Taohua Cave Site

Taohua Cave Site

Taohua Cave was formed in a small isolated peak of Triassic limestone, located at the foot of Taohua Mountain within Taohua Park in Liuzhi Special District. Its geographical coordinates are 105°28′08″ east longitude and 26°12′29″ north latitude, with an elevation of 1,340 meters. The cave entrance faces southeast, is about 5 meters high and 15 meters wide, and extends approximately 31 meters into the hill. The accumulated deposits cover an area of about 150 square meters. The surroundings of the cave are open. Taohua Cave Site was discovered in October 1983 during the construction of Taohua Mountain Park. Construction workers found fossils of Gigantopithecus in the cave, with soot adhering to the fossils. From November to December of the same year, the provincial museum sent personnel to conduct cleaning and small-scale trial excavations. The trial excavation area had accumulated deposits about 2 meters thick, which were divided into three layers from top to bottom: the upper layer is a black surface soil layer containing artifacts such as polished stone tools and pottery shards; the middle layer is a black and gray clay layer containing human fossils, animal fossils, stone artifacts, and evidence of fire use; the lower yellow clay layer showed no cultural remains. The upper layer yielded one basalt polished stone axe, five polished stone tools, and more than 20 pottery shards. The middle layer produced 256 stone artifacts, along with bone awls, perforated clamshell tools, and a large number of burnt bones and stones. The burnt stones and charcoal fragments were up to 40–70 centimeters thick, and one human femur fossil was also discovered, along with fossils of over ten mammal species including giant tapir, badger, bear, tiger, porcupine, and deer. On the left and right walls near the cave entrance, rock paintings featuring human and animal figures, rendered in hematite pigment, were also found.

The cross-section of the human femur fossil shows an extremely small medullary cavity and very thick bone walls, indicating primitiveness, while the well-developed femoral ridge reflects advancement. Researchers have named it the "Taohua Cave Man."

The stone artifacts were mainly made of basalt, with hard sandstone and flint as secondary materials. There were 83 stone tools, including choppers, scrapers, discoid tools, and points. The main production technique was hammering, with most scrapers being medium or small-sized tools made from zero-platform flakes, mostly single-edged rather than double-edged, with a higher number of convex edges, finely retouched. The rest included over 100 items such as stone cores, flakes, and stone hammers. There were six polished stone tools, including one fully polished stone axe, with the others having only the cutting edges polished. There were two shell tools, which were small and simple perforated ornaments—this was the first such discovery in China. There were two bone awls, exquisitely crafted and triangular in shape with flat, blunt tips. There were 47 pottery shards, mostly broken, made of dark gray and light gray sandy pottery, predominantly decorated with cord marks, followed by punctate impressions, string patterns, incised lines, checkered patterns, wavy lines, and looped patterns.

The upper layer of the Taohua Cave Site dates back to the Neolithic Age, while the middle layer belongs to the Late Paleolithic Age. This prehistoric site, where both Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures coexist, holds special significance for studying the evolution of modern humans.

On November 2, 1985, the People's Government of Guizhou Province approved its announcement as a second batch of Provincial-Level Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Guizhou Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units