|
"Nanjing
Man" Reconfirmed Over 500,000
Years Old
|
????"Nanjing
Man" has been reconfirmed with over 500,000 years of history
with the completion of the latest evaluation of the skull by scientists
at home and abroad, said Professor Wang Yongjin with Nanjing Normal
University.
????According to Wang, upon using a new thermal
ionization mass spectrometer, Zhao Jianxin from the University
of Queensland, Australia, found the skull dating back to 580,000
to 620,000 years ago, a conclusion that tallies with the results
Professor Wang and Chinese American scientists Cheng Hai obtained
years ago in the United States.
????A male and a female skull of "Nanjing
Man" were discovered in 1993 in Tangshan Cave near Nanjing,
and they were initially determined to be about 150,000 years old.
????Scientists in Nanjing held that the discovery
of "Nanjing Man" provides important clues to human evolution,
and represent another major discovery following that of "Beijing
Man," "Yuanmo Man" in Yunnan, "Lantian Man"
in Shaanxi and "Hetian Man" in Anhui.
????The scientists, however, expressed doubt
over overseas media allegation that "the dating further supports
a theory of human evolution in multi regions, which argues Asians
evolved locally and not out of Africa."
????Such conclusions are poorly grounded, the
scientists said.
????The skull is now preserved in Nanjing Museum
and under in-depth research by authoritative scientists in the
field.
????Professor Wang first published a thesis
on "Nanjing Man" in 1999 to reveal his discovery of
the 500,000-years-history of "Nanjing Man".
????(People's Daily 03/05/2001)
|
