Nanhaiyu Site

Nanhaiyu Site

Nanhaiyu Site is a Shanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Unit.

Nanhaiyu Site

Nanhaiyu Site (Second Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites)

Era: Paleolithic

Address: Eastern hillside at the mouth of Nanhaiyu Valley, Diantou Village, Maojia Town, 24 kilometers southwest of Yuanqu County

It is currently the only cave site from the early Paleolithic period in Shanxi Province. The site consists of three adjacent locations. The cave’s bedrock is Sinian siliceous limestone, and artifacts and fossils were found within yellowish breccia. Location one contains animal fossils, location two has stone artifacts and evidence of fire use, and location three has both animal fossils and stone artifacts. It was discovered in 1957 and partially excavated in 1958. The geological age of the site is believed to be Middle Pleistocene or slightly later, and the cultural period is early Paleolithic or slightly later.

Over 20 stone artifacts were unearthed, including artificially flaked quartz flakes and cores; fossils comprise more than 10 types such as teeth of Equus sanmeniensis, hyenas, giant beavers, rhinoceroses, wild goats, deer, and macaques, including teeth and mandibles; stone material sources include quartz, vein quartz, hornfels, quartzite, flint, and opal. The stone tools were mainly made from flakes, with a few crafted from small stone blocks. Scrapers include single straight-edge and single convex-edge types.

The number of stone artifacts unearthed at the Nanhaiyu Site is not large, but based on existing materials, they may belong to the same cultural type as the late Beijing Man culture.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Shanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units