Tangshan Caves of Ancient Ape

In the northern slope of the Tangshan mount, several vast and connected karst cave groups were discovered, among which the Leigong (God of Thunder) Cave and the Hulu (Gourd) Cave are open to tourist at present.

On March 13, 1993, a male and a female skull of Nanjing Man were discovered in Tangshan Cave near Nanjing, and they have been named Nanjing Man (Homo erectus nankinensis) a subspecies of Homo erectus found in China, and dated to be about 300,000 to 620,000 years old. The discovery of the Nanjing Man traces the human history in Nanjing area further back to about 200000 years ago and it proves that the Yangtze River valley is one of the birthplaces of the Chinese Civilization. The skull is now preserved in Nanjing Museum and is under in-depth research by authoritative scientists in the field. 

In the Hulu (Gourd) Cave, fossils of dozens of mammal species which had been alive in middle Pleistocene 150 million years before present were founded as well. The discovery of the Nanjing Man site is another significant breakthrough in archeological excavation, after the dicoveries of Yuanmou Man (Homo erectus yuanmouensis) near Danawu Village in Yuanmou County, Lantian Man (Homo erectus lantianensis) in Lantian county, Peking Man (Homo erectus pekinensis) at Zhoukoudian (Chou K'ou-tien) and Fossils of Homo erectus excavated from Longtandong cave on the side of Wanjiashan mountain in Hexian. As early as in 1995, the caves and adjacent area were developed into tourist attractions and open to tourists. Visitors can enjoy the carved stone art which is harmonized with mountain and environment, and the architecture replicas which reflect the life of primitive Nanjing Man. The spacious karst cave present natural stalactite with picturesque formations, and there is the well preserved “Archeological Site of the Nanjing Man” in the cave.