Shixia Site 石峡遗址

Updated 2026-05-13

The key to understand Lingnan’s Neolithic and Bronze Age past. Located between the two peaks of Lion Rock, it features a 5,000‑year‑old cultural layer. Walk from the Maba Man cave to this ancient village and trace 124,000 years of human history in one park.

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Tucked between the two limestone peaks of Lion Rock (Shizi Yan) in Maba Town, Shaoguan, lies one of Guangdong‘s most important archaeological discoveries: the Shixia Site (Stone Gorge Site).
Just a few hundred metres from the cave that yielded the 129,000‑year‑old Maba Man skull, Shixia reveals a much younger but equally fascinating story : the emergence of settled farming communities, sophisticated jade rituals, and long‑distance trade networks in the late Neolithic period.

Covering an area of approximately 30,000 m², Shixia has yielded house foundations, storage pits, pottery kilns, and over 3,000 artefacts : stone tools, pottery, bone implements, and exquisite jade objects.
The site contains three distinct cultural layers, spanning from the late Neolithic (5,000 years ago) through the Xia-Shang period to the Western Zhou (2,600 years ago).

The discovery of Shixia in 1973 was a major breakthrough for Guangdong archaeology. For the first time, archaeologists could trace the cultural development of Lingnan from primitive society to the of the Qin unification. Nowadays, Shixia is jointly developed with the neighbouring Maba Man Site into an archaeological park where visitors can walk from the Palaeolithic cave to the Neolithic village.

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### Opening Hours
8:00 am - 18:00 pm (last entry 17:30)
The Shixia outdoor archaeological zone is accessible during park hours.
The Maba Man Museum (next to the park entrance) alos exhibit related artifacts in the Shixia Culture Hall
9:00 am - 17:00 pm (closed Mondays)

Shixia and Maba Man : From Hunter to Farmer

One of the most exciting aspects of Shixia is its proximity to the Maba Man Site.
At Maba Man's cave (129,000 BP), we see the earliest known inhabitants of Guangdon, hunter‑gatherers who lived and died in the same limestone peaks.
At Shixia, only 500 metres away, we see their distant descendants 124,000 years later : settled farmers growing rice, making pottery, carving jade, and participating in long‑distance exchange networks.

Thanks to this juxtaposition, the Lion Rock area allows visitors to experience both ends of the human story in Lingnan from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic, in a single walk.

About the Lion Rock

The area is named for these two Carboniferous‑period limestone hills that stand side by side, resembling a lion.
Viewed from the north, the twin peaks look like a sleeping lion, head low, tail raised, whereas viewed from the south, the same formation appears as a dancing lion.
The hills are riddled with karst caves, inside you will find stalactites, stalagmites, and stone pillars in fantastic shapes.
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### Nearby Attractions
Maba Man Site
Nanhua Temple
Danxia Mountain

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