Zaoshi reservoir Shimen immigration bureau

A few miles away from the water area of Zaoshi Reservoir Dam, a three-layer karst cave was born on a steep limestone wall on the north bank of Qinshui in the northwest corner of Fengbaoling in Zaoshi Town, which is 8 meters higher than Qinshui River. That is, this 8-meter cave, which is neither high nor low, has made the most valuable ancient human cave site in Liyang Plain. In 2007, this cave with great archaeological value was unfortunately submerged by artificial water. This cave is a prehistoric human cave site named by experts-Yan 'er Cave.

Ancient human civilization did not develop in Dapingba at first, but in caves and valleys on both sides of the river, in the transitional zone before the plain entered the mountainous area. Fengyang Plain is a part of Dongting Lake Plain, which is connected with Jianghan Plain in a fan-shaped belt. Liyang Plain starts from the northwest bank of Dongting Lake in the east and reaches Shimen in the west, passing through Shimen, Linli, Lixian and Tianjin. It is about 100 km long from east to west and about 50 km long from north to south. Compared with the whole Dongting Lake Plain and Jianghan Plain, Fengyang Plain is only a Xiaoping area near the mountainous area. Archaeologists have long set their sights on this plain and its surrounding hills and mountains, and discovered and excavated a number of caves and wilderness sites related to human life. For example, Chengtoushan site in Li county, Bashi plot site, Qingshan Pingdong site in Linli county, East China plot site, etc.

Compared with Liyang Plain, Shimen Lishui Valley and Qinshui Valley are the transition zones from plain to mountain. Shimen belongs to the remnant vein of Wuling Mountain and is connected with Liyang Plain in the east. Water flows through Shimen from northwest to southeast, and Lishui flows into Dongting Lake from west to east through Shimen, Linli, Lixian and Tianjin. Archaeologists have long turned their attention to the Lishui River Valley and Qinshui River Valley. Yan 'er Cave in Xishuiyu, Shimen lies in the transition zone from the plain at the western end of Liyang Plain to the mountain. 1982 Archaeologists climbed the Qinshui rock wall and drilled into Yan 'er Cave to find and collect rhinoceros fossils and oriental stegodon tooth fossils. During the cultural relics investigation in Hunan Province from 65438 to 0986, a group of experts and scholars climbed into the cave again and collected many animal fossils, which were reported to Hunan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. After on-the-spot investigation by experts, it is determined that Yan 'er Cave in Shimen is an important cave site with the hope of finding human fossils. 1989 65438+ 10 Shimen county people's government announced it as the second batch of cultural relics protection units.

1990, 1992, with the completion of Zaoshi Reservoir, the Yangtze River flood control project, Yuan, director of Hunan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Shimen County Museum jointly conducted a scientific excavation of Yan 'er Cave in Zaoshi Reservoir Area. Yan 'er Cave Site consists of two caves, numbered 1 and Cave 2. Cave 1 is located in the lower part of the north side, and Cave 2 is located in the upper part of the south side. Both caves are developed on the steep wall to the west of Feng Baoling, with a distance of 7 meters. Cave 1, depth 14m, height about 2m, and the entrance is curved. The cave hall is dark and dark. There is a huge collapse breccia at the top of the central cave, with a diameter of about 2 ~ 3 meters. There are abundant animal fossils cemented at the bottom of the breccia. There are mammalian fossils and human cultural accumulation in the east extension direction of the cave hall. The caves are well-defined and rich in animal fossils, most of which belong to typical South China mammals. More than 65,438+000 fossils have been unearthed, such as macaques, porcupines, bamboo rats, tigers, leopards, badgers and oriental saber-toothed elephants. More than 50 stone products, such as kitchen knives, scrapers, stone cores and hammers, as well as bone burning and human-processed bone instruments, were found in the fossil accumulation layer. Particularly important, a human left femur fossil, 1 mandible and three complete teeth were found in Cave 1. The entrance of the second cave is also arc-shaped, with a width of10m, a height of about 2m, a depth of13m and an inner width of 9m. The animal fossils are the same as those in Cave 1, and some stone tools and bone implements have also been found.

"Magic Shimen Wenbo Volume" records that although the excavation area of Yan 'erdong site is small, it provides very important information about ancient human culture. The unearthed human femur is the first ancient human fossil found in Hunan. We call it "Shimen Man" in archaeology. The age of "Shimen people" can be explained by the fossil fauna born in * * * *, probably in the late Late Pleistocene. According to the stratigraphic analysis and comparison of Yan 'er Cave 1 and Cave 2, 1 belongs to the Late Pleistocene, about 2000 ~ 65438+ ten thousand years ago. Cave 2 is a little late, and has entered the late stage of Homo sapiens, 1 ~ 50000 years ago. This is the only site of human fossils in the late Paleolithic period in this province, which fills the gap of human fossils in the Stone Age in Hunan and has a great influence in the archaeological field.

At the end of 2007, Yan 'er Cave, once a village with smoky cooking stoves and the earliest ancient human settlement in Hunan Province, was completely submerged in a piece of Wang Yang. In 2008, Shimen County Tourism Bureau named this Wang Yang water area Zaojiao Lake, which was divided into three scenic spots and made a tourism development plan. Among them, Yangquan Scenic Area develops tourism with the theme of exploring ancient culture, and plans to build cliff stone carvings above Yan 'er Cave to explain the orientation and archaeological value of Yan 'er Cave. An ancient sculpture of Yan 'er Cave was set up on the left side of the northern highway above Yan 'er Cave, and Yan 'er Cave International Hotel and Folk Culture Village were built in front of the reservoir dam ... However, no matter what kind of construction, it could not make up for the submerged Yan 'er Cave site. In the early years, my idea was to hope that the relevant departments would dig tunnels or repair retaining walls to preserve Yan 'er Cave. However, the huge benefits brought by the developer's early storage of water have made this protection plan stillborn. Now, I still stubbornly yearn for the relevant departments to lower the lake, build a retaining wall, save the earliest ancient human settlement in Hunan Province, build a retaining wall, save this direct evidence to fill the gap of human fossils in the Stone Age in Hunan, build a retaining wall, and save this textbook for countless people and generations to read. You know, no restored beauty can resist the endless and profound cultural shock brought by Yan 'erdong site itself. (July 2009)

Mingzhe Tang, 1963 was born in Yangjiuyuan Village, Yanchi Township, Shimen County. Formerly known as Tang Jizhi, university culture. Member of China Folk Writers Association, National Editorial Board of China Minority Dictionary Series Compilation Committee, Member of Hunan Writers Association, Standing Committee of Hunan Down Culture Research Association, Director of CPPCC County Research Office. He was hired as a senior Chinese teacher in middle school, and was awarded the title of "Young and Middle-aged Literary Artist with Virtue and Art" in 2002. The collection of essays "The Secret History of Ancient Towns" won the 9th National Dingling Literature Award. 20 13 and 20 14 were awarded the titles of "Learning Star" and "China Scholar's Home" respectively. He has published monographs 1 1 and more than 20 papers.