Davidson Black
Encyclopedia
Davidson Black, FRS (born July 25, 1884, Toronto, Ontario, Canada died March 15, 1934, Beijing, China) was a Canadian paleoanthropologist, best known for his naming 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 (pinyin
: Bù Dáshēng) in China
.
, Ontario
, Canada. When he was a child, he would spend many summers near or on the Kawartha lakes
. As a teenager, he would carry heavy loads of supplies for the Hudson's Bay Company
. He also enjoyed collecting fossil
s along the banks of the Don River
. He also became friends with First Nations
people, and earned one First Nations language. Black also searched unsuccessfully 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
, and in 1909 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.
. Starting as Professor of Neurology
and Embryology
, he would be promoted to head of the anatomy department in 1924. He planned to search for human fossils in 1926, though the College encouraged him to concentrate on teaching. During this period Johan Gunnar Andersson
, who had done excavations near Dragon Bone Hill (Zhoukoudian
) in 1921, learned in Sweden of Black's fossils examination. He gave Black two human-similar molars to examine. The following year, with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation
, Black began his search around Zhoukoudian. During this time, though military unrest involving the National Revolutionary Army
caused many western Scientists left China, Davidson Black and his family stayed.
Black then launched a large scale investigation at the site. He was appointed primary coordinator. As such, he appointed both Caucasian and Chinese scientists. In summer 1926, two molars were discovered by Otto Zdansky, who headed the excavations and who described them in 1927 (Bulletin of the Geolocical Survey, China) as fossils of genus Homo. Black thought they belonged to a new human species and named them 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 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.
Most of the original bones were lost in the process of shipping them out of China for safe-keeping during the beginning of World War II
. The Japanese gained control of the Peking Union Medical Center during the war, where the laboratory containing all the fossils was ransacked and all the remaining specimens were confiscated. To this day, the fossils have not been found and no one is sure if they were stolen or legitimately lost. Only the plaster imprints, which were in Beijing at the time, were left.
In 1931 Black was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
from the National Academy of Sciences
. He died of heart failure in 1934.
, Otto Zdansky
and Walter W. Granger
. All three of these scientists were known for visiting China and for their work and discoveries by excavating the sites at Zhoukoudian
that yielded the Peking man
(Homo erectus pekinensis). Further funding for the excavations was carried out by Davidson Black a key proponent of the Asia hypothesis. Because of the finds in Zhoukoudian, such as Peking man, the focus of paleoanthropological research moved entirely to Asia, up until 1930.
Davidson Black writing a paper in 1925 titled Asia and the dispersal of primates claimed that the origins of man were to be found in Tibet
, British India, the Yung-Ling
and the Tarim Basin
of China
, his last paper published in 1934 before his death argued for human origins in an Eastern Asian context.
Geological Survey of China
The Geological Survey of China is a government-owned, not-for-profit, Chinese organization researching China's mineral resources. It is the largest Geoscience agency in China since being reconstructed in 1999.-History:...
and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was known as 步達生 (pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Bù Dáshēng) in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Early years
Davidson Black was born in 1884, in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada. When he was a child, he would spend many summers near or on the Kawartha lakes
Kawartha lakes
The Kawartha lakes are a band of lakes in south-central Ontario, Canada that form the upper watershed of the Trent River. The lakes all lie upon the boundary between the Paleozoic limestone regions of the Golden Horseshoe, and the Precambrian granite Canadian Shield of northern and central...
. As a teenager, he would carry heavy loads of supplies for the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
. He also enjoyed collecting fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s along the banks of the Don River
Don River (Toronto)
The Don River is one of two rivers bounding the original settled area of Toronto, Ontario along the shore of Lake Ontario, the other being the Humber River to the west. The Don is formed from two rivers, the East and West Branches, that meet about north of Lake Ontario while flowing southward into...
. He also became friends with First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
people, and earned one First Nations language. Black also searched unsuccessfully for gold along the Kawartha lakes.
