BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- A fragment of fossilized human parietal bone had been discovered at the Zhoukoudian site in the suburbs of Beijing, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said on Monday.
The fossil, discovered by a research team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the CAS, was identified among the mammal fossils in Location 15 at the Zhoukoudian site, with the aid of technologies including CT scanning and 3D reconstruction. It is the first Pleistocene human fossil discovered at the site since 1973.
Discovered in 1932, Location 15 is 70 meters from Location 1, or the Peking Man Site, where the first complete skull of Peking Man was found by Chinese archaeologist Pei Wenzhong in December 1929. Many stoneware and mammal fossils dating back some 200,000 years have been unearthed at Location 15.
The new fossil will help scientists explore human evolution in the region through comparative anatomical and molecular biological studies, and provides critical material for studies on the evolution pattern of ancient humans in China, according to Wu Xiujie with the research team. ■
