Shiligang Site

Shiligang Site

The Shiligang Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Shiligang Site

Dating back to the transitional period from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age, the site is located on Shiligang Hill in the northeast of Lixian County, Hunan Province, and preserves relics from this transitional phase.

The site lies on a continuous range of small hills in the central part of the Linyang Plain and was excavated in the winter of 2000. With a cultural layer accumulation of 60–70 centimeters, it is identified as a stone tool workshop. The unearthed items fall into four categories: pebbles, flint, quartz, and hematite. Pebble tools mainly consist of hammerstones and flake tools, while flint and quartz artifacts are mostly cores and scrapers, which are finely made. The use of hematite remains unclear but may be related to certain religious customs in stone tool production. Currently, locations within the province with similar stone tool assemblages to this site are very rare. In soil samples from the cultural layer, rice phytoliths were discovered—these are the oldest rice remains found in China, providing valuable insights into the origins and location of early rice cultivation. The area where cultural artifacts have been discovered spans approximately 40,000 square meters, making it the largest pre-Neolithic site in the province and even the entire middle and lower Yangtze region. It also holds significant importance for studying the origins of human settlements.

On May 19, 2002, the People's Government of Hunan Province designated it as a Provincial-Level Cultural Relics Protection Unit, with the reference number 115-9.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units