| the skeletal remains of Homo erectus, formerly classified as Sinanthropus pekinensis, found at Zhoukoudian, near Peking, China, in the late 1930s and early 1940s and subsequently lost during World War II. |
| Peking man n. An early member of an extinct species of humans, considered a subspecies of Homo erectus and known from fossil remains of the Pleistocene Epoch found in China. Also called sinanthropus. [After Peking (Beijing), China.] |
Peking man  (pē'kĭng') Pronunciation Key
See sinanthropus. |
Peking man
extinct hominin of the species Homo erectus, known from fossils found at Zhoukoudian near Beijing. Peking man was identified as a member of the human lineage by Davidson Black in 1927 on the basis of a single tooth. Later excavations yielded several skullcaps and mandibles, facial and limb bones, and the teeth of about 40 individuals. The Zhoukoudian fossils date from about 550,000 to 230,000 years ago. Before being assigned to H. erectus, they were variously classified as Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus
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