Peking Man Museum

Zhoukoudian Ruins Museum is located at the foot of Longgu mountain, Zhoukoudian, Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing. It is a museum of ancient human ruins, which was founded in 1953. In 1929, Chinese paleoanthropologist Fei Wenzhong first excavated the first complete skull fossil of Peking man in Longgu mountain, which shocked the whole world. World cultural heritage, national AAAA scenic spots, national key cultural relics protection units, national 100 patriotic education demonstration bases. It is about 48 kilometers away from Beijing. It is a world-famous archaeological site of ancient human and vertebrate, and the birthplace of "Peking Man".

Peking Man Museum

Zhoukoudian Ruins Museum is located at the foot of Longgu mountain, Zhoukoudian, Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing. It is a museum of ancient human ruins, which was founded in 1953. In 1929, Chinese paleoanthropologist Pei Wenzhong first excavated the first complete skull fossil of Peking man in Longgu mountain, which shocked the whole world. World cultural heritage, national AAAA scenic spots, national key cultural relics protection units, national 100 patriotic education demonstration bases. It is about 48 kilometers away from Beijing. It is a famous archaeological site of ancient human and vertebrate in the world and the birthplace of Peking man.

architectural composition

Main exhibition hall

Zhoukoudian Museum of Peking Man ruins systematically introduces to us the living environment and living conditions of "Peking Man" 600000 years ago, "xindongman" 100000 years ago and "shandingdongman" 18000 years ago. The front of the preface hall is a three-dimensional model of Longgu mountain. In the display cabinet are various rock specimens from 400 million years ago to 100 million years ago in Zhoukoudian area, reflecting the geological change process of the artillery area.

The first exhibition hall shows the fossil model of the skull of the ape head in Beijing, the remains of ancient human fire, and rough and crude stone tools for chopping, cutting, chipping and carving.

The second exhibition hall shows the cave where Peking man lived and their living place with restoration model.

The third exhibition hall mainly introduces more than 20 vertebrate fossil sites found on Longgu mountain and the sites where ancient human activities were carried out, as well as an ancient necklace made of Chuanqing shells, animal teeth and small stones, a relic of the cave man at the top of the mountain 18000 years ago.

The fourth exhibition hall displays ancient human fossils and Paleolithic artifacts of various periods found in China and around the world, as well as paintings and sculptures of late Paleolithic humans.

New library construction

The new Zhoukoudian Site Museum has been capped and is undergoing interior decoration. The area of the new museum will be expanded to 8 times that of the old one, integrating collection exhibition, scientific research, popular science education and other functions. It is expected that the world museum day will be officially opened to the public on May 18, 2014.

Honors

The natural environment of Zhoukoudian site museum is beautiful. The site is full of trees, flowers and plants, and a large number of wild animals and plants. In 1961, the State Council of the people's Republic of China listed the Zhoukoudian site as a national key cultural relic protection unit. In 1986, Zhoukoudian site was selected as one of the "Sixteen sights of new Beijing". In 1987, on the recommendation of the Ministry of culture and the State Administration of cultural relics, UNESCO listed the Zhoukoudian site on the list of world cultural heritage, becoming one of the first six units in the list of the people's Republic of China; in 1992, the Beijing Municipal Government awarded the Zhoukoudian site the title of "Beijing Youth Education Base"; in June of the same year, the Zhoukoudian site was awarded the title of "the richest preserved ancient city" In 1997, Zhoukoudian Heritage Museum was listed as one of the "100 national patriotism demonstration education bases" by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee. In 2005, Zhoukoudian site was selected as the national AAAA tourist attraction. In 2008, Zhoukoudian site museum was selected as the first batch of "national first-class museums" in China. Zhoukoudian Ruins Museum is a rare suburban comprehensive tourist site integrating leisure, study and visit.

Development history

In 1921, Andersen, a Swedish geologist and archaeologist who was then the consultant of the Chinese government's Mining Administration, went to Zhoukoudian to investigate. "There's a hunch that the remains of our ancestors are lying here," he said. "Later, Austrian paleontologist dansky found two ape man teeth here. Thus, in 1926, Andersen announced the news at a welcome meeting for the Swedish Crown Prince and his wife to visit China.

