In the October of 1926, the news of discovering the human fossils at Zhoukoudian was formally promulgated and caused a stir in the academy at home and abroad. Followed by this was a systematic excavation in 1927 at Zhoukoudian site presided by the Chinese Geological Survey. And a human tooth, in good condition, was found out in the same year. The name "Pekingman" was proposed by Davidson, the Canadian professor of the then Peking Union Medical College, based on the above mentioned three teeth. The decades from 1927 to 1937 witnessed the continuous excavation and the newly-discovered human fossils and as a result, we know more of "Peking Man" .

The world-famous Ape Man Cave, which is also called the First Site at Zhoukoudian, is situated on the north side of the Dragon Bone Hill and in fact a natural cave with length 140 meters from east to west and about 40 meters from north to south at most. In the 20th century, when this water-eroded cave was discovered, the ceiling had not existed and the deposits in the cave reached the thickness of 50 meters, which can be identified to be 17 levels.

At 4 o clock on December 2nd, 1929, Pei Wenzhong, the Chinese archaeologist and paleontologist, discovered the first complete human fossil in the shape of human skull which is no other than what is called the treasure of science. This discovery stirred the whole world. However this precious human skull fossil's whereabouts is still unknown now.

In 1936, presided by the archaeologist, Jia Lanpo, the discovery of three more complete human skull fossils was made.

Up to now, the following discovery has been made at Zhoukoudian: six skull fossils, complete and close-to complete; twelve pieces of head bone; fifteen pieces of mandible bone; 157 teeth; seven fragments of thighbone; one pieces of shank bone; three pieces of humerus bone; one pieces of collarbone; one pieces of semi-lunar bone��These fossils were derived from the different 40 bodies of different ages and different sex. These discoveries were made respectively in the third to the tenth level at the First Site.

Of all the physical features of the Peking Man at Zhoukoudian, some were obviously similar to those of the ape, while some features were close to those of the modern man, and the rest falls in between. These features shed the light on the qualitative advancement and the leap made by the Peking Man from the ape. However, the unbalanced physical development of the Pekingman indicates that during the course of the human evolution, order existed in the function differentiation and evolvement of the extremity and the brain. The average brain capacity of Peking man was 1059 milliliters and the average brain capacity of five adults was 1088 milliliters (the modern man's is 1400 milliliters). Calculated by anthropologists, the average height of Peking man is 156 centimeters (for male) and 144 centimeters (for female).

According to experts research based on the above materials and to archaeologists new and scientific survey of the stratum, the times when the Peking man of the Dragon Bone Hill site at Zhoukoudian are dated back to 500 thousand to 240 thousand years before.