Johan Gunnar Andersson

Who was Johan Gunnar Andersson?

Johan Gunnar Andersson, Swedish archaeologist, paleontologist and geologist, closely associated with the beginnings of Chinese archaeology in the 1920s. His Chinese name was An Tesheng.

After studies at Uppsala University, and research in the polar regions, Andersson served as Director of Sweden's National Geological Survey.

He participated in the Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901 to 1903.

In 1914 he was invited to China as mining adviser to the Chinese government. His affiliation was with China's National Geological Survey which was organized and led by the Chinese scholar Ding Wenjiang. During this time, Andersson helped train China’s first generation of geologists, and also made numerous discoveries of iron ore and other mining resources, as well as discoveries in geology and paleontology.

Andersson paid his first visit to Zhoukoudian in 1918 drawn to an area called Chicken-bone Hill by locals who have misidentified the rodent fossils that are found in abundance there. He returned in 1921 and was led by local quarrymen to Dragon Bone Hill where he identified quartz that was not local to the area.