China has revealed numerous bone and stone evidence of pre-human and paleolithic human cultures. European scientists discovered Peking Man, a tool-making man, in an excavation of Longgushan Hill at Zhoukoudian. The site has since been protected by the State Council. More recently, the discovery of fossils at Yuanmou shows human habitat more than one millionh years ago. Since 1953, Gigantopithecus, Dryopithecus, and Australopithecus have also been discovered in abundance. The use of fire by ape men has been documented.
The compilers note that the Atlas shows "the decisive role of labor in the evolution of man". [2] From tool-manufacturing, culture is created. 287 color plates of dentition and tools, bones and fossils, discovered in the last 50 years, classified by the stages of development: Protoanthropic (2,000,000 year span) -- apes using stone tools (choppers, scrapers, points, burins and bolli); Paleoanthropic (hammer flaking, bipolar working, regular shaping with more variety, finer trim, decreased size); and Neoanthropic (40,000 years ago) -- man's entry, morphologically modern Mongoloid, with implements more fixed and smaller, with indirect flaking techniques and trimming by pressure, with polish and perforation.
The localities are found throughout China, and are dated and matched to flora and fauna.