DOCSLIB.ORG

Zhoukoudian, Archaeology Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341115053 Archaeology Zhoukoudian Chapter · January 2014 CITATIONS READS 0 76 2 authors: Xiaoling Zhang Chen Shen Chinese Academy of Sciences Royal Ontario Museum 20 PUBLICATIONS 281 CITATIONS 118 PUBLICATIONS 645 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Object of the Past: Art and Archaeology of Early China View project The Shandong Project View project All content following this page was uploaded by Chen Shen on 03 May 2020. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Z 7958 Zhoukoudian, Archaeology of Most recently, Zhan has organized the ICOMOS Asia-Pacific Group meetings in Zhoukoudian, Archaeology of China, worked with the international and national post-disaster heritage rescue and protection mea- Xiaoling Zhang1 and Chen Shen2 sures in the wake of Wenchuan earthquake in 1Department of Palaeoanthropology, Institute of 2008, and presented at various symposia on the Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, protection and management of cultural land- Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China scapes, industrial heritage, and the Grand Canal 2Department of World Cultures, Royal Ontario of China. Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada He is engaged in the conservation and moni- toring of heritage sites in China and serves as chair of the International Symposium on the Introduction Concepts and Practices of Conservation and Restoration of Historic Buildings in East Asia. Zhoukoudian is located in the Fangshan District, He participated in the revision of the Principles 55 km southwest of downtown Beijing. A hill for the Conservation of Heritage Sites in China called Longgushan “Dragon Bone Hill” was and organized the translation into Chinese of known by local farmers in the early twentieth History of Architectural Conservation written century for Ordovician limestone quarrying. by Jukka Jokilehto, the ICOMOS Charter on the Zhoukoudian was first visited by the Swedish Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson as a potential Heritage Sites (ICIP), Preparing World Heritage location of quaternary mammalian fossils in 1918. Nominations (World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS, The American paleontologist Walter Granger later IUCN), and of some interesting discussion papers identified fossils at the Dragon Bone Hill in 1921. of ICOMOS International Scientific Committee Austrian paleontologist Otto Zdansky then discov- on the Theory and Philosophy of Conservation ered two Homo erectus teeth from the Locality 1 and Restoration. cave in 1926, the same year Canadian anthropol- ogist Davidson Black named the hominid teeth as a new species Sinanthropus pekinensis (Black 1927). Black secured funding from the Rockefel- Cross-References ler Foundation and started the official international collaboration with the Cenozoic Research Labora- ▶ China: Cultural Heritage Management tory (today’s Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology ▶ China: Cultural Heritage Preservation and and Palaeoanthropology, Chinese Academy of World Heritage Sciences) in 1927. Both Davidson Black and ▶ China: Domestic Archaeological Heritage Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian led Management Law excavations at the site, where the first skull of ▶ China: Managing Cultural Heritage and Peking man was recovered by Chinese anthropol- the World Heritage List ogist Pei Wenzhong in 1929. Since 1930, Zhoukoudian has become one of the most important paleoanthropology sites for the study Further Reading of human evolution in the world. CAO, N. 2008. China. World heritage sites. London: Compendium. Definition GAO, J. (ed.) 2008. Atlas of world heritage. China. New York: Better Link Press. Zhoukoudian (aka Choukoutien in early MURPHY, J.D., 1995. Plunder and preservation. Cultural property law and practice in the People’s Republic of publications) is a UNESCO world heritage site China. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. in China. It refers to a village whose landscape Zhoukoudian, Archaeology of 7959 Z Zhoukoudian, Archaeology of, Fig. 1 The only surviving Peking man skull, examined by one of the authors (Dr. Chen Shen) at the Institute of Vertebrate and Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in 2010 (Photo credit, author (ZXL)) includes 27 localities of hominids, fauna, and Key Issues/Current Debates/Future cultural remains. Four of these localities yielded Directions/Examples significant hominid fossils of different species. Locality 1 cave (Peking man site) unearthed 203 Locality 1 (Peking Man Site) Homo fossil fragments of Homo erectus, belong- The most focused studies at Zhoukoudian have ing to more than 40 individuals (Fig. 1). These been dating, climatic context, lithic