Nuomuhong Cultural Site

Nuomuhong Cultural Site

The Nuomuhong Cultural Site is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Nuomuhong Cultural Site is located in Nuomuhong Township in the southern part of the Qaidam Basin, Qinghai Province. It is a newly discovered ancient cultural relic unearthed after the liberation of China, featuring unique cultural elements. Since it was first discovered in Nuomuhong, Dulan County, Qaidam Basin, it is archaeologically referred to as the "Nuomuhong Culture."

This cultural relic corresponds to the late Bronze Age culture of the Central Plains region and represents an indigenous culture under the unique environment of the Qinghai Plateau. The Nuomuhong Culture is mainly distributed across more than 20 sites in the southeastern part of the Qaidam Basin, including Nuomuhong, Taltalihha, Balongtawen Taohei, Xiangerde Xiachaike, Xiangerde Shangchaike, Chahanwusu Xiariha, and Kergou. This culture holds significant value for the study of the Qiang and Tuyuhun cultures in China. Taltalihha is a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit.

The Nuomuhong Cultural Site spans an area of over 50,000 square meters, bordered by Haixiwa River to the east and Taltalihha Village to the west. The site consists of three small sand dunes arranged in a triangular pattern, with a natural open area between them. The cultural remains primarily include houses, adobe walls, livestock pens, wooden coffin burials, and a large number of unearthed artifacts. The adobe walls were built by stacking rectangular yellow earth bricks. There are two types of walls: one elliptical or oval in shape, and the other rectangular or irregularly rectangular. The houses were all square or circular wooden structures. Additionally, there is a large oval-shaped livestock pen. Only the Taltalihha site (excavated in 1959) has been excavated, uncovering 11 houses, 9 adobe pits, one enclosure, 3 urn burials, and nearly a thousand cultural relics such as pottery, stone tools, bone tools, and bronze ware.

Artifacts unearthed at the Nuomuhong Cultural Site include various stone and bone tools used in production, such as stone knives and bone needles; pottery items for daily use, such as round-bottomed basins, ring-footed bowls, deep-cupped cups, and lidded basins, made from coarse red pottery mixed with sand and gray-brown pottery mixed with sand; bronze items such as axes, knives, arrowheads, and battle-axes, as well as remnants of copper smelting tools and copper slag; and numerous woolen textiles made from sheep’s wool, some of which were dyed and spun into thread and woven into fabric. Among the unearthed relics are also bone flutes, bone whistles, and pottery yaks. The bone flutes and whistles, crafted and finely polished from animal bones, indicate that people engaged in a variety of recreational activities after labor. These artifacts are housed in the Qinghai Provincial Museum.