Site where Lantian Man

Lantian ape man site belongs to the national key cultural relics protection units, including Gongzhuling and CHENJIAWO sites in Lantian County. It was excavated from 1964 to 1966. According to paleomagnetic measurements, the geochronological ages of the two sites are at least 750000-800000 years and 530000 years ago respectively. A 30-year-old female skull with a brain capacity of 778 ml was unearthed from the red soil of Gongzhuling site in the early Middle Pleistocene. It is more primitive than the Beijingers and is named Lantian. In addition, the site of using fire was found. The stone materials of the stone tools are mainly quartzite and vein quartz. There are many kinds of tools, such as big pointed tools, multilateral or unilateral choppers, scrapers, stone balls, etc. There are 42 species of mammalian fossils, including the Middle Pleistocene fauna of South China. A fossil of mandible of an old female surname, which is similar to that of Peking man, has been unearthed from CHENJIAWO. It is named as CHENJIAWO subspecies of Homo erectus. In this area, a number of stone tools and 14 species of Pleistocene mammalian fossils from North China have been unearthed. Located in gongwangling, Lantian County, about 50 kilometers away from Xi'an, it is one of the birthplaces of Chinese people and belongs to the category of ancient ruins. In 1963, the archaeological team of the ancient spine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered a fossil mandible and stone tool of an old woman in Lantian County near CHENJIAWO village; in 1964, the skull of Lantian ape man was discovered in gongwangling excavation, which is more primitive than Peking ape man. Lantian ape man is the most important human fossil discovered in China after Peking man. This discovery expanded the distribution of ape man in China, enriched the material and cultural records of human beings, and provided precious scientific data for the study of the origin of human beings.

Site where Lantian Man

Lantian ape man site is located in gongwangling, 15 km east of Lantian County, Shaanxi Province, and CHENJIAWO village, 10 km northwest of Lantian County

. It is the site where the fossils of Homo erectus and cultural relics of the early Paleolithic age were unearthed.

In September 1963, an old female mandible fossil was found at the bottom of the red soil layer about 30 meters thick in CHENJIAWO village. In May 1964, an incomplete middle-aged female skull was found in the calcareous tuberculous soil at the bottom of the red soil in gongwangling. The distance between the two places is about 30 km. According to the determination, the fossil of paleoanthropology found in gongwangling is about 1.1 million to 1.15 million years ago, which belongs to the early Pleistocene of the Quaternary. In 1982, the State Council announced the Lantian ape man site as a key cultural relics protection unit of the state

.

Evolution of construction

In 1963, a team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 10 kilometers northwest of Lantian, attached to xiehu town of CHENJIAWO, accidentally excavated a fossil mandible and 10 teeth of an "ancient human". It was identified as an old female mandible fossil

. The morphology of the mandible is basically the same as that of Peking man found in Zhoukoudian

.

In 1964, a complete middle-aged female skull was found in calcareous tuberculous soil at the bottom of gongwangling red soil, 16 kilometers east of Lantian County

. Many Paleolithic and paleontological fossils have been excavated, including more than 10 species of cattle, horses, deer, pigs, bears and tapirs

.

In 1965, during large-scale excavation, stone products and animal fossils were discovered, mainly stone tools

. In 1966, at the enlarged meeting of the national stratigraphic Commission held in Beijing, it was decided that dozens of scientific workers from 12 scientific research and production units and colleges and universities in China should form an investigation team to carry out multidisciplinary Cenozoic geological investigation in Lantian area again

.

In 1979, the Lantian ape man site storage center and Exhibition Center were established in gongwangling. In 1982, the State Council of the people's Republic of China announced it as a national key cultural relics protection unit

In 2012, the site was renamed Lantian Ape Man Site Museum

.

geographical environment

Location context

The site is located in gongwangling and CHENJIAWO, Lantian County, Southeast of Xi'an city. Lantian County is located in the southeast of Xi'an, only ten minutes' drive away from Xi'an. Nearby are gongwangling ape man site, CHENJIAWO ape man site, laochihegou site, Shahe site, Honghe site, etc

.

