Nuomuhong Cultural Site

　　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 environmental conditions 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, Taltalaha, Balongtawentaohai, Xiangerde Xiachaike, Xiangerde Shangchaike, Chahanusu Xiariha, and Kergou. This culture holds significant value for the study of the Qiang and Tuyuhun peoples in China. Taltalaha has been designated as a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit.

　　The Nuomuhong Cultural Site spans an area of approximately 50,000 square meters, bordered by Haixiwaha River to the east and Taltalaha 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, coffin burials, and a large number of unearthed artifacts. The adobe walls were built by stacking rectangular yellow-earth adobes. There are two types of walls: one elliptical or oval in shape, and the other rectangular or irregularly rectangular. The houses are all square or circular wooden structures. Additionally, there is a large oval-shaped livestock pen. Only the Taltalaha site (excavated in 1959) has been excavated, uncovering 11 houses, 9 adobe pits, one enclosure, 3 urn burials, and a collection of nearly several thousand cultural artifacts 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 curved-belly pottery basins, ring-footed pottery bowls, deep-bellied pottery cups, and handled basins, made from coarse red pottery mixed with sand and grayish-brown pottery mixed with sand; bronze items such as axes, knives, arrowheads, and battle-axes, as well as remnants of bronze-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 wool fabric. Among the unearthed artifacts 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.