technology, included six nearly complete skulls, five of which and hominid and carnivore remains of the cave. were lost during WWII. The Peking man skulls Recent dating studies have changed the old are the most important study subjects for Asian perspectives about when Peking man lived, Homo erectus and have been published exten- suggesting the hominid appeared at Zhoukoudian sively. A human premolar unearthed from Local- as early as 780,000 years ago (Shen et al. 2009), ity 4 in 1973 was unknown to the world, which when the world was in extreme cold and dry probably belongs to Asian Archaic Homo sapi- climate. With cultural material deposits ens. Locality 26 (aka the Upper Cave) yielded 10 measuring 40 m deep, it is possible to show the individual fossil remains belonging to modern occupation of early hominids may have lasted human Homo sapiens sapiens, which are also half a million years at Zhoukoudian. Lithic well-studied specimens in paleoanthropology. artifacts were recovered from deposits of three The latest discovery of human fossils at cultural phases (early layers 8–10, middle layers Zhoukoudian was from the Tianyuan Cave 6–7 and QII, and late layers 3–5), accounting for where 34 fragments were found, including more than 17,000. These were catalogued into a mandible, teeth, and postcranial bones, which ten classes with 40 types of stone tools, which present a nearly complete individual (Shang & suggest a gradual transition from simple use to Trinkaus 2010). Direct AMS 14 C dating from a more complicated tool manufacturing process a limb fragment produced the most reliable and at the site. earliest date for China’s Homo sapiens sapiens at Zhoukoudian, ranging from 42,000 to 38,500 Locality 15 years ago. In addition, six localities (Locality 1, The lithic artifacts from Locality 15 (dated to 4, 13, 15, 22, and 26) yielded a large assemblage the late Middle Pleistocene and early Late of lithic artifacts and other cultural relics such as Pleistocene Periods) reveal evidence suggesting Z fire remains and ornaments. that lithic technology at the site was more Z 7960 Zhoukoudian, Archaeology of developed than that of their predecessors at the Locality 1 (Gao 2000). The Zhoukoudian Locality 15 hominid (most likely East Asian Homo heidelbergensis although no fossil found yet) effectively mastered sophisticated core reduction modes, represented by multi-directional flaking and alternate flaking, which were not evident at the Locality 1. Fire Use One of the issues debated about Zhoukoudian’s cultural contents is the use of fire. Although there is no structurally defined hearth at the Locality 1 site, burnt ashes, charcoals, burnt bones, and even stone tools were often identified in situ. Whether or not these fire-related activities were the result of intentional human control and manipulation or of natural causes and hydratic force is the subject of further studies. Since 2009, full-scale excavations at the Locality 1 have been carried out by Chinese scientists and have revealed pos- sible fire floors at the layer 4 (Fig. 2). An interdis- ciplinary research team is taking samples for all Zhoukoudian, Archaeology of, Fig. 2 Ongoing relevant scientific laboratory testings, and hope- excavation at Zhoukoudian Locality 1 by scientists from Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2009 (Photo credit: fully the results will advance our knowledge about the author (SC)) the human use of fire in the Middle Pleistocene at Zhoukoudian. Hunters or Hunted carnivore activities over hominids were all Since 1980s, a number of studies related to based on analyses of limited samples of fauna Peking man behaviors have challenged old and sediment. thoughts suggesting that Locality 1 was primar- Concerning all the discoveries and debates, ily a den of the giant hyena. Lewis Binford new systematic excavations and multi-disciplinary argued the deposition of fossil remains were research will bring the solutions. The comprehen- likely the results of carnivores’ activities sive study of lithics including both technology (Binford & Ho 1985). Later Steve Weiner (Wei- and function will reveal the behavioral capabi- ner et al. 1998) and Paul Goldberg (Goldberg lity. Further taphonomic and zoo-archaeological et al. 2001) cautioned early reported evidences research, physical anthropology, chronology dat- of fire use and proposed the fire-ash and burned ing, and paleoenvironmental study should be all bones at the cave probably were natural process involved. of the formations. A study by Noel Boaz (Boaz et al. 2004) on spatial distribution of hominid fossils further dismissed the idea that the Cross-References Zhoukoudian Locality 1 cave was a home base for Peking man. Instead, the cave was more ▶ Archaic Homo sapiens likely used by carnivores scavenging
Recommended publications
  • Introduction

