Posted on 02/11/2006 10:58:19 AM PST by blam
Digging deep for a clue to a global mystery
The search for the ancient skulls of Peking Man, missing since 1941, sits firmly on Beijing's agenda, GEOFFREY YORK writes
GEOFFREY YORK
ZHOUKOUDIAN, CHINA -- For more than two decades, Yang Shoukai had hoarded his secret, unsure what to do with a possible clue to one of China's most baffling mysteries.
As construction supervisor on the site of an abandoned U.S. military barracks in Tianjin in 1982, he had discovered a strange cement box in the basement of the old wartime barracks. He tried to dig it up, but lacked the proper tools, and the box was buried under a new medical laboratory.
Mr. Yang, now retired and in poor health, is convinced that the box contains a 500,000-year-old archeological treasure that China has hunted for in vain since the Second World War: the missing skulls of Peking Man, one of the most famous links in the evolution of prehistoric humans.
The disappearance of the fossilized skulls is one of China's most enduring puzzles, and a reminder of the damage inflicted by its chaotic history over the past century. But now a new search committee is pushing hard for an answer to the 65-year-old riddle.
"Something very strange was under the floor of the basement," Mr. Yang wrote in a letter this month to the committee of scholars who are searching for the missing skulls.
"The cement structure must have been left by the Americans for long-term storage when they evacuated," he said. "They were concealing it, so this proves how precious it was. For 20 years I've been thinking about this, and it's a great shame that I didn't dig it up. But I'm certain that it had something to do with the Peking Man skulls."
Mr. Yang's letter is just one of the dozens of clues that the search committee is investigating. The committee, set up by Chinese officials last summer, has received more than 80 tips from people around the world who believe they have clues about the location of the fossils. It plans to look for the mysterious box in Tianjin as part of its investigation this year.
"As long as there is even a 1-per-cent chance of finding the skulls, we will devote 100 per cent of our efforts," said Yang Haifeng, curator of the Peking Man Museum at Zhoukoudian, southwest of Beijing, where the first skulls were discovered in mountain caves in 1929.
"This is a global mystery, and such a long time has passed since they disappeared, so there are certainly difficulties. But there is still hope. We have so many clues and we do have confidence."
It was a Canadian doctor and paleontologist, Davidson Black, who first understood the significance of the ancient remains in the limestone caves of Zhoukoudian. The site had been traditionally called Dragon Bone Hill because of the strange bones that surfaced on the hills, which local farmers believed were from mythical monsters.
When a large tooth was found in the caves in 1927, Dr. Black wrote a scientific paper identifying it as evidence of a previously unknown species of early human. He called it Sinanthropus pekinensis - Peking Man.
Other scientists laughed at the idea, but he persuaded the Rockefeller Foundation to finance a 10-year dig at the caves, and in 1929 an amazing discovery was made: an almost intact skull of an early human. Five more skulls, along with scores of other bones and fragments, were soon found. (In gratitude for his role as the driving force behind the discoveries, several photos of the Canadian doctor are still displayed today at the Peking Man Museum in Zhoukoudian.)
Research found that Peking Man was active between 500,000 and 250,000 years ago, and it was confirmed that the species belonged to homo erectus, the precursor to homo sapiens, the humans of today. Some scientists believe that Peking Man was among the earliest humans to live in groups and use fire, although that claim is disputed.
Peking Man may have been a crucial stage in the evolution of modern humans - or it may have been a blind alley, leading nowhere. But before the skulls could be fully studied, Japanese invaders gained control of northern China. The Japanese were also strongly interested in the skulls, for their own evolutionary theories.
In 1941, the skulls were packed into two wooden crates at a research laboratory in Beijing. They were to be shipped to the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and then to the United States for temporary safekeeping. But at some point along the way, the crates disappeared. A few weeks later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the wartime chaos grew worse.
Rumours and theories have abounded. Some think the skulls are buried on a former U.S. embassy site in Beijing. Others believe the skulls were taken to Japan after the research laboratory fell into Japanese control. There are theories that the skulls are in the United States, or Korea, or Taiwan, or Manchuria, or at the bottom of the ocean after a transport ship was sunk on its way to Japan in 1945.
Chinese specialists have conducted many failed searches for the skulls, but the new committee is optimistic. "I think we will find them," said Dong Cuiping, vice-director of the Peking Man Museum.
"Since 1941, the searches were always done by non-governmental people. Now this work is on the government's agenda. We're drawing more attention from society, and more clues - not only from China but outside China too."
If the skulls are recovered, they could become the basis for a major breakthrough in the understanding of human evolution, she said.
"When we first found the skulls, our science was not very advanced. Now we have much better technology. If we recover them, we could make new scientific discoveries."
GGG Ping.
Thanks for another interesting post. Wonder if they are trying to find them in time for the Olympics?
Intersting but suspect.
No doubt. They're spending billions and billions on new buildings, etc. for the Olympics.
Get ready for the swarm of CRIDers who will say that God (or Satan?) created and made the skull APPEAR to be aged as a test of faith.
And that angels hold airplanes aloft.
If the skulls are recovered, they could become the basis for a major breakthrough in the understanding of human evolution,
The "Peking Man" Skulls have been Known to be a Huge Fraud
and Hoax from a Godless and Athieistic Nation for years.
This is just another "rehash" of the same old Lie.
Peking Man skulls were found around a firepit in a Cave/clif dwelling dig...they all displayed broken
tops of the skulls and were very small in comparison to modern Man.
The reason was soon Obvious that these Skulls were not Modern or early man at all when they also found the Skulls down inside the Fire pit for many Feet.
all the skulls displayed the same "smashed in tops"
it was learned that Early man in this area would
Hunt a local Large monkey the size of a Gibbon and Kill and eat them and smash in the skull to get at the brains.
The Peking man Skulls are just the Monkey skulls that were eaten for many years at the site of this Early man dwelling.
The Lie was perpetrated By the Communist China Govt. and by Lying Evolutionists ever since
END of Story.
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!
Short version: no one has a clue what's in the box.
"I used to work with a former Marine who had been an Embassy guard in China prior to WWII."
What a lucky break, hope you had many interesting conversations with him. It' a very rare treat to be able to meet one of the old G.I.s from that little known period and region.
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Interesting
Who do you know that thinks angels hold up airplanes?
( ;-D /sarcasm
Requests to the USMC museum for info on Peking man top all others. Amelia Earnheart is second.
Thanks for the interesting read. It would be nice if they are found.
That's the version I'd always heard.
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