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This chapter focuses on the discoveries at Dragon Bone Hill in northern China. Topics discussed include the mysterious affinity between the ancient dragons of Chinese myth and the fossilized remains of extinct animals, suspicions of hominids at Longgushan and their discovery, a “missing link expedition” through China to the Gobi Desert, and the discovery of the first hominid skull.

This chapter examines the twists and turns of the paleoanthropological interpretation of Peking Man: the first, largely fanciful and hopeful pronouncements; the more mature hypotheses based on the remarkably complete fossil remains; the comparative studies of Zhoukoudian with other sites and hominids from around the globe; and finally the understanding of Peking Man after all the pre-World War II fossils had been pulled out of the ground. The ideas that evolved as data accumulated from this remarkable site led to the modern conception of this unique human species.

This chapter focuses on the impact of the Sino-Japanese War on excavations at Longgushan and the fate of the Peking Man fossils. Japanese interest in the Peking Man fossils and where the Peking Man fossils went are discussed. The loss of the Peking Man fossils has generated more interest than any other topic in the history of paleoanthropology. Despite all the interest, historical research, and hypotheses, there is still not a single reliable account of a sighting of the fossils since they were packed away in 1941.

This chapter begins with a brief research review of the palaeolithic context to offer a generalized academic perspective of the various types of research which have been conducted in this field. For the period before 1974 some detailed discussion was needed to show how much of the modern research is rooted in that period, especially in the writings of Cammiade and Burkitt, de Terra and Paterson, and Todd. The chapter then discusses skeletal evidence of the occurrence of a true hominid fossil in the subcontinent, the earliest dates of paleolithic tools in the subcontinent; regional distribution of sites, their stratigraphy, and their climatic background; cultural evidence, evidence of art, and chronology. It also discusses the ethnographic approach of some of the scholars.

In this chapter, the author examines some of the scientific claims advanced by proponents of creationism. He reflects on his experience as a participant in the Creation Mega-Conference, held on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, for one week in July 2005. He recalls attending a session called “Rocks Around the Clocks: The Eons That Never Were,” with Emil Silvestru, a geologist originally from Romania, as the speaker. Another talk was “Ape Men, Missing Links and the Bible,” presented by Phillip Bell, who offered two main arguments for rejecting the fossil evidence of human evolution. The first was that all alleged intermediates are either fully human or fully ape; the second involved disagreements among paleontologists regarding the proper classification of hominid fossils.