    Introduction

    Notes Introduction 1. Hobsbawm 1990, 66. 2. Diamond 1998, 322–33. 3. Fairbank 1992, 44–45. 4. Fei Xiaotong 1989, 1–2. 5. Diamond 1998, 323, original emphasis. 6. Crossley 1999; Di Cosmo 1998; Purdue 2005a; Lavely and Wong 1998, 717. 7. Richards 2003, 112–47; Lattimore 1937; Pan Chia-lin and Taeuber 1952. 8. My usage of the term “geo-body” follows Thongchai 1994. 9. B. Anderson 1991, 86. 10. Purdue 2001, 304. 11. Dreyer 2006, 279–80; Fei Xiaotong 1981, 23–25. 12. Jiang Ping 1994, 16. 13. Morris-Suzuki 1998, 4; Duara 2003; Handler 1988, 6–9. 14. Duara 1995; Duara 2003. 15. Turner 1962, 3. 16. Adelman and Aron 1999, 816. 17. M. Anderson 1996, 4, Anderson’s italics. 18. Fitzgerald 1996a: 136. 19. Ibid., 107. 20. Tsu Jing 2005. 21. R. Wong 2006, 95. 22. Chatterjee (1986) was the first to theorize colonial nationalism as a “derivative discourse” of Western Orientalism. 23. Gladney 1994, 92–95; Harrell 1995a; Schein 2000. 24. Fei Xiaotong 1989, 1. 25. Cohen 1991, 114–25; Schwarcz 1986; Tu Wei-ming 1994. 26. Harrison 2000, 240–43, 83–85; Harrison 2001. 27. Harrison 2000, 83–85; Cohen 1991, 126. 186 • Notes 28. Duara 2003, 9–40. 29. See, for example, Lattimore 1940 and 1962; Forbes 1986; Goldstein 1989; Benson 1990; Lipman 1998; Millward 1998; Purdue 2005a; Mitter 2000; Atwood 2002; Tighe 2005; Reardon-Anderson 2005; Giersch 2006; Crossley, Siu, and Sutton 2006; Gladney 1991, 1994, and 1996; Harrell 1995a and 2001; Brown 1996 and 2004; Cheung Siu-woo 1995 and 2003; Schein 2000; Kulp 2000; Bulag 2002 and 2006; Rossabi 2004.
  • The Dates of the Discovery of the First Peking Man Fossil Teeth

    The Dates of the Discovery of the First Peking Man Fossil Teeth

    The Dates of the Discovery of the First Peking Man Fossil Teeth Qian WANG,LiSUN, and Jan Ove R. EBBESTAD ABSTRACT Four teeth of Peking Man from Zhoukoudian, excavated by Otto Zdansky in 1921 and 1923 and currently housed in the Museum of Evolution at Uppsala University, are among the most treasured finds in palaeoanthropology, not only because of their scientific value but also for their important historical and cultural significance. It is generally acknowledged that the first fossil evidence of Peking Man was two teeth unearthed by Zdansky during his excavations at Zhoukoudian in 1921 and 1923. However, the exact dates and details of their collection and identification have been documented inconsistently in the literature. We reexamine this matter and find that, due to incompleteness and ambiguity of early documentation of the discovery of the first Peking Man teeth, the facts surrounding their collection and identification remain uncertain. Had Zdansky documented and revealed his findings on the earliest occasion, the early history of Zhoukoudian and discoveries of first Peking Man fossils would have been more precisely known and the development of the field of palaeoanthropology in early twentieth century China would have been different. KEYWORDS: Peking Man, Zhoukoudian, tooth, Uppsala University. INTRODUCTION FOUR FOSSIL TEETH IDENTIFIED AS COMING FROM PEKING MAN were excavated by palaeontologist Otto Zdansky in 1921 and 1923 from Zhoukoudian deposits. They have been housed in the Museum of Evolution at Uppsala University in Sweden ever since. These four teeth are among the most treasured finds in palaeoanthropology, not only because of their scientific value but also for their historical and cultural significance.
  • Jade Huang and Chinese Culture Identity: Focus on the Myth of “Huang of Xiahoushi”

    Jade Huang and Chinese Culture Identity: Focus on the Myth of “Huang of Xiahoushi”

