New discovery of Neolithic stone artifacts reveal key prehistoric human activities in NE China

The stone artifacts unearthed from the Shiren Cave relic site in the city of Hailin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Photo/China News Service)

More than 90,000 stone artifacts from the Neolithic period have been discovered from the Shiren Cave relic site in the city of Hailin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, China News Service reported on Monday.

"This site presents an extraordinary abundance of stone artifacts on the surface, a richness we have rarely seen before, even within China," said Li Youqian, a deputy director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and head of the excavation project at the Shiren Cave relic site.

He noted that these findings reveal that the Hailang River Basin was an important area of human activities in prehistoric times, holding high historical and cultural value.

The site, covering an area of 16,200 square meters, was discovered during a survey of stone tool sites in the Hailang River Basin in 2023. According to test results, the site's layers date back approximately 5,700 years, to the Neolithic era.

The Hailang River Basin is one of the regions with the highest concentration of Paleolithic sites in China and even Northeast Asia, encompassing some of the most complex and diverse stone tool-making techniques in the Old World. This archaeological excavation has provided abundant foundational data for studying the stone tool techniques, production, and lifestyles of ancient humans inhabiting the Hailang River Basin in different periods. The discovery holds great significance for understanding human origins and migration patterns.