Digging up China's bones(2)
Crime solver
His forensics knowledge even helped police in Ningbo in Zhejiang Province solve a murder. They showed him a skeleton dug out from the mud. Zhou estimated the victim's height, age and cause of death. He found a gag that contained a piece of grain and deduced that the man was murdered in a barn. He turned out to be right and helped solve the case.
In 1966, he investigated mass graves in Datong Mines, Shanxi Province. After examining 200 bodies he concluded they were murdered by Japanese invaders and dumped down coal mine shafts.
Zhou has studied tens of thousands of human and ape skulls. Shortly before the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), he was asked to examine the skull of the Wanli Emperor (1563-1620) of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). That skull and those of two concubines were on his office desk but not for long. They were taken back to the Ming Dynasty Tombs in Beijng for a public "trial" and the skulls were crushed.
He continued his research during the "cultural revolution" when he was criticized for academic research that zealots said was not relevant to people's lives. He later left the Chinese Academy of Sciences for the Beijing Museum of Natural History.
But he regrets that he hasn't had a chance to touch the skull fragments of Peking Man, which were discovered around 1921 and disappeared in World War II during War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45). He has tried to track them down, without success.
The bone fragments, believed to be around 700,000 years old, were packed to be sent to the United States for safekeeping in 1941, until the end of the war. But they never arrived. Some people speculate they were stolen en route to the port city of Qinhuangdao in northern China. Others say it sank on a ship, perhaps the Awa Maru, in 1945.
Zhou tried to trace the fossils of Peking Man for three decades, following every lead and contacting the US Navy and Japanese Universities.
"I believe they were not lost but hidden by someone," he said. "They didn't disappear in the turmoil of war but were peacefully relocated somewhere."
He says the skulls may appear someday in the future.
His familiarity with Peking Man helped him discover the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) Lingjing culture in what is now Henan Province.
While working in the countryside planting trees in Jingling Village he found a deposit of quartz, a mineral commonly used in prehistoric tools. He remembered that Swedish geologist Johan Andersson had discovered Peking Man after spotting a quartz deposit and deciding to excavate there.
Zhou then talked with villagers and found the site contained many "dragon bones" of prehistoric animals. As he dug he found stone tools at the site.
Wild Man
One of Zhou's major interests has been investigating the so-called Wild Man, also known as Yeren, Yeti, Sasquatch, Big Foot and the Abominable Snowman. Stories of the Wild Man have abounded in China for centuries and there were occasional sightings.
In a major expedition, Zhou tried to track the Wild Man to his lair. He visited the Shennongjia region in western Hubei Province and climbed mountains there for seven months; he went to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Himalayas and other places where sightings were reported.
"There is no Wild Man in this world," he said. "I've visited every place where the Wild Man was reported in China.
"I've studied everything related to the Wild Man including hair, skulls and specimens. All of them are dyed human hair or come from monkeys and bears."
They hunted bears, boars and giant salamander and tasted all the mountain game. Zhou was a marksman and had coached the Fudan shooting team. He shot down all kinds of birds and offered specimens to a Shanghai ornithologist, who wrote a scientific research paper based on his gift.
"I regret that very much now," Zhou said. "We didn't realize the importance of environmental protection at that time." Now he always intervenes when he sees people abusing animals or damaging the environment.
As for Wild Man, some local governments are promoting the Wild Man to boost tourism and there's a problem of fakes in anthropology and archeology, Zhou said.
"Foreigners says that Chinese are always coming up with fake, sensational findings."
Friends with locals
In finding the right place to excavate, Zhou spent long periods getting to know locals, often ethnic groups who were familiar with the terrain, tales of their ancestors and where there were bone, pottery and other items.
Zhou was taught in school that he would win locals' friendship and gain information by giving them small gifts and decorative items. But when he started to work in villages, he found that locals already had those things.
Instead, Zhou won their friendship by taking pictures of them, which was a novelty.
Zhou is also a good drinker and he socialized extensively with locals. He also required his own students to be ready, willing and able to drink with locals and not to hold back.
"Ethnic groups are very hospitable," Zhou said. "If they offer you a big bowl of wine, can you refuse that?"