In 1906, Black gained a degree in medical science from the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. He continued in school studying comparative anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
, and in 1909 became an anatomy instructor.
In 1914 he spent half a year working under neuroanatomist Grafton Elliot Smith
Grafton Elliot Smith
Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, FRS FRCP was an Australian anatomist and a proponent of the hyperdiffusionist view of prehistory.-Professional career:Smith was born in Grafton, New South Wales...
, in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Smith was studying Piltdown Man
Piltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England...
during this time. This began an interest in human evolution
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
.
1917 he joined Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps
Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps
The Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army. The Militia Medical Service was established in 1899. The Militia Medical Service was redesignated the Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1904. The Canadian Army Medical Corps was redesignated The Royal Canadian...
, where he treated injured returning Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
soldiers.
Later years
In 1919 after his discharge from the Canadian Army Medical Corps, he went to China to work at Peking Union Medical CollegePeking Union Medical College
Peking Union Medical College is among the most selective medical colleges in the People's Republic of China and is renowned both in its own right and for being connected to one of China's most prestigious institutions of higher learning.-History:...
. Starting as Professor of Neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
and Embryology
Embryology
Embryology is a science which is about the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage...
, he would be promoted to head of the anatomy department in 1924. He planned to search for human fossils in 1926, though the College encouraged him to concentrate on teaching. During this period Johan Gunnar Andersson
Johan Gunnar Andersson
Johan Gunnar Andersson , Swedish archaeologist, paleontologist and geologist, closely associated with the beginnings of Chinese archaeology in the 1920s...
, who had done excavations near Dragon Bone Hill (Zhoukoudian
Zhoukoudian
Zhoukoudian or Choukoutien is a cave system in Beijing, China. It has yielded many archaeological discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man, and a fine assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris...
) in 1921, learned in Sweden of Black's fossils examination. He gave Black two human-similar molars to examine. The following year, with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
, Black began his search around Zhoukoudian. During this time, though military unrest involving the National Revolutionary Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
caused many western Scientists left China, Davidson Black and his family stayed.
Black then launched a large scale investigation at the site. He was appointed primary coordinator. As such, he appointed both Caucasian and Chinese scientists. In summer 1926, two molars were discovered by Otto Zdansky, who headed the excavations and who described them in 1927 (Bulletin of the Geolocical Survey, China) as fossils of genus Homo. Black thought they belonged to a new human species and named them 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 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
Cenozoic Research Laboratory
The Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Geological Survey of China was established at the Peking Union Medical College in 1928 by Canadian paleoanthropologist Davidson Black and Chinese geologists Ding Wenjing and Weng Wenhao for the research and appraisal of Peking Man fossils unearthed at...
with it.
Later another excavator found a skull. More specimens were found. Black would frequently examine these late into the night.
Most of the original bones were lost in the process of shipping them out of China for safe-keeping during the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The Japanese gained control of the Peking Union Medical Center during the war, where the laboratory containing all the fossils was ransacked and all the remaining specimens were confiscated. To this day, the fossils have not been found and no one is sure if they were stolen or legitimately lost. Only the plaster imprints, which were in Beijing at the time, were left.
In 1931 Black was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
The Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology published in a three- to five-year period." Named after Daniel Giraud Elliot, it was first awarded in 1917....
from the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
. He died of heart failure in 1934.
Asia hypothesis
Paleotontologists who believed mans origins to be found in Asia included Johan Gunnar AnderssonJohan Gunnar Andersson
Johan Gunnar Andersson , Swedish archaeologist, paleontologist and geologist, closely associated with the beginnings of Chinese archaeology in the 1920s...
