Chinese History - Palaeolithic discoverings ()

Prehistory and Xia Dynasty 夏代		Chinese mythology next period (Shang)
Prehistory intro		Map and Geography
	The first human relicts being discovered were bones of the so-called Peking Man (Beijing yuanren 北京猿人; Sinanthropus pekinensis, now Homo erectus pekinensis) at Zhoukoudian 周口店 in 1927. Other findigs in this area brought up the theory of a muli-centered human evolution that should not exclusively have taken place in Africa. This problem is still not resolved today. The different climates of the vast Asian continent lead to two main crops being first used some 10.000 years ago. While the cold and dry north of China allows only the cultivation of different kinds of millet, the warm and moist south could give rise to the work-intensiv rice culture. The first agriculturers were also the first settlers and the first to make pottery to store their crops. The findings of Neolithic settlers also show that they used tools of polished stone and jade. This precious stone became a symbol of a chief's contact with the heavenly powers. Jade daggers, jade axes and jade rings with a hole in the middle, all with dragon motifs, would be used as symbols of the ruling class' power and Heavenly support until the Han Dynasty. Go back to the Prehistory introduction page...

A universal guide for China studies