PEKING MAN

extinct hominid of the species Homo erectus, known from fossils found at Chou-k'ou-tien (Zhoukoudian) cave near Peking. Peking man was identified as a new fossil human by Davidson Black in 1927 on the basis of a single tooth. Later excavations yielded 14 skullcaps, several mandibles, facial bones and limb bones, and the teeth of about 40 individuals. These Chou-k'ou-tien hominid fossils are dated to the Middle Pleistocene, (about 900,000 to 130,000 years ago), although a more exact date has not been determined. Before being assigned to Homo erectus, they were variously classified as Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus. Peking man is characterized by a cranial capacity averaging 1,075 cubic cm (range 8501,300 cubic cm, overlapping the range of modern man, whose average is 1,350 cubic cm), a skull flat in profile but with a small forehead, a sagittal ridge on top of the head for attachment of powerful jaw muscles, very thick skull bones, heavy browridges, an occipital torus, a large palate, and a large, chinless jaw. The teeth are essentially human, though the canines and molars are quite large, and the enamel of the molars is often wrinkled. The limb bones are indistinguishable from those of modern man. Core tools, primitive flaked tools, worked-bone tools, charred animal bones, and the remains of hearths found in association with these human bones show Peking man had a well-developed communal culture, practiced hunting, and used fire domestically. Peking man postdates Java man and is considered more advanced in having a larger cranial capacity, a forehead, and nonoverlapping canines. The original fossils were under study at the Peking Union Medical College in 1941, when, with Japanese invasion imminent, an attempt was made to smuggle them out of China and to the United States. The bones disappeared and have never been recovered, leaving only plaster casts for study. Renewed excavation in the caves, beginning in 1958, brought new specimens to light. Peking Man (1975) by Harry L. Shapiro describes the original finding of the fossils, discusses their significance, and reconstructs the circumstances under which they vanished.