Because of the discovery of Yuanmou people. There are also primitive human sites such as Peking Man, Hemudu Man and Banpo Man. Not only are they very old, but they are also numerous.
The discovery of "Yuanmou Man" has pushed forward the history of human beings in China by more than 1 million years, indicating that Yunnan in the Yangtze River Basin is the key and core area for the origin and development of human beings, effectively challenging the African center of human origins. This theory provides strong scientific support for the polycentric theory of human origin and development. "Yuanmou Man" was written on the front page of Chinese history textbooks as the beginning of Chinese human history.
Extended information:
Yuanmou people:
Yuanmou people were named "Yuanmou people" because they were found on a hill northwest of Shangnabeng Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province. Homo erectus", commonly known as "Yuanmou Man". The word "Yuanmou" comes from the Dai language and means "horse".
The tooth fossils of Yuanmou Man were discovered in Shangnabeng Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province on May Day in 1965. Yuanmou County is known as the "Hometown of Yuanmou Man".
In 1976, according to the paleomagnetic method, the age of life was about 1.7 million years ago, with a difference of no more than 100,000 years at most (some scholars believe that the age should not exceed 730,000 years). That is, it can be 600,000 to 500,000 years ago or later).
About 1.7 million years ago, Yuanmou, Yunnan, was a subtropical grassland and forest covered with hazel bushes and dense forests. There were first remnants of the Third Age animals such as branch-antlered deer and claw-hoofed beasts. Survive and reproduce. Moving forward some time later, early Pleistocene animals such as the Sanshi hyena, Yunnan horse, and Shanxi axis deer appeared in this grassland and forest.
Most of them are herbivorous beasts. In order to survive, the Yuanmou people used crude stone tools to hunt them. According to the unearthed two teeth, stone tools, and charcoal chips, as well as the subsequent excavation of a small number of stone products, a large amount of charcoal chips, and mammal fossils in the same layer at the same location, it was proved that they were primitive people who could make tools and use fire. human beings.
Peking Man:
Peking Man is a Homo erectus living in Zhoukoudian, Beijing in ancient times. He can use natural fire to make tools (stone tools). For the first time, humans have achieved dominance. the ability of a natural force.
In 1929, Chinese archaeologists discovered a complete ancient human skull fossil in a cave in Zhoukoudian, Beijing. This is the world-famous Beijinger.
They lived about 700,000 to 200,000 years ago. They still retained some characteristics of apes, but their hands and feet had a clear division of labor. They could make and use tools, and they could use natural fire. The forest is dense, overgrown with weeds, and wild beasts are infested. Beijingers pounded rocks into rough stone tools, chopped branches into sticks, and fought hard against nature with extremely primitive tools.
In such a dangerous environment, it is impossible to survive by relying on the strength of a single person. Therefore, there are often dozens of them together, working together, sharing the fruits of labor, and living in groups. This formed the early primitive society.
Hemudu people:
Hemudu people are ancient humans who lived in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River more than 7,000 years ago. They lived a settled life, lived in stilt-style houses, used boats and rafts to carry people and objects, and collected floating water. They also used knives, daggers, hammers, shovels, spears, bowls, tubes, sticks, handles, spinning wheels, and butterfly-shaped utensils. Wait for wooden tools, cultivate artificial rice, domesticate livestock such as pigs, dogs and buffaloes, and dig wells.
The earliest lacquerware discovered in China was unearthed in Hemudu. The pottery production reached a certain level, and the highest firing temperature is estimated to be 1,000 degrees Celsius.
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