Secrets emerge in Northwest China from the mists of time

A newly excavated site has revealed a graveyard containing the largest number of prehistoric tombs found in Northwest China, and a mysterious culture, experts say.

The Xia'eryamakebu Site in Dulan county, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Qinghai province, about 100 kilometers from the well-known Tang Dynasty (618-907) Reshui Graveyard Site, one of China's top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2020, has been identified as the only large-scale Nuomuhong Culture site containing both residential and burial areas ever found, says Du Wei, a researcher with the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

Xia'eryamakebu means "the riverbank where gazelle appear" in Mongolian. The excavation was carried out by the institute and Northwest University in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, between 2021 and 2023. Located in the Qaidam Basin on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the site occupies an area of nearly 250,000 square meters and dates to around 3,500 to 3,000 years ago, contemporaneous with the middle and late periods of the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century-11th century BC). The Hatu River runs through the site and divides it into two halves, north and south of the river respectively.