Homo Erectus Lantianensis Site

Synonym: Lantian Man site

Homo erectus lantianensis is also called the ‘Lantian Chinese Ape’. A lower jaw bone and a skull were discovered in 1963 and 1964, respectively, in different locations in Lantian County, Shaanxi Province. A lower jaw bone of an old woman was unearthed in the light reddish soil layer in the Middle Pleistocene Xiehu Formation in Chenjiawo. A skull of a 30-year-old female was discovered in a calcium nodule in the yellowish red loess-like sandstone in the lower part of the Xiehu Formation in Gongwangling. The lower jawbone is approximately 650,000 years old, while the skull is approximately 1.1 million years old as determined by palaeomagnetic dating. The research of Wu Ru Kan indicates that the Lantian Man is more primitive than the Peking Man, and the more prominent skull supports this interpretation (Fig. 14).

Fig. 14

Homo erectus lantianensis