Zhoukoudian and Peking Man
Chinese caves yield dozens of Homo erectus individuals — and then the fossils vanish in wartime.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 374 thousand years
- Known to
- ± 50 thousand years
- Era
- Middle Pleistocene, Quaternary
The limestone caves at Zhoukoudian near Beijing, excavated from the 1920s, produced remains of more than forty Homo erectus individuals spanning roughly 780,000 to 400,000 years ago, along with stone tools and evidence interpreted as fire use. In 1941, as Japanese forces advanced, the fossils were packed for shipment to the United States and disappeared en route. They have never been found. Only casts and photographs survive, and the site remains one of the richest Homo erectus localities anywhere.