Qingtang Site
Explore the Yingde Qingtang Site in Guangdong, home to China’s earliest confirmed burial remains and the famous 13,500-year-old "Qingtang Girl” archaeological discovery.
- City
- Qingyuan
- Address
- Qingtang Town, Yingde, Qingyuan, Guangdong Province, China
Hidden among the limestone hills of Yingde, the Qingtang Site is one of the most important prehistoric archaeological discoveries ever made in southern China. This remarkable site rewrote part of early Chinese history and revealed new insights into the lives of Lingnan’s ancient inhabitants over 13,000 years ago.
The Qingtang Girl : a Major Archaeological Discovery
Discovered in 2016, the site became nationally famous after archaeologists uncovered the remains of the so-called Qingtang Girl, a young woman buried inside a limestone cave.
Scientific dating confirmed the tomb to be approximately 13,500 years old, making it the earliest confirmed site with identifiable burial practices ever discovered in China.
The human fossil of the Qingtang Girl is also considered the most complete prehistoric human skeleton found in Guangdong dating back more than 10,000 years.
The other excavations in the area also uncovered a remarkable collection of prehistoric artifacts, including some of the earliest pottery found in Guangdong, the oldest perforated shell tools discovered in South China, animal bone fossils, plant remains and traces of early human settlement.
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These discoveries provide rare evidence of the transition between the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras as well as transition between hunting-gathering societies and early agricultural communities in Lingnan.
For archaeologists, the site offers an exceptional window into the origins of civilization in southern China.
Landscape and Environment
As the same as for Yanshanzhai Site or Shixia Site ,the place is surrounded by karst scenery typical of northern Guangdong.
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Limestone caves, isolated rocky peaks and subtropical vegetation create the mysterious landscape that has preserved traces of prehistoric life for thousands of years.
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