East-West Question丨Liu Qingyu: What is the significance of the Salawusu site in the cultural exchange between the East and the West?

　　China News Agency, Hohhot, February 27th: What is the significance of the Salawusu site in cultural exchanges between the East and the West?

　　——Interview with Professor Liu Qingyu, School of History and Tourism Culture, Inner Mongolia University

　　China News Agency reporter Li Aiping

　　In the 1920s, an upper left outer incisor of Homo sapiens in the late Paleolithic age opened up a treasure house of Paleolithic cultural relics that caused a sensation in the world.

What is the secret of the world-famous Salawusu ruins?

Liu Qingyu, a professor of the Department of Archeology and Museology at the School of History and Tourism Culture of Inner Mongolia University, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West" to explain this.

The interview transcript is summarized as follows:

China News Agency: What was the excavation process like at the Salawusu site?

Liu Qingyu:

The Sarausu Cultural Site is located from Dashibian Village to Dagouwan Village, Wudinghe Town, Wushen Banner, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.

In 1922, Sang Zhihua, a famous French geologist, paleontologist, and archaeologist, picked up three petrified human limb bones in Dagou Bay.

In 1923, Sang Zhihua and De Rijin, a famous French vertebrate paleontologist, geologist and paleoanthropologist, formed an expedition team to investigate and excavate by the small bridge, and found 45 kinds of vertebrate fossils and a batch of stone artifacts.

Later, Teilhard discovered a fossil of the upper left outer incisor of an eight or nine-year-old child, which was named "the Ordos Tooth" after research by Bu Dasheng, director of the Anatomy Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital and a Canadian.

　　In the 1940s, Pei Wenzhong, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as "Institute of Paleontology"), first used the two special terms "Hetao Man" and "Hetao Culture".

"Hetao Man" is represented by the "Erdosian tooth", and "Hetao Culture" is represented by the Paleolithic stone artifacts found in Shuidonggou and Salawusu.

Teeth fossils of Hetao Man.

　　From 1956 to 1960, Mr. Wang Yuping of the Inner Mongolia Museum (now the Inner Mongolia Museum) discovered a Paleolithic site in Fanjiagou Bay, and found a human parietal bone and a femur fossil.

　　From 1978 to 1979, the Lanzhou Desert Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted an investigation in the Mu Us Sandy Land and found 6 human fossils and some stone artifacts, which solved the problem of unclear strata where the Hetao Man lived for many years.

In 1980, the Institute of Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Lanzhou Institute of Desert Research and the Ikezhao League (now Ordos) Cultural Relics Workstation conducted a comprehensive investigation and found 11 human fossils.

　　In 2006, the Institute of Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Inner Mongolia Museum jointly presided over the archaeological excavation of the Fanjiagou Bay site, and more than 1,000 specimens were excavated and collected.

In 2022, the Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology and the Institute of Paleospine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences carried out archaeological excavations on the Salawusu site, clarified the cultural layers of the two excavation sites, and established a connection with the early archaeological excavation sites of the Salawusu site.

China News Agency reporter: What archaeological gains have been made at the Salawusu site in the past 100 years?

Liu Qingyu:

Since the Salawusu site was discovered in the 1920s, the main archaeological harvest has been human fossils. So far, 23 "Hetao Man" fossils have been unearthed, including 2 frontal bones, occipital bones, and mandibles from the original strata. Bones, scapulas, and tibias each 1 piece.

　　The physical characteristics of "Hetao people" are very close to those of modern humans, but they still retain some primitive features, such as thick skull walls, simple bone sutures, thick mandibles, thick femur walls, and small medullary cavities.

This shows that "Hetao Man" belongs to the late Homo sapiens, which belongs to the late Paleolithic period.

The characteristics of incisors and head fossils of "Hetao Man" are close to those of modern Mongolians.

　　Secondly, a total of more than 500 pieces of stone products were obtained. Except for stone cores and stone flakes, stone tools accounted for a considerable number.

