Ancient remains were discovered recently in Heliang village in Chongqing in the Three Gorges area believed to date back some 15,000 years, according to Chinese experts.

Upon learning that a local farmer found some fossils in this village in Wushan County in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality this year, Chinese paleoanthropologists began excavating the area and found an ancient skull, a large number of traces of the use of fire, and more than 40 stone objects including scrapers, choppers, and axes.

In addition, fossil remains of ancient Asian elephants, rhinoceros, and pandas were also unearthed.

According to the head of the excavation team, Professor Huang Wanbo from the Research Institute of Ancient Vertebrate and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Heliang site belongs to the late Paleolithic Period dating back some 15,000 years.

The Three Gorges area is a cradle of ancient Chinese culture, and among a large number of archeological discoveries, the two million-year-old Wushan site discovered in the early 1980's has aroused great interest from archeologists worldwide.

Now, the Heliang Cultural Site has been confirmed as the most well-preserved site ever found in this area, with all kinds of relics of human activities along with many valuable animal fossils. Some experts say that finding a site with such a variety of paleoanthropological articles is rare, even for China. (Xinhua)