What historical information does Beijing people's teeth reflect?

Beijingers lived between 700,000 and 200,000 years ago. Looks a bit like an ape, can work with hands, and has evolved into an adult. They can make hand-made stone tools, belonging to the Paleolithic Age. Beijingers have been able to use the fire of nature and enhance their ability to conquer nature. Because of the harsh living environment and poor tools, one person can't survive alone. Dozens of people live together, work together, share the fruits of labor and live in groups. This is the earliest society of mankind.

Beijingers-our ancient ancestors

The discovery of Beijingers is one of the first achievements of archaeology in China. The study of Beijingers is accompanied by the growth of archaeology in China. Archaeology gradually developed in China at the beginning of last century. The excavation of Beijingers has enabled China archaeology to quickly catch up with the international archaeological trend.

Beijing people found Gu Long in Zhoukoudian, Fangshan District, about 50 kilometers southwest of Beijing. Since the Song Dynasty, the local people have regarded the mammal fossils unearthed here as a kind of traditional Chinese medicine-"keel". The name of Longgushan began to be handed down. Why are so many "keels" unearthed in the local area? At that time, people didn't think and study deeply. Now, we know many important discoveries, and most of their place names are related to "dragon". For example, Beijingers found that the location was Gulong Mountain; There is a keel cave where meteorites were unearthed in Hubei Province. The place where the meteorite was unearthed is called Bailong Cave. This is an important transmission of historical information. The ancients knew that there were a lot of fossils in some places, but they could not explain them scientifically. Then I remembered the legendary "dragon". In fact, the fossils called "keel" by the ancients are often fossils of ancient mammals. These animals often lived in the same period as ancient humans, even people's prey and food. Therefore, where there is a "keel", there are often human sites. It seems that there is some truth in calling us "descendants of the dragon".

Around the 1920s, Swedish geologist An Tesheng came here to do geological research, and discovered this treasure house of ancient culture under the guidance of workers. 192 1 to 1923, two fossils of ape-man teeth were found here, and 1929, a fossil of ape-man skull was unearthed here, which caused a sensation in the world archaeology at that time. Up to 1936 * * * five skulls have been found. The names of Beijingers spread all over the world. Archaeologists named it "Chinese ape-man Beijing species" or "Beijingers" for short.

In the book "Childhood in the History of China" by the famous archaeologist Mr. Jia Lanpo, the process of excavating the first skull of Beijingers in ancient times is described. It was a winter afternoon, the sun had set and the wind was cold. People who have worked hard all day are still working hard to finish their work that day. At this moment, a young man shouted, "What is this? Head! " As soon as the word "head" came out, many people gathered around. Because at that time, the archaeology in the world did not find several complete human skulls. People got excited. Many people advocated digging immediately, while others advocated digging the next day. Professor Pei Wenzhong, who presided over the excavation, thought about it several times before deciding to carry out the excavation that night. What an unforgettable night it was. Everyone burned the midnight oil in the cold wind and didn't feel tired at all. Everyone is very cautious. Because everyone knows that this discovery is a discovery that shocked the world. In poor and backward old China, China people were discriminated against everywhere. Even thousands of years of ancient civilization in China, some western scholars claim that it was spread from the west to China. "Now that the skulls of Beijingers have been unearthed, those arrogant western scholars have to re-examine their conclusions." Everyone's heart is full of longing. Finally, the first complete skull was unearthed.

After liberation, archaeologists in New China continued to explore and study in Zhoukoudian. At present, we know the fossil materials of Beijingers: six complete and relatively complete skulls, skull fragments, mandibles, teeth, bone fragments of limbs, tibia and so on. , belonging to more than 40 individuals of different ages. At the same time, there are more than 654.38+10,000 stone tools and bone implements in batches, 100 animal fossils, and a large number of ashes. Among them, besides rhinoceros, antelope, sika deer, cattle, tigers, leopards and wolves, there are extinct saber-toothed tigers and swollen deer.

Archaeologists have done a lot of research on Beijingers' sites, providing us with the life of Beijingers. First of all, archaeologists have copied the heads of Beijingers for us very seriously. Let's see what our ancient ancestors looked like. There is a restored Peking man's head in the textbook. As you can see, Beijingers have flat foreheads, prominent cheekbones, prominent mouths and many apes. Secondly, archaeologists described the life scenes of Beijingers for us. Beijingers can make stone tools, such as chopping tools, scrapers and sharp tools, which are mainly used for gathering and hunting.

Parties are an important food source for Beijingers. Near Zhoukoudian, the hometown of Beijingers, there are vast plains and rolling mountains, towering pines and cypresses nearby, as well as tall birch, oak and Pu Shu. There is a small spherical fruit growing on the Pu Shu, which is fragrant and probably delicious for Beijingers. In autumn, when fruits are abundant, Beijingers often flock to the mountain stream to pick them. In winter, they dig the frozen soil with stone tools to find the roots of plants.

People in Beijing also have hunting activities. The status of hunting in Beijing's life can be inferred from a large number of animal fossils and burnt bones found in archaeology. Beijingers can get deer more smoothly, and they can also catch big animals and birds with the help of the strength of the group.

Beijingers live in groups. Without collective strength, no individual can survive. They must send people to concentrate on keeping the seeds of fire, use fire for heating, barbecue food, resist wild animals and maintain population reproduction. Hard living conditions make them age rapidly. People in Beijing have a short life span and die in their teens.