, Otto Zdansky
Otto Zdansky
Otto A. Zdansky was an Austrian paleontologist.He is best known for his work in China, where he, as an assistant to Johan Gunnar Andersson, discovered a fossil tooth of the Peking Man in 1921 at the Dragon Bone Hill, although he did not disclose it until 1926 when he published it in Nature after...
and Walter W. Granger
Walter W. Granger
Walter Willis Granger was an American vertebrate paleontologist who participated in important fossil explorations in the United States, Egypt, China and Mongolia.-Early life and career:...
. All three of these scientists were known for visiting China and for their work and discoveries by excavating the sites at Zhoukoudian
Zhoukoudian
Zhoukoudian or Choukoutien is a cave system in Beijing, China. It has yielded many archaeological discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man, and a fine assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris...
that yielded the Peking man
Peking Man
Peking Man , Homo erectus pekinensis, is an example of Homo erectus. A group of fossil specimens was discovered in 1923-27 during excavations at Zhoukoudian near Beijing , China...
(Homo erectus pekinensis). Further funding for the excavations was carried out by Davidson Black a key proponent of the Asia hypothesis. Because of the finds in Zhoukoudian, such as Peking man, the focus of paleoanthropological research moved entirely to Asia, up until 1930.
Davidson Black writing a paper in 1925 titled Asia and the dispersal of primates claimed that the origins of man were to be found in Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, British India, the Yung-Ling
Yung-Ling
Yunling or Yung-Ling is a mountain range in Lanping, Nujiang, Yunnan province, China, running north and south. They are part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas and form the Yunling Mountains Nature Reserve. It is the home of the endangered Black Snub-nosed Monkey. Its name...
and the Tarim Basin
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...
of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, his last paper published in 1934 before his death argued for human origins in an Eastern Asian context.
Trivia
- He married his wife, Adena Nevitt, in 1913, who accompanied him on his trips. They had two children together, a son (b. 1921) and a daughter (b. 1925). Both were born in China.
- Unlike many Caucasians of his era, Davidson Black respected his ChineseHan ChineseHan Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
coworkers. In return, he was well liked by many of them, who put flowers on his grave after his death.
- Black believed artifacts discovered in China should be kept there.
- Gigantopithecus blacki was named in his honour.
- Author Dora Ridout Hood wrote a biography on him, called Davidson Black : a biography, which was printed by the University of Toronto PressUniversity of Toronto PressUniversity of Toronto Press is Canada's leading scholarly publisher and one of the largest university presses in North America. Founded in 1901, UTP has published over 6,500 books, with well over 3,500 of these still in print....
. - G.H. Smith, the Neuroanatomist he worked under, wrote his obituaryObituaryAn obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
.
- Davidson Black showed an interest in Biology at an early age, despite being born to a family association with law.
Quote
- "The Peking man was a thinking being, standing erect, dating to the beginning of the Ice Age."
Publications
- "Palæogeography and Polar Shift. A Study of Hypothetical Projections." Bulletin of the Geological Society of China, Vol. X, Peiping, 1931.
- "Notice of the Recovery of a Second Adult Sinanthropus Skull Specimen." Bulletin of the Geological Society of China, Vol. IX, No. 2, 1930.
- "Interim Report on the Skull of Sinanthropus." Bulletin of the Geological Society of China, Vol. IX, No. I, 1930.
- "Preliminary Notice of the Discovery of an Adult Sinanthropus Skull at Chou Kou Tien." Bulletin of the Geological Society of China, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 1929.
- "Preliminary Note on Additional Sinanthropus Material Discovered in Chou Kou Tien During 1923." Bulletin of the Geological Society of China, Vol. VIII, No. 1, 1929.
- "The Aeneolithic Yang Shao People of North China." Reprinted from the Transactions of the 6th Congress of the Far Eastern Association of Tropical Medicine. Tokyo, Japan, 1925.
- "Asia and the Dispersal of Primates." Reprinted From the Bulletin of the Geological Society of China, Vol. IV, No. 2., 1925.
- "A Note of the Physical Characters of the Prehistoric Kansu Race." From Memoirs of the Geological Survey of China, Series A, No. 5, June, 1925.