Tangshan ancient ape cave

The ancient ape man cave is located in Leigong Mountain, Tangshan town, Nanjing, 25 kilometers away from the urban area. No. 1 female skull and No. 2 male skull were found in this cave on March 13, 1993 and April 17, 1993, respectively. According to experts' research, the two skulls are 580000-620000 years old, which is the only complete ancient ape man activity site discovered in Jiangnan and at the same time as Zhoukoudian in Beijing.

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Tangshan ancient ape cave

The ancient ape man cave is located on the northern slope of Tangshan street, Jiangning District, Nanjing city. It is located in the north wing of the Tangshan section of tanglun anticline near the core. The cave is developed in the Ordovician Honghuayuan formation limestone. In 1993, when quarrying, we found this cave, which is called "huludong" because it looks like a gourd. It is 80 m long from east to west, 30 m wide from north to south, 85.9 m high at the bottom and 18 m high at the top. Huludong can be divided into two parts: Hall and branch cave. Both of them have Quaternary deposits, and the deposits are rich in mammal fossils, while the world-famous Nanjing Homo erectus fossils are found in the branch cave deposits.

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In Leigong Mountain in the west of Tangshan town, there is a huge cave group with a total area of tens of thousands of square meters. The relatively complete ancient ossification stone unearthed in the cave is scientifically identified as Nanjing ape man born about 300000 years ago, which proves that the Yangtze River Basin is one of the birthplaces of the Chinese nation. The discovery of the ancient ape man cave in Tangshan town is a major archaeological breakthrough after Yuanmou in Yunnan, Lantian in Shaanxi, Zhoukoudian in Beijing and Hexian in Anhui. Since 1995, it has become a tourist attraction open to tourists.

There is a huge group of caves in Leigong Mountain in the west of Tangshan town. The total area of the caves has reached tens of thousands of square meters. Leigong cave and huludong cave are open to tourists. On March 13, 1993, a complete fossil skull of ancient human was unearthed in huludong, which has attracted worldwide attention. Archaeologists have discovered more than ten kinds of animal fossils here. According to scientific identification, this ape man was born in Nanjing about 300000 years ago. As a result, the human history of Nanjing has been advanced for more than 200000 years. At the same time, it is confirmed that the Yangtze River Basin is one of the birthplaces of the Chinese nation. There are more than ten kinds of fossils found in huludong, such as swollen bone deer and spotted deer. Most of these animals lived in the Middle Pleistocene 150 million years ago.

Distribution of scenic spots

Tangshan ape Cave Scenic Area can be divided into six parts, namely, the stone carving spring landscape at the entrance, the ancient human stone carving garden at the foot of the mountain, the ancient human historical materials exhibition hall, the ape carving landscape on the cliff at the entrance of the site, the natural karst cave landscape, and the bamboo garden leisure area. According to Professor Zhu's conception, it will become a "Stone Park" showing ancient human beings in Nanjing and even the whole country. The funnel-shaped notch originally exposed on the cliff becomes a natural relief stone wall. According to the field investigation, the head shaped stones on the stone wall will be slightly carved to form 4-5 "Nanjing ape man" head portraits. Different from the U.S. presidential hill, the ape man head avoids the trace of axe chiseling, and is integrated with natural rocks. In addition, on the top of the cave, two or three giant bronze statues of ape hunting stand as giant symbols of the cave. Throughout the scenic area, stone age architectural sketches such as thatched cottages, stone tools, nest houses and cave houses can be seen everywhere, full of historical sense.

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Discovery of fossil

One day in April 2005, just after a rain, Mr. and Mrs. Liu, who live in Tangshan, were picking stones near huludong. They accidentally found some strange looking "stones". After a closer look, they found that one of them looked like a tooth. Thinking of the local famous "Nanjing ape man", Mr. Liu decided to send these stones to Nanjing Institute of Geology and paleontology for "identification". After a year or so, the identification of these stones has been preliminarily confirmed. They are likely to be the fossils of macaques or baboons 1 million years ago. This discovery provides a more powerful basis for the view that "the Jiangsu Anhui region is one of the centers of human origin in East Asia".

