The Nulasa Copper Mine Site

　　    The Nulasa Copper Mine Site is situated in the Tianshan Nulasa Valley within the northern slope of the Awulale Mountains, on the southern bank of the Kashgar River, approximately 3 kilometers south of Nileke County in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is a site dating back to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, approximately 2,600–2,400 years ago.

　　    The site includes the Yuantou Mountain Ancient Copper Mine Site and the Nulasa Ancient Copper Mine Mining and Smelting Site. At the Yuantou Mountain site, open-pit mining pits and large stone tools have been discovered. In the Nulasa mining area, over ten vertical shafts have been found, though many have collapsed. The shaft openings are roughly square, about 5 meters on each side, with some reaching depths of around 20 meters and widths of about 5 meters. Around the shaft openings and inside the shafts, a large number of ores and round or flat-round stone hammers have been found. The smelting site is located in a relatively flat area within the Nulasa Valley.

　　    The Nulasa Copper Mine Site is the earliest mining and metallurgy site discovered in the Xinjiang region. In terms of craftsmanship, smelting temperatures, slag, and copper blooms, it demonstrates a relatively high level of technical sophistication, providing important physical evidence for the study of the origin and development of early metallurgical technology in the Xinjiang region of China. (National Cultural Heritage Administration)