    Journal of Literature and Art Studies, June 2016, Vol. 6, No. 6, 603-618 doi: 10.17265/2159-5836/2016.06.003 D DAVID PUBLISHING Jade Huang and Chinese Culture Identity: Focus on the Myth of “Huang of Xiahoushi” TANG Qi-cui, WU Yu-wei Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China This paper focus on the myth of “Huang of Xiahoushi” (夏后氏之璜), focusing on the distribution of Jade Huang (玉璜) since the early neolithic and its process of pluralistic integration. The paper explores the story of ethnic group, cultural identification and the significance of Jade Huang in the discourse construction of etiquette civilization behind the mythic narrative based on multi-evidence method and the local meaning of literature in ancient Chinese context. Keywords: Jade Huang, Huang of Xiahoushi, unified diversity, Chinese identity, etiquette civilization, multi-evidence method Introduction Modern archeological relics including potteries, jades and bronzes bring back the lost history; the process of how Chinese unified diversity took shape in general and the great tradition of jade culture in eight thousand in particular. The handed-down documents echo each other at a distance provide solid evidences for the origin of civilization of rite and music and the core values based on jade belief. Jade Huang is an important one of it. It is illuminated by numerous records about Jade Huang in ancient literature, as well as a large number of archaeology findings past 7,000 years. The paper seeks to focus on the following questions: what is the function of Jade Huang in historic and prehistoric period? Moreover, what is the function of “Huang of Xiahoushi”, which belonged to emperor and symbolized special power in historic documents and myths and legends in ancient china? Jade Huang: Etiquette and Literature Jade Huang (Yu Huang, Semi-circular/annular Jade Pendant) is a type of jade artifact which is seemed to be remotely related to etiquette and literature.
  • The Early Paleolithic of China1) HUANG Weiwen2)

    The Early Paleolithic of China1) HUANG Weiwen2)

    第 四 紀 研 究 (The Quaternary Research) 28 (4) p. 237-242 Nov. 1989 The Early Paleolithic of China1) HUANG Weiwen2) spread widely and existed for a long time. The Introduction deposits contained very rich fossils of mammal. 1. Geographic Distribution and the Types of The fauna exisiting in the stage from the early Deposits to the middle Pleistocene can be at least divided Before the 1940's, only one locality of the into three groups, which have their own Early Paleolithic period was discovered in characteristics and sequence: Nihewan fauna of China. That is Zhoukoudian near Beijing early Pleistocene, Gongwangling (Lantian Man) City (the site of Peking Man). Since the 1950's fauna of the latest stage of early Pleistocene many new localities have been found, of which or the earliest stage of middle Pleistocene and no less than fifteen are relatively important. Zhoukoudian (Peking Man) fauna of the middle These localities spread in North, South and Pleistocene. In the recent years, some scholars Northeast China covering a range from 23°35' to have suggested that locations of Dali and 40°15'N and from 101°58' to 124°8'E which Dingcun which originally recognized as be- includes two climate zones, namely, the sub- longing to the early stage of late Pleistocene tropical zone and warm temperate zone in the should place in the middle Pleistocene, as the eastern part of today's Asia (Fig. 1). latest stage of this epoch (LIU and DING,1984). The localities include three types of deposit: There also existed fluviatile and fluviol- 1) Fluviatile deposit: acustrine deposits of Pleistocene in South Xihoudu (Shanxi), Kehe (Shanxi), Lantian China.
  • Peer Reviewed Title: Critical Han Studies: the History, Representation, and Identity of China's Majority Author: Mullaney, Thoma

    Peer Reviewed Title: Critical Han Studies: the History, Representation, and Identity of China's Majority Author: Mullaney, Thoma

