Site of the Silver Mountain Homo sapiens

Site of the Silver Mountain Homo sapiens

The Site of the Silver Mountain Homo sapiens is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Site of the Silver Mountain Homo sapiens is located on the slopes of Silver Mountain in Yinshan Village, Daishan Township, Yinpingshan Town, Chaohu City. It lies about 6 kilometers north of Chaohu City and approximately 50 kilometers northeast of the Hexian Ape Man Site.

In 1981, animal fossils were first discovered on Silver Mountain, and in 1982 and 1983, the site was excavated by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and others. They unearthed a human occipital bone fossil, a fossilized human tooth, and 23 species of mammal fossils. Silver Mountain is an isolated hill composed of sandstone shale and limestone, with fossils found in the soluble light gray Huanglong karst caves or fissure deposits. The deposits can be divided from top to bottom into five layers: (1) Gray deposits containing fossils such as the Chinese hyena and the thick-jawed deer; (2) Brownish-red breccia with a human occipital bone, leopard, tapir, pig, and deer fossils; (3) Yellow deposits with fossils of Sanshi’s short-faced hyena, saber-toothed tiger, three-toed horse, true horse, and rhinoceros; (4) Brownish-red deposits with three-toed horse fossils; (5) Light yellow deposits with fossils of Sanshi’s short-faced hyena, three-toed horse, true horse, Stegodon zdanskyi, saber-toothed elephant, and tapir.

The discovery of the human occipital bone fossil from Silver Mountain and numerous mammal fossils marks the second mid-Pleistocene human fossil site found in East China after the Tao Shop Longtan Cave in Hexian, providing valuable scientific data for the study of the paleogeography, paleoclimate changes, and ancient humans of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain during the Pleistocene.

Protected area: Centered around the marker stele, extending 50 meters east, 50 meters south, to the foot of Silver Mountain to the west, and 60 meters north.

Construction control zone: 30 meters beyond the protected area in all directions—east, south, west, and north.

Further reading:

· Seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units