{{Taxobox 
| name = Peking Man
| fossil_range = Pleistocene
| image = Peking Man.jpg
| image_caption = Bust of Peking Man on permanent display at Zhoukoudian
| regnum = Animalia
| phylum = Chordata 
| subphylum = Vertebrata
| classis = Mammalia
| ordo = Primates
| familia = Hominidae
| genus = ''Homo''
| species = ''H. erectus''
| subspecies = '''''H. e. pekinensis'''''
| trinomial = ''Homo erectus pekinensis''
| trinomial_authority = (Black, 1927)
| synonyms = ''Sinanthropus pekinensis''
}}
'''Peking Man''' (now sometimes called '''Beijing Man'''), also called ''Sinanthropus pekinensis'' (currently ''Homo erectus pekinensis''), is an example of ''27 during excavations at Zhoukoudian (Choukoutien) near Beijing (Peking), China. More recently, the finds have been dated from roughly 500,000 years ago.<ref></ref>

==Discovery and identification==
thumb|left|First cranium of ''Homo erectus pekinensis'' (''Sinathropus pekinensis'') discovered in 1929 in Zhoukoudian, today missing (replica) 
Swedish American 1921. They were directed to the site at Dragon Bone Hill by local quarry men, where Andersson recognised deposits of quartz that were not native to the area. Immediately realising the importance of this find he turned to his colleague and announced, ''“Here is primitive man, now all we have to do is find him!”''<ref name="doorKnock1"></ref>

Excavation work was begun immediately by Andersson's assistant Austrian palaeontologist Otto Zdansky, who found what appeared to be a fossilised human 
molar. He returned to the site in 1923 and materials excavated in the two digs were sent back to 1926 Andersson announced the discovery of two human molars found in this material and Zdansky published his findings.<ref name="doorKnock2"></ref>

1927 with both Western and Chinese scientists. A tooth was unearthed that fall by Swedish palaeontologist Anders Birger Bohlin which Davidson places in a locket around his neck.

Davidson published his analysis in the journal ''Nature'', identifying his find as belonging to a new species and genus which he named ''Sinanthropus pekinensis'', but many fellow scientist were sceptical of such an identification based on a single tooth and the Foundation demanded more specimens before they would give an addition grant.<ref name="morganLucas"></ref>

A lower jaw, several teeth and a skull fragments were discovered were unearthed in 1928. Black presented these finds to the Foundation and was rewarded with an $80,000 grant that he used to establish the Cenozoic Research Laboratory. 

Excavations at the site from under the supervision of Chinese archaeologists 1937 with the Japanese occupation.

Fossils of the Peking Man were placed in the safe at the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Peking Union Medical College. Eventually, in November 1941, secretary Hu Chengzi packed up the fossils so they could be sent to USA for safekeeping until the end of the war. They vanished en route to the port city of Qinghuangdao. They were probably in possession of a group of US marines whom the Japanese captured when the war began between Japan and USA.

Various parties have tried to locate the fossils but, so far, without result. In 1972, a US financier Christopher Janus promised a $5,000 (U.S.) reward for the missing skulls; one woman contacted him, asking for $500,000 (U.S.) but she later vanished. In July 2005, the Chinese government founded a committee to find the bones to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

There are also various theories of what might have happened, including a theory that the bones had sunk with a Japanese ship ''Awa Maru'' in 1945.

==Subsequent Research==
Excavations at Zhoukoudian resumed after the war, and parts of another skull were found in 1966. To date a number of other partial fossil remains have been found. The Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987.<ref></ref>

==Paleontological conclusions==

The first specimens of ''Homo erectus'' had been found in Java in 1891 by ''Pithecanthropus erectus'', was transferred to the genus ''Homo'' along with Peking Man.<ref name="sheilaMelvin"></ref>

Contiguous findings of animal remains and evidence of fire and tool usage, as well as the manufacturing of tools, were used to support ''H. erectus'' being the first "''faber''" or tool-worker. The analysis of the remains of "Peking Man" led to the claim that the Zhoukoudian and Java fossils were examples of the same broad stage of human evolution. This is also the official view of the Chinese Communist Party. 

This interpretation was challenged in 1985 by hunter. The 1998 team of Steve Weiner of the Weizmann Institute of Science concluded that they had not found evidence that the Peking Man had used fire.

==Relation to modern Chinese people==
Some Chinese paleoanthropologists have asserted in the past that the modern Chinese are descendants of the Peking Man.  However, modern genetic research does not support this hypothesis. A recent study undertaken by Chinese geneticist Jin Li showed that there was no inter-breeding between modern human immigrants to East Asia and ''Homo erectus'', contradicting the Peking Man-hypothesis and affirming that the Chinese descended from Africans in accordance with the Recent single-origin hypothesis.<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref>
However, some paleontologists see continuity in skeletal remains.<ref></ref>

==Popular culture==
*The disappearance of Peking Man's remains, and speculation of where they ended up, is the plot of 1975-01-07 episode Season 7, Episode 160 of ''Hawaii Five-O'', "Bones of Contention". [http://www.tv.com/hawaii-five-o/bones-of-contention/episode/34675/summary.html?tag=ep_list;title;159]

L''''Homme de Pékin''' est un représentant de l'espèce ''Homo erectus'' (entre - 2 millions d'année et - 250 000 ans). Autrefois appelé '''''Sinanthropus pekinensis''''' ou '''Sinanthrope''', il est aujourd'hui rattaché à la sous-espèce '''''Homo erectus pekinensis'''''. 

==Historique==
Les fossiles attribués à l'Homme de Pékin ont pour la plupart été découverts par Chine.

Vieux de 250&nbsp;000 à 400&nbsp; 000 ans (Pléistocène moyen), leur découverte a laissé croire un temps que l'Homme était apparu en Asie. Ce n'est que plus tard, avec les nombreuses découvertes en Afrique, que le continent africain a été considéré comme lieu d'origine de tous les humains actuels.

left|300px|thumb|Entrée du musée Zhoukoudian en juillet [[2004, site où l'on découvrit l'Homme de Pékin]]Durant la crânes, 11 mandibules, 147 dents et 11 restes postcrâniens) ont été envoyés aux États-Unis pour être protégés de l'approche de l'armée japonaise. Malheureusement, la collection se perdit au cours de combats et n'arriva jamais à destination.

En patrimoine mondial de l'humanité par l'Unesco. Il a également livré des restes humains beaucoup plus récents, attribués à ''Homo sapiens'' et datés de - 18 000 à - 11 000 ans.

En 1994,en partenariat avec l'UNESCO plusieurs entreprises françaises se sont intéressées au site de l'Homme de Pékin, en se regroupant dans une association, pour aider à la conservation et la réhabilitation du site.

À la demande des autorités chinoises, trois séries de sondages du sous-sol ont été réalisés de 1996 à 2004. Ces études ont révélé l'existence de plusieurs cavités et conduits inexplorés ; la décision d'entreprendre de nouvelles fouilles pourrait être prise.