Site in the period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Age

Location: Dao County, Hunan Province

Period: before 8,000 BC

Excavated in 1993 

Pottery cauldron: cooking vessel (29 cm in height after restoration)

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

In 1993 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 T9-3E layer had ancient potsherds.