Sinanthropus
For a long time, it was not known, however, the appearance of the person Acheulian pores. The only European discoveries (we are referring to the so-called Heidelberg jaw, found in 1907 near Heidelberg, Germany, – whence comes its name), concerning about this period, it was not enough to determine the shape of human Acheulian pores. Quite exceptional importance of this remarkable discovery of Chinese scientists at Zhoukoudian, filling the gap existing between the findings of the remains of the ancient ape-man (Pithecanthropus), on the one hand, and the next stage of human (Neanderthal) – on the other.
Zhoukoudian is located 54 km south-west of Beijing, in the place where the Peking plain changes in the mountainous area, the rugged valleys. During systematic studies undertaken by Chinese research institutions from 1934 to 1937, before the Japanese invasion of China, a lot of work on the study chzhoukoudyan deposits with remains of ancient fauna was carried out, which are filling cracks and ancient caves. In the People’s Republic of studies world-famous chzhoukoudyan findings have been renewed and given the rich results again.
Because of many years of work, it established that at Zhoukoudian in five points (the location number 1, 4, 13, 15 and the “Upper Cave”), together with the bones of animals there are traces of human activity.
The most extensive and rich finds was the location number 1. Originally, it was an enormous cave, consisting perhaps of several caves located in tiers, but their vaults collapsed in the early Pleistocene time. Primitive man lived in it for many tens or even hundreds of thousands of years for which the accumulated sediment thickness of 50 m. It was, according to some researcher’s time. According to the other, more probable, the main settlement of the oldest caves of Zhoukoudian people refers to the time t. E. By the end of the second glaciation or interglacial stage, separating the second glaciation from the next, the third Ice Age in the Himalayas.
Contemporaries of the time the person called scientists Sinanthropus were two kinds of rhinoceros, saber-toothed tiger and other representatives of the giant cat’s time, two kinds of bears, Chinese hyena, wild horses, wild boar, gazelle, deer, and buffalo. Peking man hunted mainly deer. Of the animals discovered in the cave of deer brushes, it owns 70%. Furthermore, Sinanthropus used in food edible plants, particularly fruits and berries, including wild cherry. The most remarkable feature of the deposits in the location number 1 is the presence in it of powerful layers of ash, indicating that Sinanthropus widely and routinely used by the fire, burning in the bush fires, though, maybe more, and could not artificially make fire.
Found stone products are manufactured mainly of sandstone, quartz, quartzite and partly, volcanic rocks, hornfels and flint. Sinanthropus is usually used as a raw material for the manufacture of their guns rolled river pebbles with water, roughly beat them along one edge. In this way, large chopping tools were made with a wide oval blade, like sliced or ax, cleaver. Were common and rough discoid stone cores from which flakes and repulsed plate? Flakes and plates were used as cutting tools. Simple trimming along the edge retouch turned them into gun or tip.
On a relatively higher level of evidence Sinanthropus and his skeletal remains. The Zhoukoudian at different levels of location number 1 are scattered remains of more than 40 species Sinanthropus, including fragments of skulls. Judging by the structure of the lower extremities, Sinanthropus was already fully bipedal creature. The total progressive development of Sinanthropus found a distinct expression in the device his upper extremities; everything is developing rapidly in the constant and systematic work. His upper limbs were mostly already present by human hands, formed as a result of labor and intended mainly for the labor action.
In the process of labor development in Sinanthropus with everything more clearly formed and such a purely human trait, as the precedence of the right hand. In contrast, animals in which the forelimbs developed strictly symmetrical, and Lager from Pithecanthropus in Sinanthropus right hand bore much greater workload than the left. This is evident from the fact that Sinanthropus brain has an asymmetric structure – one-half of the brain is developed better than the other.
Thus, while in the cave and Sinanthropus found indisputable hand axes such as Acheulean, Peking man in the general level of their cultural development has risen high enough. He enjoyed the fire, had a permanent habitat in caves, and was producing large animals such as deer, gazelles and wild horses, hunted even rhinos. The general state of the art, most authors refer to the Sinanthropus period, others see it even features similar to the later, Mousterian, period. It would be better to refer to the findings at Zhoukoudian Achill time.