Where is the site of Maba people?

1958, a human skull fossil was found in a crack in the second floor cave in the north of Shitoushan. After bonding, it includes frontal bone, part of parietal bone, right orbit and nasal bone, which was identified by relevant experts as an early human fossil type of homo erectus to Homo sapiens.

The discovery of Maba people is of great help to the study of ancient human activities in this area, as well as the geographical climate and ecological environment at that time, and at the same time provides important physical data for further discussion on human evolution and development.

Twenty kilometers southwest of Shaoguan City, you can see two exquisite and beautiful limestone buttes, one high and the other low, which look like lions, hence the name Lion Rock. There are many caves in the rock, including stalactites, stalagmites and stone pillars. There is water at the bottom all the year round, and the water quality is clear. The grass outside the rock is green and lush, like a splash-ink landscape painting. Maba people site is located in it.

The discovery of Maba man's skull was purely accidental. 1958 One day, when farmers in Maba Township, Qujiang County burned soil phosphate fertilizer near Lion Mountain, they found Maba human skull fossils that had been lying silently in caves and rock crevices for 654.38 million years.

Maba human skull fossil is mainly composed of the skull top, including the frontal bone and part of the parietal bone, and also preserves most of the right orbit and nasal bone, belonging to a middle-aged male individual. The skull of Maba people has changed a lot compared with that of Beijingers who lived 500,000 years ago, but it still retains the characteristics of Beijingers: the front edge of brow bone protrudes forward, the head is low and flat, the forehead leans backward, and the nose and mouth are wide and flat. According to scientific calculation, Maba man is about 6.5438 0.29 million years ago, which is an ancient type between Chinese ape-man and modern man. It belongs to early Homo sapiens and is an important representative of the transformation from Homo erectus to early Homo sapiens.

Maba people who live in Lion Rock eat like animals and make stone tools. There are many fierce beasts around them. Now, among the animal fossils, giant panda, tiger, saber-toothed elephant, chicken elephant, wild boar and china rhino have been found. On the unearthed Maba human skull, there are traces of being bitten by wild animals.

Before the discovery of Zhongyan people in Fengkai Cave in 1989, the discovery of Maba people provided quite important information for perfecting the sequence of primitive human development in China, that is, from ape-man (Beijinger), ancients (Maba people) to new human (Neanderthals). It is an important link in people's understanding of the evolution from apes to humans. This discovery was once listed as one of the "Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries" at the beginning of the People's Republic of China. This is one of the reasons why Maba people are more famous than Zhongyan people in sealing the cave.

But the value of Maba people is not limited to this. After restoring the skulls of Maba people, experts were surprised to find that some features of Maba people were very similar to those of Neanderthals in Europe: their eyes were round, while those of many ancient human fossils unearthed in China were rectangular.

Neanderthals, the early homo sapiens who appeared in Europe. After Homo erectus walked out of Africa, Heidelberg people evolved in Europe about 600,000 years ago, and Heidelberg people evolved Neanderthals about 300,000 years ago. Except for some primitive features, Neanderthals are basically equivalent to modern Homo sapiens. They ruled Europe for 60,000 years, but suddenly disappeared 40,000 years ago. Their disappearance is a great mystery of ancient human archaeology in the world. The Neanderthal gene possessed by Maba people makes this mystery even more confusing.

China is one of the countries with the largest number of ancient human fossils found in the world. In the study of human origin, the age limit has been pushed to 2 million years ago, and earlier ancient ape fossils have been discovered continuously. Therefore, some scholars have suggested that this land in East Asia is another important origin area of human beings. This is undoubtedly a challenge to the traditional theory that human beings originated in Africa.

Maba people, the mysterious life story fascinates the world.

196 1 was announced as a cultural relics protection unit in Guangdong province.

Qujiang district Museum in Shaoguan Maba People Museum is located in Maba People Site Scenic Area, 3 kilometers southwest of Maba Town, qujiang district, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, adjacent to Shi Xia Site and Maba People Site, national key cultural relics protection units. It is a ruins museum named after the famous early human fossil "Mabalun".

Founded in 1978, it undertakes the protection, management, collection, research and exhibition of qujiang district cultural relics in Shaoguan City, and was listed as a patriotic education base in Guangdong Province in 2000.

The existing building was built in 1988, covering an area of12,000 square meters, with a building area of 3,300 square meters, including an exhibition area of 2,400 square meters and a warehouse area of 600 square meters.

