This is a photo of the archaeological excavation area of the Longgupo Site taken by a drone in Miaoyu Town, Wushan County, Chongqing Municipality. (Photographed by Tang Yi/ Xinhua)

On August 16, staff conducting survey work at the Longgupo Site located in Miaoyu Town, Wushan County, Chongqing Municipality. (Photographed by Tang Yi/ Xinhua)

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- On August 16, the Longgupo Site in Wushan County, Chongqing Municipality launched another active excavation more than ten years later. As the prehistoric cultural site first discovered in East Asia so far, the excavation of the Longgupo Site at the current stage will provide more materials for revealing the process of human development and demonstrating the millions of years of human history in the Three Gorges region, which is of great academic significance.

The Longgupo Site, located in Longgupo, Miaoyu Town, Wushan County, about 57 kilometers away from the downtown of Wushan County, is an important heritage site under state protection. From 1984 to 2006, the Longgupo Site underwent three stages of systematic excavation, and the left jawbone fossil of the "Wushan Man" unearthed has become one of the "treasures” of China Three Gorges Museum of Chongqing. From 2011 to 2012, China Three Gorges Museum of Chongqing hosted the fourth stage excavation at the Longgupo Site. In February this year, the active excavation (the fifth stage) of "the Longgupo Site in Wushan County, Chongqing Municipality" jointly declared by China Three Gorges Museum of Chongqing, Wuhan University, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and Wushan County Cultural Heritage Administration was approved by the National Cultural Heritage Administration. The project covers an area for excavation of 30 square meters, and the excavation will last from August to November this year.

Huang Wanbo, a representative of the expert group in charge of this archaeological excavation and researcher from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, said that fruitful results have been achieved in the previous four stages of excavation at Longgupo Site, with 116 mammal fossils and more than 1,000 stone tools discovered. (Translated by Hu Chuanmin, Fathom Language Limited)