Scientists have started drilling around the Peking Man site near Beijing in the hope of finding more relics from the prehistoric representative of the human race.

The project, being conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Electricite de France, aims to drill nine holes up to 30 meters in depth, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Scientists hoped the work would turn up evidence of early human activity in the area, as suggested by preliminary investigations, the agency said.

The discovery of the 500,000-year-old Peking Man was one of the most decisive steps in the scientific quest to trace man's prehistoric evolution from the apes.

Since Peking Man was first unearthed in 1929, archeologists have found fossils belonging to 40 different individuals and more than 100,000 stone implements and other objects.

The Zhoukoudian area, where the Peking Man's cave is located, was listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a world heritage site in 1987.

(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2004)