Black, Davidson (1884-1934), a Canadian anatomist and physical anthropologist, discovered and interpreted the fossilized bones that represent the extinct form of human beings known as Sinanthropus pekinensis (see Peking fossils ). The first deposit of these fossils was found close to the village of Zhoukoudian, near Beijing (formerly spelled Peking), China, in 1927. The fossils are now recognized to be an early species of human beings called Homo erectus.
Black was born on July 25, 1884, in Toronto, Ontario, and graduated from the University of Toronto. He became a professor of anatomy at the Peking Union Medical College in 1921. He died on March 15, 1934.