The official excavation began in 1927. In the following ten years of large-scale archaeological process, there have been important discoveries, especially in 1929, in an excavation presided over by Chinese scholar Pei Wenzhong, the first complete skull of Peking man was found. This discovery caused a sensation all over the world! The debate about whether "Javanese" is human or ape, which has lasted for more than 20 years, has finally been answered, and thus human history has been pushed forward for 500000 years. Since then, Zhoukoudian Peking Man site has become a world-famous cultural holy land.

The first place where Peking man was unearthed in Longgu mountain is a limestone cave. The accumulation layer of this cave is more than 40 meters thick, and it is divided into 17 layers from top to bottom. Peking man appears in the third to eleventh layers. From the scientific determination of the six skulls, 15 mandibles, more than 150 teeth and a considerable number of limb bones unearthed here, as well as the horizon, it can be known that the Peking man lived 70-230000 years ago.

What is Peking man like? Based on the recovery of more than 40 individual fossils of ape man, we can draw the following conclusions: they are short in body; their limbs and body are basically similar to those of modern man; they can walk upright and stride, but their average brain volume is only two-thirds of that of modern man, and they show the characteristics of ancient ape man, such as low skull, prominent brow ridge, protruding face and mouth, and weak chin.

From the geology and landform of Zhoukoudian area and the fossils of animals and plants unearthed in the first place, we can imagine that in the northwest of Longgu mountain, there are undulating hills, on which there are luxuriant forests, Saber Toothed tigers, wild boars, spotted deer and rhinoceros; in the southeast, there are vast grasslands, with groups of Sanmen horses, bighorn deer and antelopes Sheep run back and forth; beavers, otters and buffaloes live by rivers and lakes; besides Peking man, cave bears and hyenas live in caves. The ancestors lived here, hunting deer and other small animals, and often eating wild fruits, leaves and roots. At the same time, in order to defend their lives, they also need to fight with wild animals

There are also a large number of stone tools unearthed at the same time with the above-mentioned ape man fossils, which shows that the Peking ape man has been able to make various types of stone tools in various ways in the struggle against nature. These stone tools can be used to chop and smash trees, cut flesh and peel, and trim sticks. In addition, a large number of fire relics, some as thick as six meters, were found in the caves inhabited by Peking man. It can be seen that Peking man has been able to use and control fire. They are the earliest known users of fire.

In 1933, in the cave at the top of Longgu mountain, a 18000 year old human fossil named shandingdongren was discovered. Their skulls have been identified as primitive yellow. In addition to stone tools, bone needles and various decorations were unearthed in the same period, and the production technology has been quite advanced. According to the research of scholars, the cave dwellers made a living by hunting and fishing, and had the appearance of animal skin clothes, and also had the germination of primitive religion. It's just very sad that most of the Peking man and shandingdongman fossils discovered before 1941 were lost by several Americans before and after the Pearl Harbor incident. To this day, these precious materials are still in the sea. The tooth fossils of xindongren were discovered in 1973 in the north corner of Longgu mountain. According to scientific determination, they lived between Peking man and shandingdongren, about 100000 years ago.

To sum up, the discovery and research show that Zhoukoudian is the site of Homo erectus stage with the richest connotation and the most systematic materials in the world. It enjoys an unshakable and irreplaceable position in the study of Paleoanthropology in the world. Therefore, in 1987, UNESCO officially designated it as "world cultural heritage", making it a common wealth of all mankind.

In 1987, according to the selection criteria of cultural heritage, C (III) (VI) was listed in the world heritage list. Zhoukoudian site is a national key cultural relic protection unit. It is located in the north of Longgu mountain, Zhoukoudian Town, Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing. It is the most abundant, systematic and valuable human site of the early Paleolithic age in the world. From 1921 to 1927, archaeologists successively discovered three human teeth fossils outside the "Peking Man" cave site three times. In 1929, they also discovered the Peking man's skull bone fossils, as well as the artificial tools and fire relics, which became a major archaeological discovery that shocked the world. In 1930, the shandingdongman fossils and cultural relics about 20000 years ago were also found at Zhoukoudian site. But the ensuing years of war, lost since 1927 found all the Peking man and the peak Cave Man fossil specimens, so far missing, this event has become the 20th century archaeological history of the world's mystery. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, the excavation of Zhoukoudian site has been resumed and a large amount of valuable information has been obtained. So far, archaeologists have excavated more than 40 corpses, including skulls, mandibles, teeth and other fossils

Chinese PinYin : Zhou Kou Dian Yi Zhi Bo Wu Guan