'Peking Man' older than thought; somehow adapted to cold

A new dating method has found that "Peking Man" is around 200,000 years older than previously thought, suggesting he somehow adapted to the cold of a mild glacial period.

Peking Man (sometimes now called Beijing Man), also called Sinanthropus pekinensis (currently Homo erectus pekinensis), is an example of Homo erectus. The remains were first discovered in 1923-27 during excavations at Zhoukoudian (Choukoutien) near Beijing (Peking), China.

Excavations had begun at Zhoukoudian in 1921, investigating a number of caves in the limestone there. The remains of around fifteen prehistoric individuals were uncovered, with the first fragments being exposed in 1923. The finds have been dated from roughly 250,000-400,000 years ago. [Read More..]