Traces of ancient men found near Beijing
(People's Daily)
Updated: 2005-06-24 16:06

Traces of ancient men were found recently in the suburbs of Beijing, indicating other possible sites of ancient men in the city.

A large number of fossils of ancient animals including bull, sheep and rabbit were recently found in a cave behind Xitaiping Village in Shidu, a scenic spot in Fangshan District in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing, 70 kilometers from downtown.

Preliminary examination by experts showed that these ancient creatures lived 100,000 years ago, earlier than the Upper Cave Man and later than the Peking Man.

A two-meter-long ash belt and tooth fossils, thought to belong to ancient men, were also discovered. The site is 35 kilometers from Zhoukoudian, where the Peking Man lived, indicating other possible sites of ancient men in Beijing.

The fossils were found accidentally during a tourism development program.

According to tourism professor Bi Fengxiang from Beijing International Studies University, who took part in the program, a deep cave was found in the mountain in last April. After entering the cave and walked more than 1,000 meters, they were blocked by an underground river. On April 7, workers began to dig and a large number of animal bone fragments were discovered, which were later proved to be 100,000 years old by experts from the Research Institute of Paleo-vertebrate creatures and Paleo-anthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Professor Bi also found two pieces of teeth fossils and thought that they belonged to ancient men. They are different from those of animals, he said, but are very like man's molars.

The ash belt suggests a high possibility of human activities 100,000 years ago in Shidu area, which is perhaps another home of Peking Man, Bi said. But another expert Lan Lizhi argued that an ash belt alone doesn't points to human existence, because a forest fire can simply leave the same traces. Fires lit up by ancient men at this site can only be proved by both ash belt and ancient man fossils.

Close

Demi Moore: conquer aging with baby Lin Chih-ling injured in horse fall Jolie adopts Ethiopian AIDS orphan

Today's Top News     Top Life News
Taiwan's KMT Party to elect new leader Saturday         'No trouble brewing,' beer industry insists         Critics see security threat in Unocal bid         DPRK: Nuke-free peninsula our goal         Workplace death toll set to soar in China         No foreign controlling stakes in steel firms	A novel without a word telling a love story?       108 Chinese grassroots women in race for Nobel       Mainland celebrities' ID card photos exposed online       An honesty crisis has hit Chinese fledglings       Distorted textbooks applied to Japanese students       Granny grows tired of prostitution at age 63