Yuanmou was discovered in1May, 929, on the hill in the northwest of Shangnabang Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province. The fossils of Yuanmou people include two upper medial teeth, which were named "Yuanmou Homo erectus" at that time. Seven stone tools unearthed with Yuanmou people have obvious artificial traces. Archaeologists concluded that these stone tools were made by Yuanmou people. A large number of carbon chips were also found in the fossil strata of Yuanmou people, and later two small charred bones were found. Archaeologists have found that these are the remains of human fire at that time. Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences determined by paleomagnetic method that Yuanmou lived 170 65438+ million years ago.

At present, there are three or four hundred Paleolithic sites in China, which are distributed in 25 provinces and cities of the motherland. Facts have proved that China is one of the cradles of mankind. Yuanmou man was found in Shangnabang Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province on May Day 1965. First, two teeth were found, then stone tools and carbon chips were found in the same stratum, which proved that they were primitive humans who could make tools and use fire. 1976 According to the paleomagnetic method, Yuanmou lived for 170 65438+ million years, which is about1700,000 years, with a difference of no more than100,000 years. The two teeth found by Yuan, one is the upper left inner incisor and the other is the upper right inner incisor, both belong to adult individuals, and may be young men. According to scholars' research, Yuanmou people's tooth characteristics are similar to those of modern Mongolians.

Early Paleolithic human fossils in southwest China. Is the earliest known Homo erectus in China. 1965 In May, the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences discovered it near Shangnabang Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province. It is located at the edge of Yuanmou basin, and a set of rivers and lakes with a thickness of 695 meters are exposed. It is divided into 4 sections and 28 floors from bottom to top. Yuan's tooth was found on the 22nd floor of Section 4. Since then, a small number of stone products, a large number of carbon chips and mammalian fossils have been unearthed in the same place and at the same level. The geological age of Yuanmou people belongs to the early Pleistocene, which is 654.38+0.7 million years ago according to paleomagnetism.

1.7 million years ago, Yuanmou, Yunnan Province was a subtropical grassland and forest, with tertiary animals such as ungulates and deer. Later, there were early Pleistocene animals such as mulberry stone hyenas, Yunnan horses and Shanxi axis deer. Most of them are herbivores. Whether you can make tools is the fundamental difference between people and animals! Yuanmou people hunted with stone tools in order to survive. In the early Pleistocene strata near Shangnabang village in Yuanmou, two fossils of upper inner incisors were found in the 28-storey fluvial-lacustrine sedimentary strata of the fourth member exposed in Yuanmou basin with a thickness of 695 meters.

Yuanmou man's fossils include two upper medial teeth, one left and one right, belonging to the same adult individual. The crown is complete, the tip of the root is incomplete, there are small cracks on the surface, and brown clay is filled. These two teeth are thick, with flat lips and complex tongue lines, which have obvious primitive attributes. They were named "Homo erectus Yuanmou", commonly known as "Yuanmou Man". (See Yuanmou Man's tooth fossil color map)

Seven stone products have been unearthed, and the artificial traces are clear. The raw material is pulse-timely, small in shape, with stone core and scraper. Although it is not at the same level as human teeth, it has roughly the same vision and is not far away. It should be made and used by Yuanmou. Most of the carbon chips found are doped in clay and silty clay, and a small amount is gravel convex lens. The carbon sheet is roughly divided into three layers, and the spacing between each layer is 30 ~ 50 cm. Carbon fragments are often associated with mammalian fossils. The largest diameter of carbon chips can reach 1.5 mm, and the smallest is about1mm. On the plane of 4 cm ×3 cm, there are as many as 16 carbon chips exceeding1mm. In addition, two black bones were found, which may have been burned after identification. Researchers believe that these are traces of human use of fire at that time. This discovery, together with the burnt bones found in Xihoudu culture about 6.5438+0.8 million years ago, will greatly advance the history of human use of fire if it is really evidence of artificial use of fire.

There are 29 species of mammal fossils born with Yuanmou, such as Nihewan saber-toothed tiger, Sangshi hyena, Yunnan horse, ungulate, china rhino and Shanxi axial deer, among which nearly 100% was extinct, and 38.8% of them were in Pliocene and Early Pleistocene, indicating that Yuanmou lived no later than earlier. According to the analysis of animal fossils and plant sporopollen, some people think that the natural environment at that time was forest and grassland landscape, and the climate was cooler than now. The "absolute" age of Yuanmou people is 170 65438+ million years ago according to the paleomagnetic method determined by the Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. According to paleomagnetic analysis and comparison, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences thinks it is 6.5438+0.64 million years. However, some people think that it should not exceed 730 thousand years, that is, it may be 600 thousand to 500 thousand years ago or later.

Yuanmou people lived in Yuanmou County about1700,000 years ago. `

Now, Yuanmou's archaeological excavation has made a new breakthrough. More than 160 ape-man teeth were found in Butterfly Liangzi and Leopard Cave in this county. It has been determined that the teeth of "Oriental" have been buried for 2.5 million years, which has pushed forward the history of human beings in China for another 800,000 years!

Fossils of Homo erectus in China. 1965 was found in Shangnabang Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province. Includes a left inner side door tooth and a right inner side door tooth belonging to the same person. Its morphological characteristics are similar to those of Beijing's front teeth, but there are some differences. There are different views on the geological age and absolute age of Yuanmou man fossils in academic circles. One view is that according to ancient land, it belongs to the late Early Pleistocene.