Dragon Bones

Men killed for them, stole for them, and died for them. "Dragon bones," coveted throughout China for their medicinal powers, are in reality animal fossils, ground down and sold through back-street Chinese apothecaries. Yet at one time these "dragon bones" proved more valuable than anyone had imagined, for they led to the unearthing of one of the most famous hominid fossils of all time-Peking Man. The Peking Man fossils were the first convincing evidence that humans arose from apelike hominids.Penny van Oosterzee has written a riveting historical account of the discovery of Peking Man, from the excavation of one small fossilized molar to the mysterious disappearance of the fossils at the beginning of the Second World War.