Today, Zhoukoudian in Beijing has established a museum to collect and study Beijingers, and the Peking Man Site has also been listed as a world human cultural site. However, in old China, the priceless Peking man skull fossils have disappeared. Although, at that time, some people in China knew the value of Peking man's skull fossils and that it was a milestone in the history of archaeological growth in China. They do their best to protect the priceless treasures of our country. But old China was too backward. Before the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, we kept it in the Union Medical College Hospital run by Americans. However, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Americans could not guarantee the safety of Peking man skull fossils. During the transfer of Peking man skull fossils, Peking man skull fossils mysteriously disappeared. Some people say that these fossils fell into the hands of Americans; Some people say that this batch of fossils fell into the hands of the Japanese, some people say that this batch of fossils sank into the ocean of China with the ships that transported it, and some people say that this batch of fossils was preserved by the people of China through difficulties and obstacles. Anyway, we hope that Peking man's skull fossils can return to its home-Zhoukoudian Peking man museum as soon as possible. I hope such a tragedy will never happen again. I hope our motherland will be stronger. I hope we can learn more about our past based on more archaeological materials.

Marriage between matriarchal clan and Mosuo people

In the ancient legend of China, there is a story that Shennong bravely tasted a hundred herbs. This story tells that in ancient times, people didn't know that those plants were edible and those things were poisonous. So many people died of poisoning. There was a saint, Shennong, who risked his life and was determined to taste all the plants around him. He tried his best and almost died several times. He was in a coma for many days, but he finally found that those plants were good for people and poisonous. Later, people regarded Shennong as the ancestor of agriculture in China. This is the legend of the origin of agriculture in China. So, what is the origin of agriculture in China?

To understand the origin of agriculture in China, we should start with matriarchal clan society. Agriculture in China began to sprout and develop from matriarchal clan society. After a long Paleolithic period, mankind gradually entered the Neolithic Age. At this time, people began to widely use grinding stone tools, which are much sharper than grinding stone tools. Therefore, it greatly facilitates people's development and utilization of nature. They burned the forest with fire, cut off the branches with stone axes and began their farming life. This is the so-called slash and burn.

First of all, people have known the habits of some creatures on the basis of long-term observation of surrounding plants. For example: whether this plant is edible and toxic; What is its growing period? Finally, it is cultivated into a plantable crop through artificial selection. For example, the millet planted by Banpo people was cultivated from the ancestors of the northern common green bristlegrass. The rice planted by Hemudu people is also planted by ancient wild rice.

The appearance of ancient primitive agriculture is a great progress in human history. It is an important guarantee for human beings to obtain stable material sources. The cultivation of millet and rice is also a great contribution of our ancestors to world civilization. When archaeology first appeared, some western scholars advocated the theory of European civilization center. Some people claim that China's ancient civilization also came from the West. Archaeologists in New China have eloquently proved the long history of Chinese civilization with archaeological discoveries. The discovery of millet and rice in Banpo culture and Hemudu culture proves the contribution of Chinese civilization to world civilization.

With the appearance of primitive agriculture, people have a reliable food source. So humans began to settle down. During the matriarchal clan commune, people have been able to live in a certain area for a long time. The settlements of Hemudu people and Banpo people we found illustrate this point. Settled life has promoted people's improvement and improvement of agricultural technology. The stone axe with bone chisel and handle mentioned in the textbook is a sign of the progress of people's agricultural technology and agricultural production tools.

The appearance of primitive agriculture also promoted the development of primitive handicraft industry. Banpo clan has been able to make exquisite painted pottery. When making pottery, they will use pottery wheels to make the surface of pottery smooth and delicate. They carved fine patterns around pottery. The massive processing of grinded stone tools and jade articles is also a witness to the development of handicraft industry.

The appearance of primitive agriculture also promoted the development of primitive animal husbandry. People gradually cultivate dogs, pigs, cows, chickens and other artificially raised animals. Since then, animals have become friends of human beings. They witness the progress and development of human society.

The appearance of primitive agriculture also promoted the development of human society itself. In matriarchal clan society, people lived a truly organized social life for the first time. People form clan communes according to their blood relationship. Within the clan commune, people have strict organization and division of labor. A system of matriarchal clan society regulates the relationship between clan members and between individuals and society. In matriarchal clans, because women play a leading role in social life, their status is very high. Within the clan, their social status is determined by their qualifications. The clan commune is essentially the descendant of the old grandmother.

This is a great change in people's marriage relationship. Mosuo people (Naxi people) who now live by Lugu Lake in Yunnan still retain the remains of matriarchal clan marriage. We call it-walking marriage system. That is, men leave their clans and live in women's clans. But he did not become a member of the woman's clan. He is also a member of his own clan and participates in the production and distribution of his own clan. Here, the lineage is calculated from the female, and the children are raised by the matriarchal clan or family.

Due to the development of productive forces and the emergence of primitive agriculture, matriarchal clan commune has made great progress in social production. But at this time, people have to work collectively and spend together. * * * Working together is the premise for members of matriarchal clan commune to live together. At that time, people used simple grinding stone tools, bone tools and woodwork, and the best weapon was nothing more than bows and arrows. Individual strength is too small, and only collective strength can survive and develop. But a series of progress of matriarchal clan is the beginning of human agricultural civilization. It seems that it is with the collective strength that human beings are striving to develop and eventually move towards civilization.