The Site in the period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Age

Geographical Location: Dao County, Hunan Province

Period: before 8,000 BC

Excavated in 1993

Significance: It has offered invaluable material objects for the study of cultures in the period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Age, as well as the origins of early pottery and cultivated rice.

Introduction

Yuchanyan(玉蟾岩Yùchányán) is in Shouyan Town, Dao County of Hunan Province. It is in a karst limestone crag surrounded by planted rice paddy and pine forest. This crag site dates back to the Paleolithic Age during the pratempo.

In Year1993 and 1995, 10,000 year-old rice grain with potsherds, animal bone, spiral and freshwater mussel shells and plant seeds were discovered. Two grains found on Nov. 17, 1993in washed T1-3H soil supplemented the two found on Nov. 18, 1995, in a thick calcareous layer in T9-2b6-3b1. This layer also had a bone hairpin, while the T9-3E layer had ancient potshards directly.