The Kehe Site

The Kehe Site

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

The Kehe Site is located near Hehe Village on the eastern bank of the Yellow River in Ruicheng County. It features fluvial-lacustrine sedimentation, sloping from the northeast to the southwest, with numerous T-shaped gullies that connect to the Yellow River. Within an area stretching 13.5 kilometers from Dutou Beigou in the north to Dongkou Nangou in the south, there are eleven stone tool sites where tools were discovered in gravel and marl layers beneath over 20 meters of red soil. The Hehe Site is currently the earliest known Paleolithic cultural site found in North China. Because the specific combination of stone tools reflects certain cultural characteristics, the site has been named the "Hehe Culture." It is a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit and has attracted attention from archaeological and academic circles both domestically and internationally. The Hehe Culture has certain historical connections with the Xihoudou Culture above it and the Dingcun Culture below it. Its geological age corresponds to the early stage of the Middle Pleistocene, roughly the same as the era of the Lantian Man in Shaanxi.

Within an area stretching 13.5 kilometers from Dutou Beigou in the north to Dongkou Nangou in the south, there are eleven stone tool sites where tools were discovered in gravel and marl layers beneath over 20 meters of red soil. Because the specific combination of stone tools reflects certain cultural characteristics, the Kehe Site has been named the "Kehe Culture," which is a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit and has attracted attention from archaeological and academic circles both domestically and internationally. The Kehe Culture has certain historical connections with the Xihoudou Culture above it and the Dingcun Culture below it. Its geological age corresponds to the early stage of the Middle Pleistocene, roughly the same as the era of the Lantian Man in Shaanxi.

The site centers around Kehe, extending 13.5 kilometers from Dutou Village’s northern gully in the north to Jiankou Nangou in the south, from the banks of the Yellow River in the west to Huawang Village in the east. There are 17 locations within this range with stone tools and fossils of the same period and similar characteristics.

Between 1959 and 1980, surveys and excavations were carried out at eleven sites within the area. Thirteen species of mammal fossils and more than 160 artificially made large tools such as pointed implements, choppers, scrapers, and stone balls were unearthed. Kehe stone tools are mainly flake tools, often made from quartzite, though some are made from vein quartz. They were produced using hammering, anvil percussion, and throwing techniques, and most were used without further secondary processing. The site remains well preserved.

In May 2013, it was designated as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units