The most prominent feature of the Sarausu stone tools is that they are very small in size, which belongs to the "Zhoukoudian first location (Peking people) - Zhiyu system" (or "scraper-carver tradition") proposed by Mr. Jia Lanpo in North China. ”), named “Salawusu Culture”.

　　In addition, a total of 45 species of vertebrate fossils were found, including 11 species of birds and 34 species of mammals.

The Salawusu River is the upper reaches of the Wuding River, a tributary of the Yellow River, also known as the Hongliu River, where a large number of animal fossils are buried.

These typical fauna, represented by the combination of woolly rhinoceros, Hetao bighorn deer, and Wang's buffalo, are called "Salawusu fauna" by the paleontological community.

　　Artificially broken animal bones were also found at the Salawusu site, including antelope, woolly rhinoceros, wild horse, bison, deer, camel, ostrich, etc. Among them, antelope had the most horns and limb bones, which shows that antelope was the main animal of people at that time. Hunting objects, ancient humans widely used antelope horns as a digging tool.

Salawusu ruins.

Photo courtesy of Ordos Propaganda Department

China News Agency reporter: How do you evaluate the contribution of Sang Zhihua and Teilhard to the archaeological discovery of Salawusu?

Liu Qingyu:

Sang Zhihua came to China in 1914 as a French Catholic Jesuit priest. He has been engaged in field investigations and archaeological investigations for 25 years. He has traveled all over the provinces in northern China, traveled more than 50,000 kilometers, and collected hundreds of thousands of geological and paleontological specimens. documents, and established the Beijiang Museum (the predecessor of Tianjin Natural History Museum).

　　In 1922, Sang Zhihua discovered a very rich fossil site in the Salawusu River Basin.

In order to expand the results of the investigation, Sang Zhihua invited Germany and Japan to come to China, and Germany and Japan arrived in China in May 1923.

They conducted surveys and excavations on both sides of the Salawusu River and found a wealth of mammal fossils, including 33 species of artiodactyls, odd-toed ungulates, carnivores, and rodents, as well as 11 species of birds.

Among them is a complete woolly rhinoceros skeleton, which is the earliest discovery in China.

The human fossils found in this expedition consisted of two femurs and one humerus.

　　It is worth mentioning that during his indoor research, Teilhard picked out an incisor tooth of a late Homo sapiens from many antelope fossils.

This tooth was mixed with a batch of fossils unearthed by Sang Zhihua in August 1922 in the sand on the banks of the Salawusu River, and was not recognized at that time.

This tooth is the first human fossil discovered in China.

Salawusu snow scene.

Cloth and photo

China News Agency reporter: What is the significance of the Salawusu site in the cultural exchange between the East and the West?

Liu Qingyu:

The Salawusu cultural site is famous at home and abroad for the unearthed famous "Hetao Man" and "Salawusu Fauna".

The latest research results show that "Hetao Man" is the earliest known late Homo sapiens in China and even Asia, and it is the key to discuss the direct ancestors of modern Asians.

The discovery of "Hetao Man" greatly promoted the excavation of the famous "Peking Man" site later.

　　The Salawusu cultural site is the first Paleolithic site unearthed in Asia, which is of great value to the study of the origin of modern humans, their cultural evolution and environmental changes.

As a representative site reflecting the cultural exchange between the East and the West, the Salawusu site has attracted the attention of the world and plays an important role and significance in the cultural exchange between the East and the West.

(over)

Respondent profile:

　　Liu Qingyu, Ph.D. in History, is a professor of the Department of Archeology and Museology of the School of History and Tourism Culture of Inner Mongolia University, a master tutor, and a member of Jiusan Society.

Mainly engaged in Inner Mongolia cultural relics archaeology, Inner Mongolia local history and other research work.

Published more than 10 academic papers in "Christian Religious Studies" and other journals, presided over the special project of Inner Mongolia social science planning "Introduction to Inner Mongolia Cultural Relics and Archeology", and monographed "Plowing Outside the Great Wall--The social activities and influence of Catholic missionaries in Inner Mongolia since modern times (1865-1950)", in 2012 won the third prize of the Fourth Government Award for Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.