Peking << pee KIHNG >> fossils are the remains of a type of prehistoric human being who lived between about 770,000 and 400,000 years ago in what is now northern China. Scientists named these people Sinanthropus pekinensis, which means Chinese man of Peking. The fossils are now recognized to be an early species of human being called Homo erectus.
The Peking fossils consist of the remains of more than 40 people. Davidson Black, a Canadian anatomy professor, found most of the fossils in the 1920’s in a cave in the village of Zhoukoudian (pronounced joh koh dee ehn) near Peking (now spelled Beijing). They were mixed with thousands of stone tools and animal bones. Ash and other traces of fire were also found in the cave.
The fossils show that the Peking people were strong. They had thick skull bones and a large browridge, a raised strip of bone across the lower forehead. They also had powerful, chinless jaws and a brain smaller than that of modern people.
In 1941, most of the Peking fossils disappeared while being shipped out of China. Fossils similar to the Peking people have since been found at other locations in southern and central China.
See also Black, Davidson; Homo erectus.
