Archaeologists have found the skull of a prehistoric man dating as far back as 400,000 years ago, an official report said Thursday.
The fossilized skull was discovered in March outside the city of Nanjing, capital of coastal Jiangsu province, and has been dubbed "Nanjing Man."In the 1920s, remains of humans about 500,000 years old were found near Beijing and were called "Peking Man." Peking is an older transliteration for the name of the Chinese capital.
The caves in which Nanjing Man was found were discovered three years ago by peasants gathering rocks from the mountainside, the Liberation Daily (Jiefang Ribao) reported.
The caves contained colorful stalactites and fossils of various kinds of vertebrates, and archaeologists spent three years digging and studying before discovering the prehistoric remains.
The skull, measuring 6.4 inches by 5.2 inches, has protruding brows and deep eye sockets, the paper said.
Archaeologists put its age at somewhere between 100,000 and 400,000 years old.
In the same caves, archaeologists also discovered fossilized remains of bears, rhinoceroses, thick-jawed deer, and 12 other kinds of animals, the paper said.
Archaeologists said the animals are similar to ones found near the Peking Man site, and had probably migrated south during the Ice Age, the paper reported.