New finds in China's Guizhou indicate prehistoric human activity over 55,000 years ago

GUIYANG, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Large quantities of artifacts made of stone, bone and horn have been unearthed at Chuandong Site in Puding County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, indicating prehistoric human activity dating back more than 55,000 years.

Chuandong Site, first discovered in 1978, is believed to have existed across the end of the middle Paleolithic Period, the late Paleolithic Period and the Neolithic Age.

Over two years of excavation work, the third one since 1978, researchers discovered a new soil layer at the site, where they found more than 100,000 animal bones, over 10,000 pieces of earthenware and stoneware, and more than 2,500 items made of bone or horn.

A fossil of a Neoanthropus Homo sapiens sapiens molar tooth dating back approximately 50,000 to 60,000 years was unearthed, according to experts with the Guizhou provincial cultural relics and archaeology institute, and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

They also excavated three graves dating back about 10,000 years, discovering human bones and bone artifacts including a bone fishhook.

During the previous two excavations, more than 10,000 pieces of stoneware, bone artifacts, animal and human fossils, as well as two almost complete human craniums were discovered.