4期 吴汝康:直立人研究的现状 21 Forad Clarendon, Oxford, 1-466 [11] Groves, C. P. and MazEk, V, 1975, An Approach to the Taxonomy of the Hominidae: Grac- ile villafranchian Hominids of Africa. Casopis Pro Mineralogii a Geologii, 20, 225-247 [12] Wolpoff, M. H. and Thorne, A G, 1992, One Hundred Years of Pithecanthropus in Enough. Supplement 14 to the dm. J. Phys. Anthropol., Annual Meeting, 175-176 THE PRESENT STATUS OF HOMO ERECTUS: CELEBRA. TING THE DISCOVERY OF THE FIRST SKULL-CAP OF PEKING MAN BY PEI WENZHONG IN 1929 (nstitute of Vertebrae Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) Abstract The discovery of the first skull-cap of Peking Man by Pei Wenzhong on Decem ber 2, 1929 opened a new page in the history of human evolution. It was soon accepted by anthropologists of the world that Peking Man was the most primitive human beings. By 'the end of the nineteenth century, Eugine Dubais of Hoilaad discovered a skull-cap of small brain size of about nd it was lamed Pithecanthropus erectus (now Homo erectus). He insisted, then and for the rest of his life, that it mediate form. This disco and controversial fer a long tim Since the di: covery of Australopithecus from South Africa in 1924, debated whether it was ape-man or man-ape? As Australopithecus was more primitive than Homo erectus, it makes the anthropological mind to be prepared to accept the Peking Man (a form of Homo erectus) as a low form of human being From the thirties of this century, more fossils of Homo erectus have been found in different sites of Africa, Europe and Asia. In Africa an almost complete skeleton of Homo erectus was found in 1984 by Kamoya Kimeu of the hominid research group of the National Museum of Kenya, directed by R. E. Leakey at Nariokotome in the west side of Lake Turkana, northern Kenya. The skeleton is catalogued as WT 15000. WT stands for West Turkana. It belonged to a male about 12 years old with robust limbs and can be dated at very close to 1.6Ma B P. with some confidence. Besides, two more crania of Homo erectus, ER 3733 and ER 3883, were found at Koobi Fora site also of Kenya. ER stands for "East Rudolf", the old name of Lake Tur kana They are dated at about 1.7Ma B P. At Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, fossils of homo erectus of younger dates were found. In North west Africa similar fossils were pre sent at Ternifine in algeria Time and place for the first presence of Homo erectus outside Africa are not certaln In Europe, it was reported that archaeologists of the Republic of Georgia in co- operation with German scientists had found a well-preserved mandible of Homo ere 201994-2006ChinaAcademicJournalElectronicPublishingHouse.Allrightsreservedhttp://www.cnki.net