readx;? Homo erectus lantian subspecies: Lantian County, Shaanxi Province. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info time: about 1.15 million years ago. Homo erectus Chenjiawo subspecies: Lantian County, Shaanxi Province, time: 650,000 years ago

A fossilized mandible of an elderly woman was found in Chenjiawo, Lagoon Town, about 10 kilometers northwest of Lantian County. A fossilized skull of a middle-aged woman was found in the Gongwangling Formation. The skull fossil was restored indoors, and a complete ape-man skull fossil was recovered. The Gongwangling fossil is the oldest Homo erectus fossil ever found in northern Asia.

Lantian Man is an early human fossil in China. Its forehead is low and flat, its brow bones are thick and raised, its bone walls are thick, its eye sockets are slightly square, and its mouth is protruding. The intracranial ear is 71 mm tall and has a brain volume of 778.4 milliliters, which is roughly equivalent to the milliliter of the Javanese in Indonesia.

The main types of stone tools are large pointed tools, chopping tools, scrapers, stone chips, and stone cores. The pointed vessel has a blade on one side and the stone on the other side, making it suitable for holding in the hand. The scraper comes in four forms: straight, concave, convex and double-edged, and is used to scrape wooden tools and peel hides. The processing method is a simple hammering method, which is mainly single-sided processing, and is mostly used without the second step of processing. Traces of the use of fire were found.

About 10,000 years ago, the living area of the Lantian people at that time was lush with vegetation and many kinds of ancient animals, including giant pandas, oriental saber-toothed elephants, Ge's spotted deer and other vegetarian animals, and even fierce saber-toothed tigers. The people of Lantian used simple and crude methods to make stone tools, struggling to survive in the natural environment. They hunted wild beasts and gathered fruits, seeds, and tubers for food.

Liangshan site: the south bank of Hanshui, Nanzheng County, Hanzhong, time: about 700,000 years ago.

The types of stone tools include stone cores, stone chips, stone hammers, three-edged large pointed tools, chopping (smashing) tools, scrapers, stone balls, and prototype hand axes. The stone tool type is wide and heavy. It is dominated by chopping tools, accounting for 43% of all stone products, and is the most representative artifact in the paleolithic sites of Liangshan. Stone balls are also the main type of stone tools at the Liangshan site.

In addition to the Paleolithic cultural tradition of "large stone chip chopping and smashing tools-three-edged pointed tools", its stone tool style also has the characteristics of chopping tools in South China. The appearance of the original hand axe in the ruins represents that China also has the hand axe culture of Acheuli. ”

Qianhe Culture: Qihe Village, Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province. Time: About 600,000 years ago. The ruins are mainly distributed on the left bank of the Yellow River at the southwest foot of Zhongtiao Mountain, extending 13.5 kilometers from north to south.

The Kuahe culture is characterized by chopping vessels, stone balls, and three-edged large pointed vessels made of large stone chips. The Qihe culture is close to the Lantian ape-man culture and the Dingcun culture, and it can be considered that the Qihe culture inherited the Lantian ape-man culture and developed into the Dingcun culture in the middle Paleolithic. In terms of cultural development, it has the nature of connecting the previous and the next.

The relics of the Kuahe culture mainly include stone cores, stone flakes and stone tools. Burning bones is proof of the use of fire by the people of the river.

The culture of the river is represented by stone products, including stone cores, stone chips, chopping tools, scrapers, three-edged large pointed tools, small pointed tools, and stone balls. There are two types of stone cores: those produced by hammering and those produced by hitting anvils. But judging from the stone chips, the throwing method was also used at that time. A small piece of burnt bone was also found.

At that time, it was basically a temperate climate, close to the current Central China region. The masters of the Kuahe culture lived in this natural environment, using excavation tools, three-edged large pointed tools and throwing weapon stone balls, and lived an economic life of gathering and hunting.

Beijing Homo erectus: Zhoukoudian Keel Mountain, Fangshan District, Beijing. Time: About 500,000 years ago.

Homo erectus has higher cheekbones. The average brain volume is only 1075 ml. The body is stubby and short, about centimeters tall for males and 144 centimeters for females. The legs are short and the arms are long, and the head is tilted forward.

Cultural relics include the skull of Homo erectus in Beijing, a large number of stone products, bone and horn products, and a large number of ash layers left by fire. These discoveries make it the most systematic and abundant Homo erectus site in the world. The discovery of Peking Man is of great significance, proving the existence of Homo erectus, clarifying the sequence of human development, and providing strong evidence for the doctrine of "from ape to man".

Stone tools include scrapers, drills, sharpeners, carvers, and choppers. The main method is the smashing method.

Peking Homo erectus, also known as Peking Ape Man, came to Zhoukoudian about 700,000 years ago and lived here for nearly 500,000 years. It wasn't until about 200,000 years ago that the Peking apes left here.

The Peking people used the smashing method to make all kinds of stone tools, which were used to meet the needs of dismembering prey, sharpening wooden spears, cutting wood for warmth, and digging roots.

Pekingese cave dwelling, engaged in hunting and gathering. They go out hunting in groups, mainly for swollen deer, sika deer, wild sheep and wild horses. Pekingese also eat wild fruits, young leaves, roots, and small animals such as insects, birds, frogs, and snakes. Oak seeds are the most commonly eaten wild fruit.

When Beijingers lived near Zhoukoudian, the climate in that area was milder and wetter than it is now. At that time, the terrain was surrounded by high mountains to the north, connecting the West Mountains of Beijing, and to the west and southwest by winding and undulating hills. The mountains are covered with a variety of trees and lush weeds. Fierce saber-toothed tigers, wolves, bears and other wild beasts live in the forests and haunt the mountains, threatening the safety of Beijingers. At that time, the shape and size of the saber-toothed tiger were similar to those of modern tigers, with flat upper canine teeth, some with serrated teeth at the front and back, as sharp as a short sword. When the saber-toothed tiger catches food, its mouth is wide open and it is very ferocious. The people of Beijing often fought with fierce beasts and lost their lives.

Pekingese usually form groups of dozens of people. Life expectancy is short, and most people die before the age of 14. Under the severe natural conditions, the people of Beijing rely on the strength of the group to carry out a difficult struggle for survival. Seasonal changes, natural disasters, animal attacks, and diseases all pose a great threat to them. The ages of dozens of Peking Man individuals known from fossils tell us that they have a very high mortality rate, which is also a reflection of their poor living conditions.

According to the cultural tradition, the culture of North China at that time was divided into two major systematic inheritances: one was the Xihou Du ~ Lantian ~ Qihe ~ Dingcun with the characteristics of large chopping tools and three-edged large pointed tools, which was called the "Qihe-Dingcun system";

These are the main sites of the Early Paleolithic period.

The middle Paleolithic period, about 50~50,000 years ago, was about the era of the rise of Heidelberg people and their descendants, Neanderthals.

About 50~400,000 years ago, Heidelberg Homo erectus appeared in Africa.

Although the fossils of Homo erectus in Heidelberg only exist in Europe between 500,000 and 400,000 years ago, they are actually found in Europe, Asia and Africa. They are the direct ancestors of Neanderthals.

Homo erectus Heidelberg has a large brain volume, about milliliters (1350 milliliters higher than the average for modern humans), an average height of 1.8 meters, and muscles more developed than modern humans. Both Homo erectus in Heidelberg and their descendants, Neanderthals, have a primitive form of language. Apart from ordinary stone tools, no works of art or artefacts have been found in the excavations. However, the use of red ochre has been found in the south of France, possibly as a mural pigment.

The next chapter deals with Neanderthals, the descendants of the Heidelberg people.