Renzidong site

Renzidong site

The renzidong site is located on the south slope of laolishan mountain, Suncun Town, Fanchang County. Its geological age is the early Pleistocene, and its absolute age is 2.2-2.59 million years ago. It is the oldest human activity site in Asia.

The renzidong site was discovered in Fanchang in May 1998 by the Anhui research group of the national "Ninth Five Year Plan" climbing special project "study on the origin and environmental background of early human beings". After a total of seven large-scale systematic excavations, more than 100 pieces of stone products, dozens of bone products and more than 8000 mammal fossil specimens including the primate protobaboon were found The abundant mammalian fossils are of great significance for studying the environmental background of early human activities.

On May 25, 2006, renzidong site, as a Paleolithic site, was approved by the State Council as the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Historical evolution

Renzidong site is a Paleolithic human activity site, which is the earliest gathering point of ancient human activities in Eurasia. Because the mountain shaped fissure in the excavation site looks like a character "Ren", it is named "Ren Zi Dong".

In 1984, Sheng Hongjiang, a quarryman, discovered three fossils while quarrying in laolishan. After they were sent to researcher Huang Wanbo, they were identified as Pleistocene rhinoceros teeth.

In 1987, Zheng Longting, Li Zhiyi and Chen Yanlin from the cultural relics management office of Fanchang County of Anhui Provincial Museum visited laolishan and investigated the fossil site near Suncun town. Some scattered mammal fossils were collected, which were identified as digitate and kubanzhu. Their geological age may be the middle Miocene.

In 1995, the staff of Anhui Provincial Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology investigated the fossil site and its adjacent areas, and obtained more clues. The above discovery and information laid an important foundation for the late Cenozoic stratigraphic and paleontological investigation in this area.

At the beginning of 1998, archaeological excavation work was officially launched. In the same year, Anhui sub research group was established, which was composed of professionals from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Anhui Provincial Museum and Anhui Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology. The research group was headed by researcher Jin Changzhu from Institute of vertebrate paleozoology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The main members of the research group include Institute of vertebrate paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Staff of Institute of zoology and Paleoanthropology, Anhui Provincial Museum, Anhui Provincial Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology and Anhui Fanchang County Museum, etc. From October 1 to November 15, Anhui Research Group conducted the first systematic archaeological excavation in Renzi cave, which lasted for 46 days.

From May 1 to June 15, 1999, Anhui Research Group conducted the third systematic excavation of renzidong site, which lasted for 46 days. Staff from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Anhui Provincial Museum, Anhui Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, and Fanchang County Museum of Anhui Province participated in the excavation. From October 15 to November 8, on the basis of spring excavation, Anhui Research Group carried out the fourth systematic excavation in Fanchang Renzi cave, which lasted for 25 days.

From May 10 to June 11, 2000, the fifth systematic excavation of renzidong site in Fanchang, Anhui Province, took 33 days. Staff from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Anhui Provincial Museum, Anhui Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, and Fanchang County Museum of Anhui Province participated in the excavation. From October 15 to November 28 of the same year, Anhui Research Group continued to excavate the herringbone cave for the sixth time, which lasted for 45 days.

From September 27 to October 28, 2001, the main members of Anhui Research Group carried out the seventh systematic excavation of renzidong site, which lasted 31 days. Staff from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Anhui Provincial Museum, Anhui Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, and Anhui Fanchang County Museum participated in the excavation.

In the autumn of 2005, Anhui research group arranged a short-term eighth supplementary excavation of the herringbone cave, which lasted more than two weeks from November 13 to November 28. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zheng Longting, Anhui Provincial Museum, and Fanchang County Museum participated in the excavation.

geographical environment

Location context

The renzidong site is located on the southeast slope of manglishan (also known as Huaguo Mountain) 2 km northwest of Suncun Town, about 10 km southwest of Fanchang County, in the hilly area of Southern Anhui on the South Bank of the Yangtze River (the geographical coordinates are 118 ° 5'46 "E and 31 ° 5'23" n).

topographic features

The renzidong site is a cave developed in the Mesozoic limestone, and its top wave is about 95 meters. The exposed thickness of the deposit is 30m (about 40m verified by drilling), and the deposit can be divided into two sets of different sedimentary units from top to bottom. The upper part is mainly composed of massive limestone breccia. It is composed of reddish brown sandy clay and sandy soil, while the lower part is mainly composed of grayish yellow coarse sand, grayish green fine sand, silt and brown gravel.

