Peking Man site (Zhoukoudian) is 48 kilometers southwest of downtown Beijing near Longgushan (dragon skeleton mountain). Many artifacts related to Peking Man and Upper Cave Man (10 to 20 thousand years ago) have been found on the mountain since 1929.

In 1973, in the southeast corner of Longgushan, another site of ancient man was discovered. Scientists have named the ancient men who once lived at the site “New Cave Man”. The term comes from the fact that ancient men are supposed to have lived in the period between Peking Man and Upper Cave Man.

The discoveries at Zhoukoudian are of great significance, for the sites date the cultural history of Beijing back to 600,000 years ago. It is could be considered one of the birthplaces of world civilization, so the people of Beijing are very proud of it. Zhoukoudian has become a scientific research base for the study of anthropology and has been named a key cultural preservation unit by the State Council of the Chinese government.

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