The excavation of Tongtiandong Cave Site has been done from 2016 to 2017 in Jeminay County. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology together with School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University cooperated in the project.
Distant view of Tongtiandong Cave Site [Credit: Chinese Archaeology] |
According to the excavation, Tongtiandong Cave Site is the first Paleolithic cave site ever found in Xinjiang. Meanwhile, it also provided the continuous stratigraphic cultural-layer sections of Paleolithic - Chalcolithic - Bronze Age - Early Iron Age. Tongtiandong Cave Site is a granite cave remaining in Jeminay County, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The altitude is 1810 meters.
Excavation
At the beginning of 2016, the archaeological team made trial excavation inside and outside the cave to probe the scale and nature of the cave and explore to understand the archaeological culture consequence and related remains. The nature and time of the stone-tools were preliminarily identified through trial excavation. Many pottery fragments, millstones and fire use evidence were found in Unit T0505 outside the cave. There were also remains of stone piles.
Aerial photo of Tongtiandong Cave Site [Credit: Chinese Archaeology] |
Achievement and Significance
For the past two years’ excavation, it reflected that the deposition in Tongtiandong Cave was thick and the most in-depth spot was 3 meters below the surface. The excavated area contained 14 stratums, which were classified into four groups.
The section showing Bronze Age layers [Credit: Chinese Archaeology] |
Around 2000 pieces numbered samples were unearthed from the Paleolithic stratums, among which one third were stone-tools and another one-third were animal skeleton fossils. In addition, around 10 thousand tiny animal fossils and stone-tool samples were also filtered. Most were animal fossils, especially small animal fossils. There were varied types of stone-tools, including typical Levallois technique lithic core, discoid core, Levallois Points, scrapers and Mousterian Points.
The millstone,found in unit T0505 [Credit: Chinese Archaeology] |
Three ash pits were unearthed in situ in the Paleolithic cultural stratum. They were in regular circles with clear boundary and the diameters were 50 to 70 centimeters. The numerous ash deposition and stone-tools together with animal skeleton fossils embodied that Tongtiandong Cave Site used to be the residence of ancient people. According to the C14 dating of animal fossils, the Paleolithic cultural deposition was dated to 45 thousand years ago.
Stone Tool Assemblage [Credit: Chinese Archaeology] |
Tongtiandong Cave Site was probably one of the earliest Chalcolithic site in Xinjiang, which also occurred repetitively in the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The earliest wheat was found, but the specific information shall be proved by further detailed archaeological excavation. Even so, we can at least speculate that wheat appeared early in this region, and there likely to be a way of wheat spread trading.
Source: Chinese Archaeology [December 26, 2017]