|Original Peking Man fossils were lost in World War II| The new
dating analysis suggests the "Peking Man" fossils, unearthed in
the caves of Zhoukoudian are some 750,000 years old. The
discovery should help define a more accurate timeline for early
humans arriving in North-East Asia. A US-Chinese team of
researchers has published its findings in the prestigious
journal Nature. The cave system of Zhoukoudian, near Beijing, is
one of the most important Palaeolithic sites in the world.
Between 1921 and 1966, archaeologists working at the site
unearthed tens of thousands of stone tools and hundreds of
fragmentary remains from about 40 early humans. Palaeontologists
later assigned these members of the human lineage to the species
Homo erectus. The pre-war Peking Man fossils vanished in 1941
whilst being transported to the US for safekeeping. Luckily, the
palaeontologist Franz Weidenreich had made casts for researchers
to study. Experts have tried various methods over the years to
determine the age of the remains.