Strange stone quarry

I'm afraid that no one would not know about the "Nanjing ape man". As a result of quarrying at huludong in Tangshan area, two skulls were accidentally found, which were identified by experts and gained worldwide attention. At the beginning of 1992, the area was ready to be developed into a tourist attraction. The original quarry in this area was transferred to the ash yard 500 meters west of huludong. Later, the quarry was contracted by Mr. Liu. On the day of discovery of the fossil, he was originally picking stones on the hillside in the south of the quarry. He didn't know that he saw many "stones" like teeth. After a few days, he went to the mountain again. Unexpectedly, he found a small hole 3-4 meters high on the hillside. Not far from the hole, there were some teeth like stones and other strange stones. He suspected that these "stones" were originally in the hole, but later they were washed down by the rain. When he was ready to go into the cave to have a closer look, the rock was too steep to make it. In order to find out what these stones are, Mr. Liu is going to seek expert confirmation.

"Life experience" is full of doubts

The first person to see these fossils is researcher Xu Hankui of Nanjing Institute of Geology and paleontology. From the objects he provided, it can be seen that these fossils are really "strange". One of the fossils is well preserved, on which four teeth can be clearly seen, which are large and sharp; the other fossil obviously has a scraped trace, and the surface of the trace is very smooth. Researcher Xu Hankui said that from the appearance alone, it is not sure whether these teeth belong to ape man, and the scraped trace can not be explained. Because the ape man fossil has always been "rare", so even a tooth is extremely rare, the famous Yuanmou Man in Yunnan Province was only found three teeth, but it pushed the history of ape man in China to 1.7 million years. In the past, only two skulls of "Nanjing ape man" were found. Later, a molar fossil was found during the official excavation. However, according to the research of relevant experts, this tooth should belong to Homo sapiens, not the tooth of Nanjing ape man. If this tooth fossil is really ape man's, it will be a major discovery that shocked the whole world.

Fossil "veil" opens a corner

Due to the emergency, researcher Xu Hankui brought the fossils to the Beijing Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and paleoanthropology. Academician Wu Xinzhi of the Institute looked at the fossils and found that they were not much like ape teeth, but rather like baboon teeth, but slightly larger than baboon teeth. In order to further clarify, he gave the fossils to his student, Dr. Tong Hao Wen. He was also difficult to draw the following conclusions about the various strange phenomena of fossils, and gave the fossils to Dr. Chen shengqian. At the end of March 2006, good news finally came from Beijing. After discussion by researchers, according to the geological age of the fossil, it may be 1 million years ago. Among them, the tooth fossil is likely to be the molar of the maxilla (upper mouth) of Pei's macaque; as for the limb bone fossil that was scraped, researchers think it seems to be baboon's; however, there is no final conclusion as to why there is a scraped one. These fossils are still in Beijing, and relevant experts say they need to be further studied and compared.

Contribute to the theory of "multiple sources" of human beings

Although they are not the fossils of Nanjing ape man, these fossils can show that Jiangsu and Anhui areas were very suitable for the growth and reproduction of apes one million years ago. Previously, Academician Wu Xinzhi, a Chinese paleoanthropologist, and scholars from the United States and Australia have jointly put forward the theory that the birthplace of human beings is not only in Africa, but also in East Asia. In recent years, many scholars believe that the Jiangsu Anhui region is one of the centers of the origin of human beings in East Asia. The earliest primate bone fossils found in China are in the buried hills of Anhui Province, more than 60 million years ago; in Liyang area, another 45 million years ago Chinese dawn ape was found; in Shuanggou of Sihong, another 15 million to 10 million years ago Shuanggou drunken ape was found; and in Fanchang of Anhui Province, another 2.4 million years ago stone tool was found, which indicates that the ape man period had entered at that time. Later, there were "early Homo sapiens" 200000 years ago in Chaohu, Anhui, and "late Homo sapiens" 30000 to 40000 years ago in Zhenjiang and Sihong. In Anhui Province and Jiangsu Province, fossils from primates, apes, apes and Homo sapiens have been found, which provide strong evidence for the hypothesis that Jiangsu and Anhui are the birthplaces of human beings in East Asia.

Address: Leigong Mountain, Tangshan town, Jiangning District

Longitude: 119.05327606201

Latitude: 32.055053710938

Ticket information: 60 RMB

Opening hours: 08:00-17:00.

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