Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Cenozoic Research Laboratory" in English language version.
Black died at his office desk in the middle of the night with a skullcap of Peking Man beside him.
Although there was some discussion of moving the bones after the Japanese invasion in 1937, they were apparently assumed to be safe because they were housed in the American-run Peking Union Medical Hospital, which oversaw the Cenozoic Research Lab.
Franz Weidenreich, a German who led the Cenozoic Lab after Black's death, insisted that copies of all the Peking Man bones be made in the summer of 1941 because he feared (correctly) that Japanese would take over the lab if war broke out with the United States. But it was not until the late autumn of 1941 that the bones were crated and sent to the American controller of Peking Union Medical College for shipment to the United States - and vanished forever.
Black died at his office desk in the middle of the night with a skullcap of Peking Man beside him.
Although there was some discussion of moving the bones after the Japanese invasion in 1937, they were apparently assumed to be safe because they were housed in the American-run Peking Union Medical Hospital, which oversaw the Cenozoic Research Lab.
Franz Weidenreich, a German who led the Cenozoic Lab after Black's death, insisted that copies of all the Peking Man bones be made in the summer of 1941 because he feared (correctly) that Japanese would take over the lab if war broke out with the United States. But it was not until the late autumn of 1941 that the bones were crated and sent to the American controller of Peking Union Medical College for shipment to the United States - and vanished forever.
