Caves Inhabited By Human 15,000 Years Ago Discovered in Yunnan
Chinese archaeologists have discovered caves used by ancient people beings 15,000 years ago in Eshan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province.
Researchers from the Yuxi City Cultural Relics Management Bureau discovered traces of fire in places two meters underground, and unearthed one-meter-thick calcified ashes at the caves in Shulin Village, Eshan County.
They also collected some fossilized teeth of mammals such as the giant tapir, the Chinese rhinoceros, horses and South China porcupines, as well as burned bones and chewed bones. Based on the rough bone tools excavated in the area, researchers inferred that the ancient people lived in these caves prior to the Stone Age.
Eshan County is located in an area with karst landforms and numerous caves. Evidence of ancient people living 15,000 to 10,000 years ago were found in 1993 in Tadian town's Laolong Cave, some 10 kilometers away from the Shulin Village caves. From the Laolong cave, various stone and bone tools, items made of horns and animal fossils were excavated.
