Sci­en­tif­ic work at the site, which lies 42 km south-west of Bei­jing, is still under­way. So far, it has led to the dis­cov­ery of the remains of Sinan­thro­pus pekinen­sis, who lived in the Mid­dle Pleis­tocene, along with var­i­ous objects, and remains of Homo sapi­ens sapi­ens dat­ing as far back as 18,000–11,000 B.C. The site is not only an excep­tion­al reminder of the pre­his­tor­i­cal human soci­eties of the Asian con­ti­nent, but also illus­trates the process of evo­lu­tion.