    Peer Reviewed Title: Critical Han Studies: The History, Representation, and Identity of China's Majority Author: Mullaney, Thomas S. Leibold, James Gros, Stéphane Vanden Bussche, Eric Editor: Mullaney, Thomas S.; Leibold, James; Gros, Stéphane; Vanden Bussche, Eric Publication Date: 02-15-2012 Series: GAIA Books Permalink: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/07s1h1rf Keywords: Han, Critical race studies, Ethnicity, Identity Abstract: Addressing the problem of the ‘Han’ ethnos from a variety of relevant perspectives—historical, geographical, racial, political, literary, anthropological, and linguistic—Critical Han Studies offers a responsible, informative deconstruction of this monumental yet murky category. It is certain to have an enormous impact on the entire field of China studies.” Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania “This deeply historical, multidisciplinary volume consistently and fruitfully employs insights from critical race and whiteness studies in a new arena. In doing so it illuminates brightly how and when ideas about race and ethnicity change in the service of shifting configurations of power.” David Roediger, author of How Race Survived U.S. History “A great book. By examining the social construction of hierarchy in China,Critical Han Studiessheds light on broad issues of cultural dominance and in-group favoritism.” Richard Delgado, author of Critical Race Theory: An Introduction “A powerful, probing account of the idea of the ‘Han Chinese’—that deceptive category which, like ‘American,’ is so often presented as a natural default, even though it really is of recent vintage. A feast for both Sinologists and comparativists everywhere.” Magnus Fiskesjö, Cornell University eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide.
  • Bedrock of China Xu Xing Applauds a Study Tracing the Links Between Chinese Nationalism and Geology

    Bedrock of China Xu Xing Applauds a Study Tracing the Links Between Chinese Nationalism and Geology

    COMMENT BOOKS & ARTS GEOLOGY Bedrock of China Xu Xing applauds a study tracing the links between Chinese nationalism and geology. hinese science has long been tightly igneous formations of Unearthing the Chinese geologists persisted in fostering entangled with nationalism. An illu- Belgium for his thesis Nation: Modern an independent discipline, even in 1927–37, minating case study is the develop­ at the University of Geology and when frequent conflicts flared between the Cment of geology during the Republican era Louvain. These pio- Nationalism in government in Nanjing and local warlords, Republican China (1911–49). This followed an unusual pattern, neers, Shen says, saw GRACE YEN SHEN and within the ruling party. Weng and oth- striking a balance between the interests of sci- fieldwork as helping University of Chicago ers recognized that their field could help to ence, the nationalist movement, the state and China to “understand Press: 2014. satisfy practical needs of the state such as scientists in difficult, unstable circumstances. its own territory”: sci- the search for fossil fuels, and could build Science historian Grace Yen Shen chronicles ence thus became a means of nation-building. national pride. A platform came in 1936 the field’s evolution in Unearthing the Nation. Yet for years, Chinese geology remained with the GSC’s Chinese-language journal Shen begins with an account of foreign internationally collaborative in terms of Dizhi Lunping (Geological Review). And exploration in Chinese territory from the practitioners, fieldwork, institutions and the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937–45 mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth publications. In the 1920s, China was pri- was a watershed: the drive to find natural centuries, such as US geologist Raphael marily agrarian and lacked the financial and resources for the war effort led to achieve- Pumpelly’s investigations of the coalfields intellectual resources to cultivate science.
  • Human Origin Sites and the World Heritage Convention in Eurasia

    Human Origin Sites and the World Heritage Convention in Eurasia

    World Heritage papers41 HEADWORLD HERITAGES 4 Human Origin Sites and the World Heritage Convention in Eurasia VOLUME I In support of UNESCO’s 70th Anniversary Celebrations United Nations [ Cultural Organization Human Origin Sites and the World Heritage Convention in Eurasia Nuria Sanz, Editor General Coordinator of HEADS Programme on Human Evolution HEADS 4 VOLUME I Published in 2015 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France and the UNESCO Office in Mexico, Presidente Masaryk 526, Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo, 11550 Ciudad de Mexico, D.F., Mexico. © UNESCO 2015 ISBN 978-92-3-100107-9 This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). By using the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository (http://www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. Cover Photos: Top: Hohle Fels excavation. © Harry Vetter bottom (from left to right): Petroglyphs from Sikachi-Alyan rock art site.
  • Andersson, Johan Gunnar, 45–67

