When it comes to Guilin, the first thing that have in mind is the city's stunningly karst landscape. Rarely do people think about its history. Actually, Guilin history can be traced back to at least 10,000 years ago. Then, how human life is like? We can get the answer at the prehostoric site of Guilin Zengpiyan Cave. 

Introduction of Zengpiyan Cave

The Zengpiyan Cave, located in the southwest of Guilin city, is a footcave of the isolated hill in the peakforest plain. This cave, discovered in 1965, has an area of 220 square meters. The excavations have been done three times. There found were 30 human corpses; 110 kinds of mammals, birds, fishes and reptiles; 1,000 pieces of polished and pierced stones and boneware; over 10,000 pieces of pottery; and numerous snail shells. The archeology site at Zengpiyan records the life and cultural creations of prehistoric people in the New Stone Age about 9,000 years ago.

How does Zhengpiyan Cave people live

The prehistoric humans usually chose caves facing the sun, sheltered from the wind and with rivers nearby. The Zengpiyan Cave faces southwest, with nearby woods for hunting, lakes for fishing and plains for collecting wild vegetables. These cave dwellers mostly subsisted on plant roots similar to today's potatoes and taros, as well as snails. Surprisingly, cooking shellfish may be a stimulus for the invention of pottery making in South China.

How Zhengpiyan Cave people look like

The Zengpiyan Cave men had an average height of 1.65 meters, and women were about 1.56 meters tall. According to the well-preserved skulls excavated from the cave, archaeologists restored the head image of the prehistoric people in Guilin.