Site features

The excavation depth of renzidong site is 10 meters, and the excavation area is about 50 square meters. The site is a cave deposit with an average width of about 8 meters and an exposed thickness of 31.5 meters. It can be divided into nine natural layers and three sedimentary units from top to bottom. The first sedimentary unit is the slope deposit of layer 1-2, the second sedimentary unit is the brownish red sub clay of layer 3-7 with limestone breccia in it, and the third sedimentary unit is no bottom below layer 8, with clay, fine sand, small gravel and other fine-grained accumulation. Stone products, bone products and important fossil specimens are mainly concentrated in the second sedimentary unit.

Cultural relics

More than 100 pieces of stone products found in renzidong site are made of six different kinds of rocks. They are iron ore, siliceous mudstone, siliceous limestone, quartz sandstone, gneiss and Chert of various quality, of which iron ore accounts for more than 50%. Stone artifacts are basically small, mainly made of scrapers; there are dozens of bone artifacts, and nearly 10 bone artifacts can be seen clearly at the striking point; together with artificial stone artifacts, there are a large number of ancient vertebrate fossils, including mammals: primates, thick yellow baboons, rodents, insectivores, carnivores, long noses, odd hooves, even hooves, turtles and turtles There are 76 species of vertebrate fossils and more than 6000 specimens. In addition to animal fossils, the most important one is the discovery of several gneiss specimens suspected of artificial strike in the herringbone cave deposits. Although the number of stone artifacts is very small, it is of great significance, which provides the most direct clues for further searching for ancient human activity sites.

The main types of renzidong sites are as follows:

In 2013, abundant vertebrate fossils and a large number of Paleolithic and bone artifacts were unearthed from renzidong site. There are complete skull, mandible, molar and retrocephalic bones of mastodon sinensis in large mammals. This is the first discovery of the skull of mastodon sinensis in the Quaternary strata of China.

Cultural relic value

The discovery of renzidong Paleolithic site and its stage research achievements are the major achievements of the national "Ninth Five Year Plan" climbing project "Research on the origin and environmental background of early human beings". Fanchang Renzi cave is an early Pleistocene cultural site discovered in this project. It is also the oldest Paleolithic cultural site known in Eurasia. It is of great significance in archaeology, Quaternary Geology and biology.

The renzidong site is characterized by clear strata, stable fauna, ancient human artifacts and abundant Quaternary environmental evolution information. The excavation and research of the site has a great impact on Paleoanthropology, paleontology, geology, archaeology and related disciplines. The artificial stone and bone artifacts found in renzidong site prove the existence of early human activities in China. The site is the earliest human cultural site found in Eurasia, which has advanced the history of human beings in Asia by several hundred thousand years. It provides an important basis for the view that Asia is one of the regions of early human origin. The excavation of renzidong site has a profound impact on Paleoanthropology, paleontology, geology, archaeology and other related disciplines. The discovery of the site has advanced the history of human beings in Asia by 300000-700000 years, which provides a new clue and basis for the study of the multi region theory of human origin and for Asia to be one of the important regions of human origin.

Cultural relics protection

At the beginning of the discovery of the renzidong site, Fanchang County decided to shut down the quarry completely, do a good job in persuading workers and local people, publicize the scientific value of the discovery of renzidong site and the significance of protection, and approved the establishment of a new quarry 10 km away from renzidong site, which not only ensured the safety of cultural relics and normal excavation work, but also maintained the cement plant Normal production. The Party committee and government of Suncun town also allocated more than 400000 yuan for the construction of the wall and duty room, and mobilized the cadres and the masses of the town to raise more than 2 million yuan to build the cement road leading to the zigzag cave. The State Administration of cultural relics approved and appropriated special funds to implement the security and technical defense project of the renzidong site.

May 2, 2006

Chinese PinYin : Ren Zi Dong Yi Zhi