#zhoukoudian

[whatsthesound]

Oh-Ok, “Choukoutien” (1983)

I’ve had the wonderful Furthermore What EP for north of 35 years, but I never really gave much thought to this song title until today... when Google instantly made it all clear....

Seemingly unrelated to the lyrics, it’s the pre-pinyin rendering of the name of the archaeological site where Peking Man was found, Zhoukoudian.

[lesmachins]

The Protective Shelter of Locality 1 Archaeological Site of Zhoukoudian Peking Man Cave

[maymaymeow]

北京周口店，尋找人類的始源

[archaeologicalnews]

Peking Man World Heritage Site Among 160 Sites Damaged in Beijing Floods

Beijing’s heaviest rainfall in six decades has affected 160 heritage sites, including the Peking Man World Heritage Site at Zhoukoudian, according to the city’s Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage.  In addition, at least 77 people died as a result of the storms, which have again raised questions about Beijing’s infrastructure, especially its antiquated drainage network.

At the Peking Man site, the deluge caused several minor landslides, disabled the site’s security system, and flooded a museum (no major exhibits were reportedly harmed).  Dirt and mud covered part of the archaeological dig at Zhoukoudian, halting researchers’ work for at least three days, according to Zhang Shuangquan, a Chinese archaeologist who has been excavating the site since 2009.

In an interview with China Daily, Zhang said he was most concerned about a potentially bigger landslide destroying the whole dig site, which is located on a cliff. The site is currently covered with plastic sheets, but it is the stratum at the top of the mountain — which is uncovered — that concerns Zhang the most. Read more.

[kabwe1]

Where are Zhoukoudian fossils?

One of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world, Zhoukoudian cave system in Beijing, China, has yielded about 200 human fossils from more than 40 individuals including 5 nearly complete skullcaps until the WWII. These were attributed to species Homo erectus, and the lowest strata containing fossils were recently dated to about 750,000 year ago. But In 1941 most of hominin fossils were lost, never to be recovered, while “being transported to safety”. Today, we are only left with post-WWII fossil finds, but the most important finds are lost. There are only plaster copies of the fossils which were made by the famous paleoanthropologist Franz Weidenreich (on the picture below, with chimapzee, Zhoudian H. erectus and modern human skulls).

In December 1941 Japanese Army captured Beijing, and destroyed the Cenozoic Research Laboratory. Weidenrech managed to emigrate to USA in the April 1941, where he was given a visiting (unsalaried) appointment at the American Museum of Natural History. He carried with him plaster copies of the original Zhoukoudian material. After lots of diplomatic considerations, the Americans decided in September 1941 to provide safe transport for the Peking Man fossils out to a temporary home in the United States. Fossils were packed for the transport in the Peking Union Medical School, and that’s where their trace is lost.

I always wondered what exactly happened to these fossils. Were they hidden somewhere (and if so, do they lay buried somewhere, and wait for re-discovery and reconstruction)? Were they transported across the sea via ship which has been destroyed – do fossils now lay at the bottom of a sea? Did the Japanese find fossils and send them to Japan? Did Americans steal them? Were they destroyed in the war? Or were they finally sold on the fossil black market (maybe today some powerful man/men have these precious fossils it their private collections)? I would certainly prefer the last possibility. If so, would any fossil from the former Zhoukoudian collection  appear on the fossil market? As some of you may heard, important Eocene primate fossil named Darwinius masillae was “discovered” on the fossil show in Germany. The fossil was in the possession of a private collector who kept it secret for twenty years before deciding to sell it anonymously via a German fossil dealer. Could something similar happen to (at least part of) original Peking Man collection? Let’s hope so. This fossil material should belong to the whole humanity and not just to some selfish pair of eyes.

If you are interested in the history of this famous paleoanthropological site I recommend you to read Boaz and Ciochon’s (2004) book “Dragon Bone Hill”, which, amongst other things, examines in detail circumstances and theories of the disappearance of Peking Man fossil material.