at In the wind tunnel about 77 meters above the ground, a colleague handed Wang Wei an ivory-like tool. He looked at it carefully: Could this be a treasure that he had been searching for for more than ten years? “Oh my god, isn’t it the tooth of Gigantopithecus buensis?” Wang Wei said confidently.
This scene is often here Flashed in the mind of a professor from Shandong University Cultural Heritage Research Institute
Starting from this tooth fossil of Gigantopithecus buxianus, Wang Wei and his colleagues have successively excavated many fossils, opening a window to explore the origins of early humans. The relevant research results were published in the journal Nature in January this year. : border-box; white-space: normal; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; orphans: 2; widows:2; padding-right: 0px; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; arial: “> Wang Wei is mainly engaged in the origin and evolution of early humans in East Asia, the origin and dispersion of ancient humans, and the evolution and evolution of large mammals in the Quaternary in southern China. A study of annihilation
“. For example, his research results published in the magazine “Cell” filled the gap in ancient human genome research in the border area between the two places.
“The story of humanity’s origins is not complete. “Wang Wei told a reporter from Science and Technology Daily, “We need to complete the records that are not found in ancient books. It is very fascinating to ‘piece’ human history with fragmented clues. ”
Solving the mystery of the extinction of the largest ape on earth
It is not difficult to interview Wang Wei, because he spends 1/3 of the year in Outdoors. In early April, during the break of the Jamaica Sugar Daddy meeting, the reporter met Wang Wei and heard him talk about recent issues that had caused a stir in the academic world.
With a height of 3 meters and a weight of 500 kilograms, Gigantopithecus buxianus was once the largest ape on earth. About 2 million years ago, they roamed a large area from Wushan, Chongqing to Hainan Island. Later, this “close relative” of humans suddenly became extinct.
When and why did Gigantopithecus buxini become extinct? These questions have troubled former anthropologists.
In January this year, an article published in the magazine “Nature” gave the answer. As the co-corresponding author of the article, Wang Wei said The story behind the result
“Guangxi in ancient times was once a ‘giant ape’s nest’. “Wang Wei introduced that in terms of body shape, Gigantopithecus Bu’s is similar to “King Kong”. Its teeth are similar in size to ivory and their shape is close to human teeth. Gigantopithecus Bu’s is concentrated in the cave, and he and his colleagues found it in the cave in just one afternoon More than 90 fossilized teeth of great ape were excavated.
The protein that preserves genetic material was extracted from a tooth fossil of Gigantopithecus buxianus. Because the ancient protein in the fossil is much larger than the ancient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) It is easier to preserve, so scientists will use the method of extracting ancient proteins from fossils to study more extinct species.
“We use mountains, rivers and caves as laboratories and enjoy the time of field scientific research. “Wang Wei said that he and his team members spent 6 years, using modern platforms and high-tech instruments, to make up for the missing part of ancient history: Gigantopithecus buxianus separated from the orangutan family about 12 million years ago and became independent. Evolution. Afterwards, the environment around the Gigantopithecus buxianus changed and food decreased, leading to its extinction.
Erase the dividing line between “the East is advanced and the West is backward”
The hand ax is one piece Thin and thick at the bottom, pointed at the top and blunt at the bottom, similar in appearance to “melon seeds”Stone. In the Paleolithic period, it was used for felling and hunting.
Wang Wei’s research on hand axes stems from a prejudice.
In the 1940s, Harvard University anthropologist Movius visited Southeast Asia and drew a ” The Mauves Line divides the Upper Paleolithic Age into two parts: the right side of the line is the “Hand Ax Civilization Circle” of the advanced oriental people, and the left side is the “marginal area with lagging civilization” characterized by the production of chopping tools such as China. .
“At that time, the Eastern hand axes were symmetrical from front to back, with the idea of rare characters, and were more advanced than Western single-edged hand axes. Wang Wei said, “Is it possible that China does not have double-edged hand axes?” ”
In order to find evidence, Wang Wei, then director of the Guangxi Museum of Natural History, led an archaeological discovery.
Baise Basin is a rebirth located in the west of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region After more than ten years of searching, Baise hand axes were discovered here.
In 2000, a related research report was published in the magazine “Science”. These 800,000-year-old hand axes are far more sophisticated than contemporary stone tools in Europe.
More than ten years of expenditure will finally pay off.
Preanthropology is a science that studies the origin and development of early humans. If you count from the time when you entered the China University of Geosciences to study stratigraphy and paleontology (including preanthropology), Wang Wei has already been in this field 40 years of experience
“There is little existing data, and it is difficult to study human origins. “Wang Wei said, “The probability of finding prehuman fossils is only one in a million, but we never give up. ”
Wang Wei’s unyielding scientific research attitude stems from his own personality and is also influenced by his predecessors.
Yin Hongfu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who was conducting scientific research in the Highland Canyon when he was still in his twenties, was Wang Wei’s mentor. “The more the The more difficult it is, the more specialized research the country needs, the more I want to report “”Anchoring the direction of a country’s needs and constantly digging…” Yin Hongfu’s Jamaica Sugar Daddy‘s words deeply affected Wang Wei.
Looking forward to more Jamaicans Escort Many young people have devoted themselves to “unpopular” fields
”Who are we””Where fromJamaicans Escort Where to go? These questions are called the three questions of life philosophy. They are also pre-anthropological questions that Wang Wei wants to answer through research. The challenge is that Wang Wei needs to “travel” through hundreds of thousands or even millions of years to find “us” in pre-anthropology.
Wang Wei said, be a human source Research requires a global perspective. For millions of years, human origin, migration, and evolution have been carried out on a global scale.
In Africa, Wang Wei and his colleagues traveled between volcanoes. The volcanic ash was piled up layer by layer, like drawers. They opened the “drawers” one by one, braving the scorching sun, to find the key information hidden inside.
Years of overseas work have broadened Wang Wei’s horizons and given him a deep understanding of “going out” importance. Wang Wei sent students to the United States and France, hoping that they would increase their knowledge and serve the country.
Wang Wei has devoted a lot of effort to training students, hoping that more young people will join the “unpopular” fields.
“There are no more than ten leading researchers in my country engaged in research on the origin of pre-human beings. “Wang Wei said, “Now the country attaches great importance to archeology, and the software and hardware equipment are very good. It is a golden age for the study of pre-anthropology. I hope that all sectors of society will pay more attention to pre-anthropology. ”
Wang Wei’s team is not big, with only twelve or three people, mainly composed of young teachers and students. Following Wang Wei, they eagerly studied in the classroom and studied tirelessly in the field.
Wang Wei told reporters that he always had a dream in the morning: In a remote cave, he dug out a pre-human skull. The information contained in the bones proved millions of years of human history. .
Can fantasy translate into reality?
Wang Wei said: “It is difficult to discover, but no matter how difficult it is, we must keep on doing it. Even if there is one millionth chance, we must give 100% effort. ” (Science and Technology Daily reporter Wang Yanbin correspondent Che Huiqing)