Nongke Nitrate Cave Site

Nongke Nitrate Cave Site

The Nongke Nitrate Cave Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Nongke Nitrate Cave Site is located southeast of the Nongke Village Committee in Mengxing Town, Cangyuan County. The cave entrance is 15 meters high and 60 meters wide, with a depth of 40 meters and an area of approximately 2,000 square meters. The cultural deposit layers at the Nongke Nitrate Cave Site consist of black sandy clay layers and red sandy clay layers, each interspersed with carbon fragments, animal fossils, burnt bones, and chipped stone tools. Animal bone fossils found alongside the stone tools include species such as the Chinese rhinoceros, black bear, sambar deer, and macaque. The stone tools unearthed at the site bear similarities to the "Hoabinhian culture" of countries in the Mekong River basin of Southeast Asia. Based on sample dating, the site dates back between 24,000 and 43,500 years ago (possibly even older, as the bottom layers have not yet been reached), making it the earliest known site of human activity along a tributary of the Lancang River within the Lincang area, as well as the earliest "Hoabinhian culture" site in East and Southeast Asia. It holds significant historical value for the study of prehistoric cultures from the Late Paleolithic to the transitional period between the Paleolithic and Neolithic in the Lancang-Mekong River basin.

On October 7, 2019, the Nongke Nitrate Cave Site was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

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