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Davidson Black

Davidson Black (1884 – 1934) was a Canadian paleoanthropologist, best known for his discovery of Sinanthropus pekinensis (now Homo erectus pekinensis). He was Chairman of the Geological Survey of China and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was known as 步達生 in China.


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Early years

Davidson Black was born in 1884, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. When he was a child, he would spend many summers near or on the Kawartha lakes. When he was a teenager, he would carry heavy loads of supplies for the Hudson's Bay Company. He also enjoyed collecting fossils along the banks of the Don River. He also became friends with First Nations people, in addition to learning one First Nations language. Additionally, Black unsuccessfully searched for gold along the Kawartha lakes.

In 1906, Black gained a degree in medical science from the University of Toronto. He continued in School studying comparative anatomy. In 1909 he became an anatomy instructor. In 1914 he spent half a year working under neuroanatomist Grafton Elliot Smith, in Manchester, England. Smith was studying Piltdown Man during this time. This began an interest in human evolution.

1917 he joined Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, where he treated injured returning Canadian Soldiers.

Later years

In 1919 after being discharged from the Canadian Army Medical Corps, he went to Peking, China, in order to work at Peking Union Medical College. At first he was Professor of Neurology and Embryology. He would be promoted to head of the anatomy department in 1924. He planned on going on a search for human fossils in 1926, though the College encouraged him to concentrate on his teaching obligations. During this period, Johan Gunnar Andersson, who had done excavations near Dragon Bone Hill (Zhoukoudian) in 1921, attained information of his fossils examination in Sweden. There were two human-similar molars, which he gave to Black to further examine. The following year, with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Black began his search around Zhoukoudian. During this time, many western Scientists left China due to military unrest involving the National Revolutionary Army. Davidson Black and his family did not, though.

Black then launched a large scale investigation at the site. He was appointed primary coordinator. As such, he appointed both Caucasian and Chinese scientists. One of the scientists working there discovered a Homo erectus pekinensis tooth in the fall of 1927, which Black thought belonged to a new human species, named (by him) Sinanthropus pekinensis. He put this tooth in a locket, which was placed around his neck.

Later, he presented the tooth to the Rockefeller Foundation, which wanted more specimens before further grants would be given.

During November 1928, a lower jaw and several teeth and skull fragments were discovered. His find greatly expanded the knowledge of human evolution. Black presented this to the Foundation, which granted him $80,000. This grant continued the investigation and Black established the Cenozoic Research Laboratory with it.

Later another excavator found a skull. More specimens were found. Black would frequently examine these, late into the night.

Alas, most of the original bones were lost when the ship that was carrying them sank off the coast of China. Only the plaster imprints, which were in Beijing at the time, were left.

In 1934, he was hospitalized due to heart problems. When out he continued working; these heart problems killed him. He was 49 years of age.

Scepticism of research

Fellow researchers were skeptical of Sinanthropus pekinensis as a distinctive species and genus. The reasons were the fact that the claim of a new species was originally based on a single tooth. Later the species was categorized as a subspecies of Homo erectus.

Others, such as creationists, were (and are) skeptical of Peking Man as a transitional species or an Ape-Man (common name of non-human hominids). They claim it is a mix of human and ape fossils, or a deformed human.

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1884 births | 1934 deaths | Canadian anthropologists | People from Toronto | Fellows of the Royal Society | Paleoanthropologists | Foreigners in China

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