Chinese archaeologists said they have found fossilised remains of a primitive human species that lived about 2.04 million years ago in the Three Gorges Area in southwest China, the earliest ever found in the country. The findings, including a lower jawbone fragment, an incisor and more than 230 pieces of stone tools, prove that what is called Wushan man was more than 300,000 years older than Yuanmou man, which was discovered in southwestern Yunnan Province in the 1960s and previously recognised as China's earliest human species. An expert team led by Huang Wanbo, a professor with the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reached the conclusion after more than two decades of excavation at the Longgupo Site in Wushan County in Chongqing Municipality. The Three Gorges area was once an expanse of hilly land with luxuriant vegetation and a warm, humid climate in which various vertebrates and mammals lived and thrived.
"It was just in such a natural environment that Wushan Man led a primitive life by hunting and gathering. When night fell, the inhabitants returned to the Longgupo Cave, enjoying the fruits of their day's labour" - Huang Wanbo.
Located in Wushan Mountain, the Longgupo Site is considered one of the best-preserved Palaeolithic sites in China and even in Asia, with a wealth of primitive cultural relics. Huang said they plan a fourth excavation at the Longgupo Site next year, which is expected to yield more evidence of Wushan Man.
