Chinese archaeologists have unearthed an intact skeleton at a Neolithic site
in the city of Dongguan in South China's Guangdong Province.
Experts say the 5,000-year-old skeleton, positioned face-up with its limbs
extended, was a male inhabitant of the Pearl River delta in the central-southern
part of Guangdong.
Archaeologists at Guangdong Provincial Cultural Heritage and Archaeological
Research Institute and the Dongguan City Museum have excavated large quantities
of pottery and stone, bone and mussel tools at the Haogang neolithic site in the
Nancheng District of Dongguan, since excavations began on April 15.
The Haogang site was discovered by archaeologists in the 1980s.
The Haogang new stone age site has residential housing, designated sites for
public activities, areas for garbage disposal and a designated burial area,
indicating that human beings lived in the Pearl River delta more than 5,000
years ago, said Feng Mengqin, an expert with the Guangdong Provincial Cultural
Heritage and Archaeological Research Institute and head of the excavation team.
Judging from the materials unearthed so far, the Haogang site was the
earliest site on the Pearl River delta which was inhabited by human beings,
according to Feng.
Also excavated at the site were numerous oyster shells, fish bones and
fishing tools, which indicate that the ancient inhabitants lived from fishing
instead of farming, according to experts.
Local people say that piles of shells were still a common sight in the
Haogang area in the 1980s.
Feng Mengqin says the discoveries of the Haogang site and of the skeleton are
crucial to the study of the origins of the culture of the Lingnan area, located
south of the Five Ridges - Dayu, Qitian, Dupang, Mengzhu and Yuecheng - that
comprise Guangdong Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South
China.
The discovery also provides evidence for the study of the relationship
between ancient civilizations in the Pacific Ocean area.
