Longgupo ancient Ape Man Site

Longgupo ancient Ape Man Site

Longgupo ancient ape man site is a three Valley ancient human site, located in Longgupo, Longping village, Miaoyu Town, Wushan County, covering an area of about 700 square meters. In 1986, experts from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chongqing Museum of natural history successively excavated and discovered fossils of incisors and jaws with canine teeth, as well as dozens of giant monkeys, Saber Toothed tigers, rhinoceros bicornata and other fossils at the same level as human fossils. These fossils belong to the early Pleistocene, 2.04 million years ago. This important discovery fills in the blank of early human fossils in China, and is of great scientific value for the study of human origin and the development history of the three valleys. The site is now a national cultural relic protection unit. It is of great scientific value to study the origin of human beings and the development history of the three river valleys. There are 2.04 million years ago fossils.

archaeological excavation

At about 13 o'clock on October 13, 1985, a section of ancient human mandible fossils was unearthed here. The fossil consists of a left lower molar and an upper medial incisor with two molars. The study shows that the age of the fossils exceeds the lower limit of the specimens of Peking man in Zhoukoudian and sangjigen in Indonesia, and is close to the lower limit of the Pliocene Pleistocene in East Africa, which is at the same evolutionary level as the early Pleistocene Neng man in East Africa.

In 1997, in the second excavation, the archaeological team found 2 million years ago stone tools with "clear traces of artificial strike", which not only proved that the Three Gorges area had experienced 2000 years of continuous volcanic eruptions, but also discovered 1.4-2 million years ago butterfly ape man and Homo sapiens fossils.

Since a large number of early human fossils were unearthed in East Africa in the 1950s, Africa has been generally considered as the first choice for the origin of human beings. More western scholars also believe that China can not be the origin of human beings.

The archaeological discovery of Longgupo quickly caused a sensation in the World Archaeological circles.

unearthed relic

In 1984, under the guidance of a rural doctor, the archaeological team led by Professor Huang Wanbo discovered Longgupo, where more than 120 species of vertebrate fossils were collected, including more than 20 extinct animal fossils, such as saber toothed tiger, Sang's hyena, civet, mastodon, ungulates, giant sheep and lesser giant panda. This indicates that a very old fauna lived here for at least one million years. Therefore, Longgupo has become the site with the largest number of Quaternary fossils in China.

The third excavation of the Longgupo site, Miaoyu Town, Wushan County, Chongqing City, which is of great concern to the world archaeological community, has made a major breakthrough. The archaeological team led by Professor Huang Wanbo from the Institute of paleovertebrae and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as "Shuanggu Institute") discovered the accumulation of animal fossils in the third and fifth level layers respectively, as well as the stone tool fossils that may have been used by human beings.

Query and verification

Longgupo ancient ape man site covers an area of about 700 square meters, and is now a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Some scholars at home and abroad mainly focus on two aspects: one is whether the age of Wushan people is reliable; the other is that there are too few stone tools unearthed in the first and second excavation to support the conclusion that the Yangtze River basin may be the origin of human beings.

For the first question, Chinese experts use different detection methods to prove that Wushan man-made stone is about 2.04 million years ago. Shi Han, a professor of anthropology at Iowa University in the United States, who has always been skeptical about the age of Wushan people, and four other foreign scholars went to the site to collect samples in the summer of 1992, and the determination results also proved the above conclusion.

From 1984 to 1985, only two stone tools were found. "Why is there only two stone tools in one site?" This is the focus of experts at home and abroad. Professor Huang Wanbo explained that in the past, he mainly wanted to look for fossils and large stone tools, ignoring the study of human living environment, so the excavation method was relatively rough. From 1997 to 1998, Professor Huang Wanbo and his archaeological team came here again and found more than 20 larger stone tools.

"But it doesn't mean that, as the living environment of human beings, there should be traces of human activities, such as the fragments left by stone tools." Huang Wanbo said. The purpose of the third excavation here is to find these traces.

