CELEBRATED PEKIN MAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20922, 11 July 1931, Page 7 (Supplement)

CELEBRATED PEKIN MAN.

CAST OF THE BRAIN CASE. The Australian Museum in Sydney, has acquired a cast of one of the most important relics of prehistoric man hitherto discovered—the brain case of the celebrated "Pekin-man. The plaster cast has been prepared by a well-known London firm of makers of high-class replicas of the remains of extinct and other animals. The skull was found with the remains of other animals in a cave at Chou Hou Tien, about 25 miles south-west of Pekin. The i'ossiliferous deposits of this locality were discovered in 1921 by Dr. J. G. AndeVson, and. described by .him and Dr. 0. Zdahsky. Among the specimens recovered were two human teeth, identified as such by Dr. Zdansky. Subsequently Dr. Davidson Black, of the Pekin Union Medical' College, came into possession of a well preserved molar tooth, on which he founded a new human genus and species, Sinanthropus pekinensis. Anthropologists, however, were ,at first rather cautious in admitting a new hominid genus on such slender evidence, and Dr. Davidson Black resolved not to leave China until further discoveries should have vindicated his opinion. In association with the Chinese. Geological Survey, he continued to search for conclusive evidence, and his splendid courage and persistence have now had an ample reward. The Director of the Australian Museum, Dr. C. Anderson, said last week, states the Sydney Morning Herald', that the skull cap from which the cast had been prepared was discovered on December 2, 1929, bv Mr. W. C. Pei, a young Chinese geologist, who was in charge of the geological survey work at Chou Kou Tien. Its estimated antiquity was 400,000 to 500,000 years, and it belonged to the oldest Pleistocene, the geological period immediately preceding that in which the human race is now living. This made the Pekin man practically a contemporary of the 'ape-man (Pithecanthropus erectus) ,of Trinil, Java, and the Dawn Man of Piltdown, England "(Eoanthropus djiwsonij. The great importance of the Pekin find was that it linked together in a definite manner, the three most primitive known "human types and enabled one to form a tolerably good conception of the structure of the skull and brain of the common ancestor of all three, the ;is yet unknown Tertiary man. " Tlie skull cap," proceeded Dr. Anderson. " bears a striking resemblance to that of the Trinil man; it has the same massive brow ridges, and the front part of the skull is flattened and retreating, but the rest of the skull is more like that of the Piltdown man. As a result of the energetic search that has been carried on during recent years, additional teeth, jaw fragrants, and other remains of this interesting human genus have'been brought to light, and when these are folly developed • important data and conclusions will undoubtedly result. In dimensions and arrangement the teeth are not unlike those of the Australian aborigines, though it is said, that ape-like characters appear in the molars. Professor Grafton Elli.ot Smith, the celebrated Australian anatomist and brain specialist, who journeyed to Pekin to examine these new . human documents —-the Chinese Government will not permit the specimens ' to leave China —regards the brain case as that of a young adult of. about .18, who was more nearly akin to Trinil Man than to Dawn Man; though he was generically distinct from both. So far no trace of implements of any kind has been found at Chou Kou Tien, in spite of the most careful search. It is possible, therefore, that the Pekin man had not yet begun to fashion implements of stone or of bone."