    Andersson, Johan Gunnar, 45–67

    INDEX Andersson, Johan Gunnar, 45–67; and class, 18–20, 32–7, 40–3, 64–5, 87, Hedin, 67–8, 70–4, 78–9, 90, 95, 99; 105–10, 140, 158, 181, 183, 193, 202, and Karlbeck,101–3, 106–12, 114, 204, 213, 221, 224, 226, 228 117–19; Peking Man discovery, 121–8; Coedès, George, 142 and Sirén, 133–6, 139, 141, 151, 153, collecting, 1–4, 43, 45–51, 56–7, 59–60, 155, 157, 177, 214, 221, 223, 22–6, 22–9 64–5, 68–72, 85, 89–119, 121–2, 124, Andreen, Andrea, 158, 163–4, 196 130, 132–6, 138–44, 147–53, 165, 221, antiquities (dealers, smugglers, and 225–8 collectors), 3, 43, 47–9, 59, 64, 69, 72, Confucius, 2, 8, 18, 39, 41, 129, 149 85, 91–2, 101, 104–17, 121, 127, 132, Curzon, George, 88 136, 139–43, 151, 165, 224, 226 Anyang, 112, 115–7 Empire, 63–5, 115–6, 151, 177, 223, 225, archaeology, 2, 4, 11, 15, 101, 115–18, 228–9; Hedin and, 68, 74, 76–7, 80–2, 138, 141–2; Andersson, 47–65, 72, 122, 84–5, 91–2, 98–9; Myrdal, 187, 198, 124–7, 134–5 200–10, 218–9 English (the language), 19, 38, 112, 124, Baude, Frank, 175 136–7, 145, 159, 204 Beijing, 36, 45, 51, 101, 116, 121–2, 125–6, 157–9, 161, 163, 167–8, 175, Feng, Yuxiang, 113, 136 189, 195, 216; Karlbeck in, 135–140, Fenollosa, Ernest, 130, 132, 144, 145, 147, 143, 151; Hedin in 69–76, 81–2, 85, 91, 149, 150 94–8; and Karlbeck, 103, 113 FIB/Kulturfront, 176, 185 Bendix, Victor, 90, 95 Fiskesjö, Magnus, 3, 46–50, 53, 56, 59, Bergman, Folke, 73, 74, 109 64, 121–2 Bishop, Carl Whiting, 115, 134, 142 Forbidden Palace (Imperial City), 36, 96, Brady, Anne-Marie, 173, 194–5 101–2, 136–7 bronzes,11, 15, 61, 95;
  • Dinosaur (DK Eyewitness Books)

    Dinosaur (DK Eyewitness Books)

    Eyewitness DINOSAUR www.ketabha.org Eyewitness DINOSAUR www.ketabha.org Magnolia flower Armored Polacanthus skin Rock fragment with iridium deposit Corythosaurus Tyrannosaurus coprolite (fossil dropping) Megalosaurus jaw www.ketabha.org Eyewitness Troodon embryo DINOSAUR Megalosaurus tooth Written by DAVID LAMBERT Kentrosaurus www.ketabha.org LONDON, NEW YORK, Ammonite mold MELBOURNE, MUNICH, AND DELHI Ammonite cast Consultant Dr. David Norman Senior editor Rob Houston Editorial assistant Jessamy Wood Managing editors Julie Ferris, Jane Yorke Managing art editor Owen Peyton Jones Art director Martin Wilson Gila monster Associate publisher Andrew Macintyre Picture researcher Louise Thomas Production editor Melissa Latorre Production controller Charlotte Oliver Jacket designers Martin Wilson, Johanna Woolhead Jacket editor Adam Powley DK DELHI Editor Kingshuk Ghoshal Designer Govind Mittal DTP designers Dheeraj Arora, Preetam Singh Project editor Suchismita Banerjee Design manager Romi Chakraborty Troodon Iguanodon hand Production manager Pankaj Sharma Head of publishing Aparna Sharma First published in the United States in 2010 by DK Publishing 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 Copyright © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited, London 10 11 12 13 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 175403—12/09 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-7566-5810-6 (Hardcover) ISBN 978-0-7566-5811-3 (Library Binding) Color reproduction by MDP, UK, and Colourscan, Singapore Printed and bound by Toppan Printing Co.
  • A Giant Ostrich from the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Formation of North China, with a Review of the Fossil Ostriches of China