Is "Wushan people" the ancestor of human beings

"The main purpose of our excavation is to find more stone tools in the clear stratigraphic units, and to explain the nature of Longgupo culture from both qualitative and quantitative aspects." Hou Yanmei, the leader of the archaeological team, said. From the shape of the large-area accumulation of animal fossils and some broken traces, these animals were all hunted and transported at that time. Professor Huang Wanbo also found more than 20 large Paleolithic stones from metamorphic limestone. These stone tools are worn and used. Archaeological experts say the findings are likely to prove that the Three Gorges area is one of the birthplaces of early human beings on earth.

Professor Huang Wanbo is a member of the Asia Pacific stratigraphic branch of the international quaternary Commission. He said that the reason why the Longgupo site has attracted strong attention from the academic circles at home and abroad is that it has four aspects of value: first, the strata are well preserved and the level is clear, in which three geological units can be used as the standard sections of the early Pleistocene in South China for comparative study; second, there are 120 species of fauna found in the site, including 116 species of mammal fossils, which is the second largest in China Among the four fossil sites, Longgupo site has the largest number of fossil species, and most animals such as mastodon, ungulates and Saber Toothed tigers have already been extinct. Third, according to the determination of the Institute of geology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Department of Archaeology of Peking University and experts from the United States and Canada, Longgupo site is about 1.8 million to 2.48 million years ago. Fourth, there are many kinds of primate fossils, including human fossils and giant apes Fossils, baboon fossils and macaque fossils, etc. It is rare to find so many primate fossils in the same geological environment in China.

French Paleolithic archaeologist professor boyda is very optimistic about the prospect of Longgupo site. He believes that further excavation and research will prove that this is the earliest ancient human site in East Asia.

No matter what the future may be, the discovery of Wushan human fossils has filled the gap of early human fossils in China. Longgupo site has shown its high scientific value in the study of human origin and the development history of the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges valley.

Conservation planning

It is understood that relevant experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing Institute of construction and engineering, etc. and Chongqing Municipality have passed the planning review for the protection of the national key cultural relic protection unit, Chongqing Wushan Longgupo ancient site. At the same time, the experts put forward 11 suggestions on further carrying out the cultural relic value assessment, supplementing the status map of the protection scope before the adjustment and the basis for redrawing. Longgupo ancient ape man site is located in Longgupo, Longping village, Miaoyu Town, Wushan County, covering an area of about 700 square meters. In 1986, Professor Huang Wanbo, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, excavated a "Wushan man" fossil about 2.04 million years ago in Longgupo, Wushan. Since then, primate fossils such as human fossils, giant ape fossils, and more than 100 kinds of animal fossils have been successively discovered, which is the site with the largest number of fossil species among the Quaternary fossil sites in China. According to the determination of experts, the Longgupo site is 1.8-2.48 million years ago. This site shakes the argument that foreign archaeologists insist that Homo erectus originated in Africa, and also confirms that the earliest human beings in China lived in the Three Gorges area.

Tourism information

Opening Hours

8 a.m. - 8 p.m

Best travel time: spring and winter, late summer and early autumn

Traffic tips

1. Take a high-speed hydrofoil boat at Chaotianmen wharf to Wushan in 8 hours.

2. All the liner and tourist ships sailing on the Yangtze River stop at Wushan wharf. Every day, there are passenger ships to Shuanglong and Dachang and tourist ships to Wushan and Wuxi.

Board and lodging

There are several restaurants and small shops between Wushan County and seven Gorges of Daning River, which are convenient for accommodation.

Surrounding scenic spots

Dachang ancient town Longmen gorge hanging coffin Daxi cultural site Longgupo ancient Ape Man Site Luyou cave Wushan small Three Gorges Daning River ancient plank road ruins Tiejiang gorge Baidi city Zhangfei Temple Baidi mountain wind box gorge Madu river small Three Gorges Daning River ancient plank road ruins

Address: Longgupo, Longping village, Miaoyu Town, Wushan County, Chongqing

Longitude: 109.6706161499

Latitude: 30.871208190918

Chinese PinYin : Long Gu Po Gu Yuan Ren Yi Zhi