Davidson Black, FRS was a Canadian paleoanthropologist, best known for his naming of Sinanthropus pekinensis. He was Chairman of the Geological Survey of China and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was known as 步達生 in China.

Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinship lines within the family Hominidae, working from biological evidence and cultural evidence.