1.15 million years ago, the ancients lived in the Huangtuling area with an elevation of 850-1100 meters. Nearly 6000 years ago, he lived on the terrace of Bahe River at an elevation of 450 meters

. Although this is a historical period that people can't see directly, there are lots of signs that human beings have a unique geographical advantage to develop and grow here, and they are always living with nature

.

topographic features

The ancient Qinba mountain area was dominated by mountains, forests and grasslands more than 2 million years ago. The present landform was formed during the Himalayan orogeny 500000 years ago. Due to the intense orogeny and the erosion of mountains and rivers, the characteristics of high mountains, narrow gorges and steep terrain were formed. Due to the lush vegetation, rich products and relatively livable climate, the environment has been relatively stable

. During the 50 million years since the Eocene of the Cenozoic era, the sediment and stones continuously washed down from the rising Qinling Mountains and Lishan mountains, together with the Loess blown by the wind from the remote Gobi and desert in the northwest, gradually formed layer after layer of huge accumulation in the basin. The thickness of the strata exposed on the ground alone is more than 1300 meters

. Modern Lantian County has complex terrain and different landforms. The terrain inclines from southeast to northwest. The north foot of Qinling Mountains extends in the south, and the south foot of Lishan mountains is in the East. The central and Western Sichuan plain alternates with each other. Bahe River, Chanhe River and other important rivers run through the whole area. The landform types of Lantian County are divided into alluvial terraces, loess tableland, loess hills and Qinling Mountains. The highest altitude is 2449 meters, and the county is 469 meters above sea level. Mountains and ridges account for 80.4% of the county's land area, with 40400 hectares of arable land and 11500 hectares of effective irrigation area

.

Environmental characteristics

Climate: Lantian is a warm temperate semi humid continental monsoon climate, with moderate rainfall, hot and rainy seasons, distinct cold and warm seasons, pleasant climate, but also has the characteristics of frequent and frequent meteorological disasters. The annual average temperature is 13.1 ℃, sunshine is 2148.8 hours, and frost free period is 212 days

.

Hydrology: the average precipitation is 720.4 mm, mainly from July to September, accounting for 55% of the total annual rainfall

.

Soil: it is composed of surface loess layer and loose sand gravel. The size and distribution of the gravel layer below are uneven, the structure is loose, the stability is poor, and landslide and debris flow are prone to occur

.

Cultural relics

Paleoanthropology Fossil

CHENJIAWO is located in xiehu Town, 10 kilometers northwest of Lantian County, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. The human mandible fossil discovered in 1963 is buried in the "red soil" layer of the highest terrace on the right bank of the Bahe River. The geological age belongs to the Middle Pleistocene, Paleomagnetic dating is 500-650000 years ago, which is equivalent to the mandible fossil of Lantian ape man in CHENJIAWO of the early Peking ape culture. It is an old female individual. From the general morphology, the jaw body is thick, and there are obvious protrusions and spines of the commissure on the anterior lip surface. The height of the commissure is greatly different from that of the mental foramen, and the anterior inclination angle is small. These characteristics indicate that they are close to Peking man

.

In the south of gongwangling village, 16 km east of Lantian County, Shaanxi Province, human skull fossils unearthed in 1964 include complete frontal bone, most parietal bone, right temporal bone and maxilla (with molars attached), body and frontal process of left maxilla, nasal root of most left nasal bone and right nasal bone, and a left upper second molar. They are identified as the same female individual over 30 years old. The skull wall is very thick, the occipital part is wide and round, the contour is wedge-shaped, the forehead is low and wide, the brow ridge is thick, almost forms a straight transverse ridge, and obviously extends to the outside, the orbit is slightly square, the nose is short and flat, the teeth are thick, and the crown is thick and short. The intracranial ear height is 71 mm, and the brain volume is estimated to be 778.4 ml, which is lower than 850-1300 ml of Beijing people and 1400 ml of modern people, and roughly the same as 775-900 ml of Java people in Indonesia. It shows that it is a kind of human that has just separated from the ancient ape

It shows that Lantian ape man has obvious primitiveness

.

tool of production

In the red soil layer containing human fossils in gongwangling, Paleolithic tools for human production were also excavated. There are 13 pieces of stone tools, including 1 straight blade scraper, 4 pieces of stone, 7 pieces of stone core, 1 piece of stone with traces of use, and more than 200 pieces unearthed and collected from the Middle Pleistocene strata in the surrounding area. Due to the similar strata, these stone products have little difference in production technology. For the time being, they are regarded as cultural relics of Lantian ape man, mainly including stone cores, stone chips, choppers, scrapers, big pointed utensils and stone balls. There are four kinds of scrapers: straight blade, concave blade, convex blade and compound blade. They are used to scrape wooden tools and peel animal skin. The stone tools are rough and primitive, among which the "three edged big pointed utensils" are similar to those unearthed from the sites of Xihoudu, hehe and Dingcun in North China. In addition, several ashes and charcoal fragments were found in the gongwangling Huashi layer

.

animal fossil

There are 42 species of animal fossils unearthed in gongwangling, most of which belong to the common species in the Middle Pleistocene fauna of North China, such as hyena sinensis and wild lichenia

Chinese PinYin : Lan Tian Yuan Ren Yi Zhi