Recent Excavations at the Choukoutien and Yin Sites

Abstract

On June 12, 1950, Pei Wen-chung (裴文中) and others discovered at the Chou-kou-tien Site a new locality containing fossils. This locality is about 1 kilometer south of locality 1 where the Sinanthropus pekinensis and the stone implements were discovered and about 50 meters east of locality 13. The deposit at the new locality measured about 5 meters from east to west and about 2 meters from north to south and contained on its surface fossilized remains of some mammal species. It is supposed that the new locality is contiguous with locality 13, excavated in 1933 and 1934, and is approximately of the same age as the latter. The cave site of locality 13 contained a stone implement which was doubtlessly a human product and, based upon the study of fossil bones of 20 vertebrate species, is known to be a little older than that of locality 1. It is possible therefore that the fossil remains of prehominids older than the Sinanthropus and more stone implements may be found at the new locality. After an interval of thirteen years, the Archaeological Institute (K'ao-ku Yen-chiu-so 考古研究所) of the Academia Sinica (Chung-kuo K'o-hsueh-yuan 中國科学院) investigated the Yin Site. The Institute excavated at west of Su-p'an-ma village (四盤磨村) 17 small tombs and 5 pits, and at north of Wu-kuan village (武官村) 33 graye-pits of sacrificial victims and a large tomb. The 33 grave-pits, arranged in good order, contained about 200 headless skeletons which seemed to belong to the offertory skulls found in the large tomb. The latter is a subterranean pit of 12 meters from east to west and 14 meters from north to south, and more than 8 meters deep at the center. It has corridors or entrances on the north and south sides. Although the tomb had already been pilfered several times, many human and animal bones, various bronze and jade implements, and stone ornaments were excavated from the undisturbed parts. Among these is a large musical instrument ch'ing (磬) made of a sonorbus stone, probably one of the most important finds of the excavation. Within the corridors, too, were bones of men, horses, and dogs, laid in such a direction as to suggest that the southern corridor was the front and the northern one the back-entrance. It should also be noted that various kinds of harnesses attached to the head and neck of the horses' skeletons were found. (The author based this information mainly on the recent reports appearing in the K'o-hsueh T'ung-pao (科学通報), monthly organ of the Chungkuo K'o-hsueh-yuan, Peking.)