Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

In 1960, Jia Lanpo investigated Early Pleistocene sand and gravel deposits at Xihoudu in northern Shanxi province. He found 3 stones with signs of percussion, and more artifacts turned up in 1961 and 1962. Jia (1980, pp. 10–11) said: “In processing the stone artefacts collected at Xihoudu, we took extra care against the possibility of misjudgement by carefully analysing the scars on the stones to see if they were caused by natural, physical, or biological factors. But none could explain them. Later, we asked the late well-known geologist Li Siguang (also known as J. S. Lee) to examine the specimens from the angle of geomechanics to see if they could have been caused by natural agencies. His answer was: ‘Unlikely. Shaped by man would be more appropriate.’” Because of Early Pleistocene faunal remains, the site was dated over a million years old. According to Jia (1985, p. 139), “Preliminary palaeomagnetic data indicate an absolute age for the Xihoudu site of about 1.8 million years b.p.”

Among the dozens of stone tools were cores, flakes, choppers, scrapers, and heavy triangular points. Jia (1980, p. 11) wrote: “The choppers are single or double faced, and bear marks resulting from use. . . . a fragmented deer skull with both antler stumps attached was unearthed here, and on one stump transverse cuts could be observed. The cuts were most likely made by a sharp tool instead of being caused by erosion or other natural forces. Another antler bears marks of being scraped. These mark-bearing antlers lead us to believe . . . that over a million years ago, hominids at Xihoudu were using antler and bone tools.”

Jia also found what appeared to be charred bones. This was established by visual comparison with burned bones from Zhoukoudian and by laboratory testing. But Jia (1980, p. 12) admitted: “Who the creators of the Xihoudu culture were has not yet been identified, for no human fossils have been found, not even so much as a tooth. From the antiquity of the site we may infer that the genus probably belongs to the Australopithecinae.”

Aigner (1981, pp. 183–184), as one might well imagine, disagreed: “Despite the strong support for Lower Pleistocene human activity in north China claimed for Hsihoutu [Xihoudu], I am reluctant to accept unequivocally the materials at this time. . . . if Hsihoutu is verified, then humans occupied the north of China some 1,000,000 years ago and utilized fire. This would call into question some of our current assumptions about both the course of human evolution and the adaptational capabilities of early hominids.”

If one could, however, become detached from current assumptions, interesting possibilities open up. Considering all the evidence gathered around the world over the past century or so, and not just the carefully selected evidence used to support present evolutionary views of human origins, one may infer something different than did Jia regarding Xihoudu. It is possible that some other hominid, perhaps Homo sapiens, might have been responsible for the cultural remains at Xihoudu. In fact, Homo sapiens is a more likely explanation for the presence of stone tools, bone tools, and fire than an australopithecine.

9.2.12 Concluding Words on China

This ends our review of finds in China. It appears that age determinations of fossil hominids have been distorted by morphological dating. When these ages are adjusted to reflect reasonable faunal date ranges, the total evidence fails to exclusively support an evolutionary hypothesis. Rather, the evidence appears also consistent with the proposal that anatomically modern human beings have coexisted with a variety of humanlike creatures throughout the Pleistocene.

Living Ape-Men?

In examining the fossil hominids of China (Chapter 9), we found signs that humans may have coexisted with more apelike hominids throughout the Pleistocene. In this chapter, we suggest that humans and ape-man-like creatures continue to coexist.

Over the past hundred or so years, researchers have accumulated substantial evidence that creatures resembling Neanderthals, Homo erectus, and the australopithecines even now roam wilderness areas of the world.

The existence of living ape-men, if admitted by scientists, offers new ways to interpret ambiguous paleoanthropological evidence. Hominid fossils once thought to be from the Middle Pleistocene or older periods may in fact be quite recent. The existence of living ape-men also calls into question the reliability of the scientific information processing system in zoology and anthropology.

10.1 Hard Evidence Is Hard To Find