Ruins found to be more than 50,000 years old
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RUINS found in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have been confirmed as dating back to the Middle Paleolithic Period, local authorities said yesterday.
Carbon-14 dating has determined that the ruins, at Sanlong Mountain in Ar Horqin Banner, are at least 50,000 years old, said Wang Dafang of the region’s cultural department.
“This period is close to the earliest time-frame that carbon-14 dating can determine, and therefore, the ruins may actually be older than this,” Wang said.
The ruins were discovered in 2015 and subsequently excavated and studied by archeologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Inner Mongolia Museum.
Around 500 pieces of stoneware have been unearthed from the two layers dating to the Paleolithic period, which were covered by three layers from later periods.
The stoneware includes tools believed to have been used for cutting and peeling, Wang said.
The items resemble others unearthed from Middle Paleolithic Period ruins discovered in central and western regions of the Eurasian continent.
Very few ruins dating from the Middle Paleolithic Period have been unearthed in north China, and this new discovery will boost research into the living environment, activities and skills of hominids, the ancestors of modern humans, he said.
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