Report from Former U.S. Marine Hints at Whereabouts of Long-Lost Peking Man Fossils

[xchrom]

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/03/22/report-from-former-u-s-marine-hints-at-whereabouts-of-long-lost-peking-man-fossils/


n the 1930s archaeologists working at the site of Zhoukoudian near Beijing recovered an incredible trove of partial skulls and other bones representing some 40 individuals that would eventually be assigned to the early human species Homo erectus. The bones, which recent estimates put at around 770,000 years old, constitute the largest collection of H. erectus fossils ever found. They were China’s paleoanthropological pride and joy. And then they vanished.

According to historical accounts, in 1941 the most important fossils in the collection were packed in large wooden footlockers or crates to be turned over to the U.S. military for transport to the American Museum of Natural History in New York for safekeeping during World War II. But the fossils never made it to the U.S. Today, all scientists have are copies of the bones. The disappearance of the originals stands as one of the biggest mysteries in paleoanthropology.

Researchers have found a new lead, however. In a paper published today in the South African Journal of Science, Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and Wu Liu and Xiujie Wu of the Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing detail their investigation into a recent report concerning the location of the missing bones. Former U.S. Marine Richard M. Bowen, now in his 80s, claimed that in 1947, when he was stationed at Camp Holcomb in the port city of Qinhaungdao during China’s Nationalist-Communist Civil War, he came across a box full of bones while digging foxholes one night. Spooked, he reburied the box. Soon thereafter his company evacuated Qinhaungdao.


Richard M. Bowen, circa 1947. Photo courtesy of of Paul Bowen

Because the most credible accounts of what happened to the fossils have them reaching Camp Holcomb, the researchers thought Bowen’s report worthy of further investigation. Perhaps the officer in charge of the fossils in 1941, seeing that the fossils were not going to make it on board the ship amid the wartime chaos, had chosen to bury them for later retrieval—only to never make it back.

[bluedigger]

1. I guess it's worth checking out.

Thanks for sharing this - definitely one of the great mysteries for paleoanthropology. Seems unlikely that this will bear out, but it's worth pursuing, I guess.

[mysuzuki2]

2. There have been several reports similar to this over the years.

Nothing has ever come of them. As much as I'd love to have them found again, I think they are going to stay lost.