Guiyang, January 1 (Ying Teng, Zhou Yanling) The reporter learned from the Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology on the 15th that the Puding Piercing Site in Guizhou Province has made an important breakthrough after two years of archaeological excavations.

Horn ware unearthed from the Puding piercing site in Guizhou. (Photo courtesy of Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)

"According to the latest dating data, the cave site is dated to the Middle-to-Late Paleolithic, Late and Neolithic periods. Zhang Xinglong, deputy director of the Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and archaeological leader of the cave site, said that according to the current archaeological data, the preliminary judgment was that 5,5 years ago, the cave had the earliest human activities, and then continued until 8000,1 years ago, of which around 2,<> years ago, it was the most frequent period of ancient human activities.

The surrounding environment of the north entrance of the Puding Piercing Cave in Guizhou. (Photo courtesy of Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)

Located about 5 kilometers southwest of Puding County, the piercing site was discovered in 1978 and has undergone two archaeological excavations. More than 1000,<> stone tools, bone tools, animal fossils and human fossils, more than <>,<> bone and horn tools, and two complete human skulls have been unearthed, making it the first prehistoric site in China and the most rare in the world at that time.

The excavation site of the Puding piercing site in Guizhou. Ying Teng

In 2022, the Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly conducted the third archaeological excavation of the Puding piercing site. During this period, Peking University, Sichuan University, Shandong University, Wuhan University and other universities and research institutes were brought together to carry out two years of "centralized" archaeological research.

A bone fork unearthed from the Puding piercing site in Guizhou. (Photo courtesy of Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)

In the excavation area of 40 square meters, the thickness of the cultural accumulation of the piercing site is more than 6 meters, and more than 1,2500 stone products, more than 10,<> bone and horn products, and more than <>,<> animal bones have been unearthed. At present, it is the Paleolithic archaeological site with the largest number of polished bone tools unearthed in China and even the whole East Asian region.

In addition, 3 tombs in the transition stage from the late Paleolithic to the early Neolithic were found in the piercing site, and 2 juvenile jaws and 1 adult skull were unearthed, as well as 2 burial bone tools and 1 bone fish hook, which provided important information for the study of the physical characteristics and burial customs of prehistoric humans in this area. The discovery of the second burial about 1,<> years ago also provides an important clue for the study of the rheological changes of burial styles in southern China.

Fragments of burnt skulls were excavated at the Puding piercing site in Guizhou. (Photo courtesy of Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)

At the same time, a late Homo sapiens mortar fossil was found in the 11th layer of the site, which was preliminarily inferred to be between 1,5 and 6,5 years old, filling the gap in the study of paleoanthropology in Guizhou in the past. Zhang Xinglong introduced that the archaeological results not only enrich the history of human activities in Guizhou, but also are of great significance for re-understanding the "piercing man" about 5,<> years ago and studying the cultural appearance and pattern of the middle and late Paleolithic on the Guizhou Plateau, and discussing the origin of modern humans, the transformation of early human adaptation strategies in southwest China, and prehistoric cultural exchanges.

Next, on the basis of sorting out the relics unearthed from the archaeological excavations in two years, the Puding Piercing Site Archaeological Joint Task Force will carry out scientific and technological archaeological research in physical anthropology, ancient DNA and paleoprotein, burial science and other aspects, so as to construct the basic framework and sequence of the prehistoric culture in the region, especially the archaeological culture of the cave site. (ENDS)