    A Giant Ostrich from the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Formation of North China, with a Review of the Fossil Ostriches of China

    diversity Review A Giant Ostrich from the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Formation of North China, with a Review of the Fossil Ostriches of China Eric Buffetaut 1,2,* and Delphine Angst 3 1 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique—CNRS (UMR 8538), Laboratoire de Géologie de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, 24 rue Lhomond, CEDEX 05, 75231 Paris, France 2 Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Maha Sarakham University, Maha Sarakham 44150, Thailand 3 School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: A large incomplete ostrich femur from the Lower Pleistocene of North China, kept at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), is described. It was found by Father Emile Licent in 1925 in the Nihewan Formation (dated at about 1.8 Ma) of Hebei Province. On the basis of the minimum circumference of the shaft, a mass of 300 kg, twice that of a modern ostrich, was obtained. The bone is remarkably robust, more so than the femur of the more recent, Late Pleistocene, Struthio anderssoni from China, and resembles in that regard Pachystruthio Kretzoi, 1954, a genus known from the Lower Pleistocene of Hungary, Georgia and the Crimea, to which the Nihewan specimen is referred, as Pachystruthio indet. This find testifies to the wide geographical distribution Citation: Buffetaut, E.; Angst, D. A of very massive ostriches in the Early Pleistocene of Eurasia. The giant ostrich from Nihewan was Giant Ostrich from the Lower contemporaneous with the early hominins who inhabited that region in the Early Pleistocene.
  • The Neanderthal Endocast from Gánovce (Poprad, Slovak Republic)

    The Neanderthal Endocast from Gánovce (Poprad, Slovak Republic)

    doie-pub 10.4436/jass.97005 ahead of print JASs Reports doi: 10.4436/jass.89003 Journal of Anthropological Sciences Vol. 97 (2019), pp. 139-149 The Neanderthal endocast from Gánovce (Poprad, Slovak Republic) Stanislava Eisová1,2, Petr Velemínský2 & Emiliano Bruner3 1) Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic 2) Department of Anthropology, National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected], [email protected] 3) Programa de Paleobiología, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain email: [email protected] Summary - A Neanderthal endocast, naturally formed by travertine within the crater of a thermal spring, was found at Gánovce, near Poprad (Slovakia), in 1926, and dated to 105 ka. The endocast is partially covered by fragments of the braincase. The volume of the endocast was estimated to be 1320 cc. The endocast was first studied by the Czech paleoanthropologist Emanuel Vlček, who performed metric and morphological analyses which suggested its Neanderthal origin. Vlček published his works more than fifty years ago, but the fossil is scarcely known to the general paleoanthropological community, probably because of language barriers. Here, we review the historical and anatomical information available on the endocasts, providing additional paleoneurological assessments on its features. The endocast displays typical Neanderthal traits, and its overall appearance is similar to Guattari 1, mostly because of the pronounced frontal width and occipital bulging. The morphology of the Gánovce specimen suggests once more that the Neanderthal endocranial phenotype had already evolved at 100 ka. Keywords - Paleoneurology, Neanderthals, Natural endocast, Central Europe. The Gánovce endocast (Vlček, 1949).
  • Chapter 1 Chinese Archaeology: Past, Present

    Chapter 1 Chinese Archaeology: Past, Present

    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-64310-8 - Cambridge World Archaeology: The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age Li Liu and Xingcan Chen Excerpt More information CHAPTER 1 CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE The archaeological materials recovered from the Anyang excavations . in the period between 1928 and 1937 ...havelaidanewfoundation for the study of ancient China. (Li, C. 1977:ix) When inscribed oracle bones and enormous material remains were found through scientific excavation in Anyang in 1928, the historicity of the Shang dynasty was confirmed beyond dispute for the first time (Li, C. 1977: ix–xi). This excavation thus marked the beginning of a modern Chinese archaeology endowed with great potential to reveal much of China’s ancient history. Half a century later, Chinese archaeology had made many unprecedented discoveries that surprised the world, leading Glyn Daniel to believe that “a new awareness of the importance of China will be a key development in archaeology in the decades ahead” (Daniel 1981: 211). This enthusiasm was soon shared by the Chinese archaeologists when Su Bingqi announced that “the Golden Age of Chinese archaeology is arriving” (Su, B. 1994: 139–40). In recent decades, archaeology has continuously prospered, becoming one of the most rapidly developing fields of social science in China. As suggested by Bruce Trigger (Trigger 1984), three basic types of archae- ology are practiced worldwide: nationalist, colonialist, and imperialist. China’s archaeology clearly falls into the first category. Archaeology in China is defined as a discipline within the study of history that deals with material remains of the past and aims to reveal the laws of historical evolution, based on histor- ical materialism (Xia and Wang 1986: 1–3).