Neolithic Human Site

Neolithic Human Site

The Neolithic Human Site is a cultural tourism attraction.

Neolithic Human Site

1. Xinghuo Mountain Xianrenlou Neolithic Site

It is located on the eastern mid-slope terrace of the karst isolated peak of Xinghuo Mountain, on the western edge of the Yao Guan Basin. The central-western part of the terrace features the Xianrenlou rock shelter, while the eastern part has two smaller rock shelters. Within an area of approximately 4,000 square meters on the rock-shelter terrace, stone tools, pottery shards, and animal remains have been discovered.

Among the stone artifacts, apart from two semi-circular unperforated stone knives and a stone spindle whorl, all were made by percussion. There are scrapers and gouging stone tools. The pottery is mainly sandy brown ware, followed by sandy red and gray ware. The vessels include basins, jars, bowls, vats, and handled earthenware. Wheel-making was the primary method. Decorations include incised lines, stamped patterns, pricked patterns, and punctate impressions, predominantly coarse cord marks and concave-convex line patterns. Animal remains include those of cattle, horses, and rhinoceroses.

Based on the fact that most of the stone tools at the site are percussion-made yet there are also relatively advanced ground artifacts, and that the pottery seems to represent different developmental stages, it is possible that the site was inhabited from the middle to late Neolithic period.

2. Shanyi Yanzijiao Neolithic Site

It is located on a karst hill in Yanzijiao Village, southwest of Shanyi Dam, northwest of the Yao Guan Basin. The site covers an area of about 7,000 square meters. During two surveys in February and August 1987, stone artifacts, pottery fragments, and mammal bone remains were found. The stone tools include ground trapezoidal stone axes, pounders, and percussion-made shouldered battle-axe-shaped stone axes. The pottery is mainly sandy black and gray ware, as well as red ware, with slightly higher firing temperatures, predominantly handmade. There are cups, pots, basins, jars, and bowls, all with flat bases and characterized by small sizes and thin walls. Decorations include incised lines, stamped patterns, punctate impressions, cord marks, basket weave patterns, and horizontal, vertical, and diagonal line patterns.

The Yao Guan Basin is situated at the junction of the Manghuai-type culture east of the Lancang River and the Manghuai-type culture west of the Nu River, with the exact dating yet to be determined.

3. Majiayanfang Neolithic Site

It is located on the rock-shelter terrace and the slope-foot terrace beneath the rock shelter on the southwestern side of Shanyi Dam, northwest of the Yao Guan Basin, about 500 meters east of the Yanzijiao Site. The rock shelter covers an area of about 100 square meters, and the slope-foot terrace is now overlaid by a village. During the August 1987 survey, several stone tools, pottery shards, and mammal bone remains were collected. The stone tools include pebble hand hammers, pounders, scrapers, and other percussion-made stone tools, as well as a fragment of a ground trapezoidal axe. The exact dating is yet to be determined.

4. Shizi Mountain Neolithic Site

It is located on the second-level terrace extending eastward from Shizi Mountain at the southwestern side of Shiwang Town, in the northern end of the Shidian Basin. The artifact distribution area covers about 3,000 square meters. Two surveys were conducted in November 1981 and January 1987, along with exploratory trench excavations. The cultural layer is 40–60 cm thick, containing stones, pottery, and red fired earth particles. The stone tools include strip-shaped, tongue-shaped, and trapezoidal stone axes, adzes, rectangular single-perforated stone knives, spindle whorls, engraving tools, and perforated stone rings; the pottery includes sandy red, black, and gray ware, with relatively thin walls. The vessel types include tripods, bean pots, flat-bottomed jars, folded-belly basins, arc-bellied and near-straight-walled closed bowls. The decorations include carved triangular patterns, wavy lines, herringbone patterns, and horizontal and vertical line patterns. The site dates to the late Neolithic period.

5. Songshan Neolithic Site

It is located on the summit of Songshan Mountain, 1 kilometer north of Taiping Xinghua Wanzipu, including four sites approximately 200 meters apart: Wanzipu, Songshan, Yangzigao Tomb Area, and Laoheique Cave. The first three are gentle slopes of sheet-like water-eroded mountain ridges, while Laoheique Cave is a karst cave. The area covers about 5,000 square meters. Two surveys were conducted in March and August 1987, during which 47 stone tools and over 70 pieces of sandy red-brown pottery were found. Among the stone tools, percussion-made items predominate, including single-flat-surface pebble hand hammers, choppers, scrapers, pointed tools, and ground stone axes. The styles and characteristics of the percussion-made stone tools are quite similar to those found at Pupiao Tangzigou. All the pottery is sandy red ware, of very loose texture, with vessel types including jars, basins, vats, and bowls. All are handmade, plain, and uneven in thickness, with low firing temperatures. The dating is somewhat earlier, belonging to the middle to late Neolithic period.

6. Tuanshanwo Neolithic Site

It is located on the small saddle-shaped hill ridge extending eastward from the foothills of Xishan Mountain on the western side of the central part of the Shidian Basin. The artifact distribution area covers about 5,000 square meters. The cultural layer is 30–120 cm thick, containing large amounts of pottery shards, fired earth, charcoal fragments, and stone tools. Pottery shards are especially abundant on the surface. Several dozen items were collected, including stone axes, shouldered adzes, single-perforated stone knives, scrapers, and whetstones; over 130 pieces of sandy red and red-brown pottery; and one bovine tooth fossil. The stone artifacts are finely ground and regular in shape. The pottery is mainly sandy red ware, with relatively high firing temperatures. Most vessels are flat-based, ring-footed, flared-mouthed, or closed-mouthed. Except for a few special items and components that were handmade, all were wheel-made. The vessels are neat and have uniformly thin walls; the decorations are intricate and dense, with incised and stamped patterns as the main motifs.

The stone and pottery artifacts at this site are the most advanced found in the Nu River basin. Additionally, there is a male genitalia worship object, a pottery phallus, which is a symbol of patrilineal clan society. Its date may be as late as around 4,000 years ago.