The exhibition mainly includes: Maba Man, Shi Xia Site, Fine Ancient Ceramics, Party and State Leaders, Provincial and Ministerial Leaders Visiting Qujiang, Zhang Jiuling Memorial Hall, etc. The cultural relics in the collection include fossils, stone tools, ceramics, bronzes, ironware, jade articles, calligraphy and painting, revolutionary cultural relics, ***444 1 piece, of which1piece is a first-class cultural relic, 38 pieces are a second-class cultural relic and 32 pieces are a third-class cultural relic.

Since 2009, it has been fully open to the public free of charge, with an average annual audience of nearly 65,438+million. As a patriotic education base in provinces and cities, it has played an important role in the construction of spiritual civilization and the strategic window of rejuvenating the country through science and technology.

Shiziyan is located in the southwest of Qujiang County 1.5km away from Shaoguan City 18km away. It is a famous ancient Maba and Shi Xia cultural site. Lion Rock consists of two exquisite and beautiful limestone buttes, one high and the other low. From the north, it looks like a sleeping lion; from the south, it dances like a lion, hence its name. There are various stalactites, stalagmites and stone pillars criss-crossing caves in the rock.

The local "Maba people" site and "Shi Xia culture" are famous at home and abroad. Maba man is an ancient type between Chinese ape-man and modern man. Archaeologists and artists restored the Maba people's living group 6.5438+0.2 million years ago in Yin Yan, and recreated the Maba couple's living group 4,000 to 5,000 years ago in Guihuayan. There are many amusement facilities outside the cave, including the antique "wild roast cave".

Maba Lion Rock in Qujiang consists of Shitou Mountain and Shiwei Mountain, where the Maba human skull of/kloc-0.29 million years ago was unearthed, which is the birthplace of Shi Xia culture. It is also one of the cradles of the Chinese nation. /kloc-More than 0/000 years ago, Huineng, the sixth ancestor, learned from Hongren, the fifth ancestor that he was going to Nanhua Temple, and once lived in seclusion on this rock to participate in meditation. According to Cao Xi Tongzhi, "there are huge stones in the west of the temple, dozens of feet high, including rocks, and the county Huineng Division tries to live in seclusion here." Later, in order to commemorate the wisdom of the Six Ancestors, a Buddhist temple was built in the cave where the Six Ancestors lived in seclusion in Lion Mountain, which enshrined the statue of the Six Ancestors. Then the incense continued for many years and gradually became one of the 24 famous sights in ancient times.

The main cave of Zhao Yin Temple plans to build a palace. Plastic eighteen arhats along the hole, the next hole is Guanyin Hall, and the next hole is "eighteen layers of hell". Up to now, shangyan level, daxiong hall and the statue of six ancestors have been built. The building area is 100 square meter. In addition, it is planned to build a sutra depository, a living room, a wing, a warehouse and a kitchen, with a construction area of 480 square meters and a land area of about two acres.

Zhang Jiuling Memorial Hall, located in the scenic spot of Maba Man Site in qujiang district, Shaoguan City, is the only Zhang Jiuling Memorial Hall in Shaoguan.

The museum was built in 1988 to commemorate the anniversary of Zhang Jiuling's birthday 13 10. There is a genealogy of Zhang Jiuling in the museum, and there is a calligraphy and photography exhibition in memory of Zhang Jiuling. There is a sculpture of Zhang Jiuling in front of the door.

Shi Xia site contains archaeological cultural accumulation in four different periods. The first layer is the Neolithic cultural layer about 6000 years ago. The second layer is the late Neolithic culture layer from 5000 to 4000 years ago, named "Shi Xia culture"; The third layer is the early bronze culture layer from 3800 to 3 100 years ago; The fourth layer is the late bronze culture layer, which is equivalent to the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period in the Central Plains. Pillar caves, ash pits, pottery kilns and other relics were found in the site, and tombs were cleared 136.

The discovery and excavation of Shi Xia site is a major breakthrough in Guangdong's archaeological work, which fills the gap of ancient culture before Qin and Han Dynasties, and provides rich physical materials for exploring the relationship with the cultures of neighboring provinces and southeast coastal areas, which is of great archaeological and historical significance.

Maba Town: This town is the seat of Qujiang County, which is 15km away from Shaoguan City Center. Land area 189 square kilometers, including cultivated land area 1853 hectares and forestry land area of 9003 hectares; In 2002, the total population was 98,000, of which 32,000 were agricultural; There are 17 village committees, 7 neighborhood committees and 234 natural villages. The transportation in the territory is developed, and the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, National Highway 106 and Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway (Shaoguan South Exit is located in the territory) run through the town. The water transportation is smooth, and there are more than 10 in Beijiang Freight Terminal. Mobile phones and other communication networks cover the whole town; situation