The find in Zhoukoudian will probably turn out to be a long-lost piece of fossil evidence linking Peking man - who lived about 500,000 years ago - and modern man, they say.

Tong Haowen, a research fellow with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Anthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told a news conference that the fossils were found early last month 5 kilometers south of where the Peking man fossils were discovered.

An excavation team he led found a total of 26 species of mammal fossils, in addition to fossils of bones and teeth that were characteristic of an adult human from the stratum in a cave in a hillside. "We took every possible measure to ensure the fossil bones were removed from the mud intact," said Tong.

Expect for a few pieces, the human fossils have been identified as being from a single male, he added.

Preliminary analysis suggests the fossils are probably from a Homo sapiens, or a modern human, in anatomical terms, said Wu Xinzhi, a senior researcher at the institute.

The fossils are the latest to come to light in the past two years.

Locals at the Zhoukoudian area reported an accidental discovery of animal fossil fragments in the cave two years ago.

Tong was invited to the scene to undertake an initial investigation, but it was not until the middle of this year when a large- scale excavation was carried out after a government license was obtained.

Wu and Tong have also been involved in the dating and identification of the fossils.

An accurate age of the fossils has not yet been confirmed, but isotope dating found they were probably from a group of cave men living 18,000 years ago, according to Wu.

"The discovery of the fossils is important in that they may serve as the only fossils of that age found in the Zhoukoudian area that are still available today," Wu said.

According to Wu, fossils of a similar age were found around Zhoukoudian but were lost during the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-45).

No new fossils of that age had been uncovered until recently.

"This discovery may fill the blank left by that loss," Wu said.

He said the mammal fossils unearthed together with the human fossils have been dated back 25,000 years, indicating that they may even have been around before cave men.

To position the fossilized human remains on the evolutionary tree, a piece of bone has to be examined, Tong said.

It may take more than two months for the information to become available, he added.

Unfortunately, no fossil craniums have been found, which has added to the difficulty of accurate dating, Tong said.

Nevertheless, he said the discovery may refresh people's understanding of the human activity in North China during the Paleolithic Period.

(China Daily July 8, 2003)