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Article: Peking man revisited: ROM archaeologist finds that this hominid was smarter than we thought.(News)
- Article from:
- ROM Magazine
- Article date:
- September 22, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Royal Ontario Museum Governors. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ROM archaeologist Dr. Chen Shen is part of a team re-excavating the famed Zoukoudian Cave site in China, where in the 1920s the first skull of Peking Man was found. It was a watershed finding--it confirmed for scientists that this hominid was related closely enough to us to add the "Homo" to the Homo erectus name.
The aim of the new project is to stabilize the site, a national treasure, and China's only UNESCO World Heritage Site, to serve as a museum. But the team is also in search of more evidence of hominids. The new excavation is vertical, up a 40-metre cliff face, requiring team members to don safety belts and ascend like rock climbers.
Shen is the ...