the use of fire have to do with the tools humans make? We just mentioned that the earliest tool made by humans is a universal tool that can both smash and cut. Why would people make such a universal tool? Is it intrinsically related to the beginning of human use of fire? This is a question worth considering. It is believed that the use of fire by human beings was mainly used for cooked food at first, and both cooked food and fuel were needed, and the first stone knife of mankind was probably made for chopping wood and grass. Therefore, the use of fire by human beings began at the same time as human beings themselves.
Engels pointed out: "Labor creates man. "The difference between man and animal is the manufacture of tools," and no ape hand has ever made even the most clumsy stone knife. It could also be said that no ape hand has ever added a handful of firewood to a wildfire that is about to be extinguished. The use of fire by humans actually started at the same time as human beings themselves.
Because every fire is an accidental phenomenon, this accidental phenomenon includes two situations: one is the heavenly fire; the other is the earth fire (the heavenly fire includes the fire of lightning and the fire of meteors, and the earth fire includes the fire of the volcano and the fire of phosphating). Ape people encounter fire mostly in the first case. But the sky fire (mainly referring to the fire of lightning) sometimes happens several times a year, sometimes once in several years, or once in decades, not once in hundreds of years. Although the ape-man hopes that the wildfire will not be extinguished and add firewood to the fire, perhaps a wildfire may not last for a few days, it may be extinguished by nature, and even within a few hours, a pile of burning fires may be extinguished by the ensuing storm. In this way, the animals that the apes strive to catch lose the guarantee of grilling, and some plant fruits and roots that must be grilled to be edible cannot be eaten. The ape-man still can't overcome the magic of nature. Again and again they kept the tinder in place, but each time they were taken away by the storm. Apes live in struggle and advance in struggle!" The principle of incompatibility between water and fire was probably understood at the beginning of the ape man.
▲The life scene of the Xihoudu people is restored
Why? For example, after a rainstorm, a pile of ash that seems to have been extinguished by rain or rain can also emit wisps of green smoke from their burning ash piles in a few hours or days. What is the reason for this? When the apes explore this problem, they can find that the water is poured out of the fire, avoiding the water and adding firewood, and the fire can continue to burn.
At first, in order to preserve the fire, a group of apes probably had in-situ protection for wildfires, that is, they might have piled stones around the fire before heavy rain and winds came, or added wetter firewood to the fire, covered the leaves, etc. However, this still can not escape the clutches of nature, every time protected, there is always an unprotectable time, after countless times of repetition, people in the process of nature to take away their tinder, may find that the tinder can be relocated, that is, a strong wind may relocate a small piece of burning charcoal a few meters, tens of meters, or even hundreds of meters. After landing, as long as the conditions for burning there are ripe, new flames may rise from here.
Since the ape man wanted to cook it, he thought of a more advantageous way to preserve the fire, how can he better preserve the fire? The phenomenon of nature's countless relocation of tinder is also a gradual enlightenment process for ape people, who have learned to manage tinder in the process of many failures to obtain relocation tinder. Judging from the fire level of "Beijing Ape Man", it has developed to an advanced stage of fixed fire, that is, it can ideally manage fire.
Someone described the use of fire by the "Peking Ape Man" as follows: "They put the fire at the entrance of the cave at the top of the tunnel, so that wisps of green smoke could pass outside the cave." When they use the fire, they cover it with dry firewood, and when they don't use it, they lay a layer of wet soil, just as we seal the stove." In order to preserve the tinder, the tinder is guarded by an experienced elderly person. In case it is extinguished, borrow fire from the primitive groups in the vicinity.
If we divide the use of fire by humans simply into several stages, then, the first stage: the ape man began to put firewood on the wildfire pile, began to cook the fruits and roots of various plants; the second stage: the ape man began to preserve the fire, before the wind and rain, piled stones around the fire pile, covered with wet firewood, leaves, and the buds of hunting began to appear; the third stage: began to relocate the fire; the fourth stage: fixed fire, the ape man was able to skillfully manage the fire.
Judging from the data we have quoted above, the age of the life of the ape man in Lake Ludolph belongs to the first stage of human use of fire; the age of the life of the Xihoudu ape man and the yuanmou ape man belongs to the second stage of human use of fire; the age of the life of the Escal ape man and the Lantian ape man belongs to the third stage of human use of fire; the age of the Life of the Beijing Ape Man and the Lime Cave Man and the Nitrate Ash Cave Ape Man belongs to the fourth stage of human use of fire.
epilogue
From the theory of human evolution: the human fire relics (burning bones) buried in the Site of Xihoudu and the three-edged large sharpener, smasher, scraper, etc., with Engels: "Labor created man", the difference between man and animal is to make tools, "no ape hand has ever made even the most stupid stone knife" The analysis of the view can fully deduce the first act of human origin, that is, human beings started at the same time as human beings themselves with fire.
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