Choukuotien Cave(The first Paleolithic man at Choukuotien)

Choukuotien is a cave system in Beijing China.Dragon Bone Hill near

Choukuotien,the cave home of Peking Man is famous all over the world.The site has yielded
human fossils,artifacts made of bone or stone and traces of use of fire,that are roughly
500,000 and 200,000 years old.

Peking Man is extinct of the species Homo Erectus,known from fossils found at
Choukuotien,near Beijing.Peking Man was identified as a member of human lineage by
Davidson Black in 1927 on the basis of a single tooth.Later the excavations yielded several
skullcaps and mandibles,facial and limb bones and the teeth.On December 2,1929,the first
well preserved skull cap of the Peking man,was discovered by chinese workers.Until 1937,a
large number of fossil remains of Peking man ,his stone implements and evidence of his use
of fire were found in the site.

The fossils of Homo Erectus found in Java,considered by anthropologists to be more

primitive than Peking man.Until today,Peking man holds as ever a realistic and scientific
value.The Peking man site is representing the most comprehensively and systematically
studied site of Homo erectus.It also provides more precise scientific data for the study of
evolution,behaviors of Homo Erectus than contemporary African and European sites.Peking
Man skull is similar to that of modern man.The average cranial capacity of Peking Man is
measured 1059ml.

From 1921 to 1966,Andersson and Otto make survey at Choukuotien.Archaeologists

confirm that development of stone tools made by Peking Man shows the progress of Peking
Man better than his physical remains.

Peking man is a cave dweller,tool maker,fire user,gatherer and hunter.In view of fossil
records and cultural remains,he was superb in his environment with the adaptation of
physiological structure and technical ability.

The Peking Man site of Choukuotien bears a civilization which has disappeared and bears
witness to human communities of Asian continent from Middle Pleistocene and the site is not
only for China but also for the whole world.