Zhaoyuan County is a major cultural relics county in Heilongjiang Province, with a total of 130 cultural relics sites of various types, including 2 national key cultural relics protection units, 11 provincial cultural relics protection units, 31 city and county level cultural relics protection units, and 86 general immovable cultural relics. In recent years, Zhaoyuan County has continuously increased the protection and transmission of cultural relics and sites, and has erected cultural relics protection landmarks for 44 cultural relics protection units at or above the county level in the county.
On October 13, the Zhaoyuan County Cultural Relics Administration Office and the Zhaoyuan County Museum erected a landmark monument for the discovery of mammoths and woolly rhinoceros fossils in Sanzhan Town. Zhang Zhen, director of the Zhaoyuan County Museum, said that Sanzhan Town is an important discovery site of paleontological fossils, and the two mammoths and woolly rhinoceros fossil skeletons unearthed here are large and have a high integrity rate, which is of great significance for studying the Quaternary Pleistocene geology, climate, environmental changes, animal and plant evolution in the Songnen Plain. Erecting a landmark monument for the discovery of mammoth and woolly rhinoceros fossils is an important measure to strengthen the research, protection and utilization of paleontological fossils, enhance the public's awareness of cultural relics protection, and promote the integration and development of culture and tourism.
According to reports, the fossil excavation site of mammoth and woolly rhinoceros is located in the bunker 200 meters north of Sanzhan Town Middle School in Zhaoyuan County, with an area of 2500 square meters. These two fossils were discovered in 1973-1974 when the local people's agricultural science Dazhai was digging sand and changing soil, and were excavated by three experts, including Yang Dashan and Wei Zhengyi, sent by the Heilongjiang Provincial Museum. After identification, the excavated fossils are mammoth and woolly rhinoceros skeleton fossils, which belong to large herbivores in the late Quaternary Pleistocene, and their living ages are 21200 ±600 years ago.
Mammoth fossils were unearthed in March 1973, the skeleton integrity rate reached 80%, after its frame was formed, the shoulder height was 3.33 meters, the body length was 5.45 meters, and the incisors were 2.05 meters long, which was the first time that the mammoth skeleton fossil with the highest integrity rate was unearthed in China. In order to commemorate its excavation and discovery, experts named it "Zhaoyuan Three Stations Songhua River Mammoth".
The fossil of the woolly rhinoceros was excavated in April 1974, about 100 meters south of the mammoth, the skeleton integrity rate is 75%, after the rack is formed, the shoulder height is 2.05 meters, the body length is 3.82 meters, which is the largest fossil of its kind unearthed in the province. One place and two treasures, both have become the treasures of the provincial museum.
The two large paleontological fossils unearthed in Sanzhan Town have caused a sensation in the world archaeological community and have received widespread attention from archaeologists, and the Songhua River mammoth has been invited to many countries in the world for many times. In 1982, Professor Hu Changkang of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences accompanied three archaeologists from the Smithsonian Museum to the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros fossils in Sanzhan Town for field scientific investigation, giving Sanzhan Town the reputation of "the hometown of ancient fossils".
The erection of the landmark monument for the protection of cultural relics in the site of the discovery of mammoths and woolly rhinoceros fossils has added an important cultural landmark to Sanzhan Town, further highlighting the profound and unique cultural charm of Sanzhan Town. At the site of the monument, Zhang Chengzhong, chairman of the People's Congress of Sanzhan Town, said that in the future, Sanzhan Town will pay more attention to the protection of cultural relics, and on the basis of in-depth development of history and culture, call out the brand of 'Ancient Fossil Town', build Sanzhan Town into a famous cultural town in the east of Zhaoyuan, transform the advantages of cultural resources into advantages of economic development, attract merchants, attract tourists, and promote the healthy and rapid development of the town's economic and social undertakings.
The erection of the landmark monument for the protection of the mammoth and the fossil found of the woolly rhinoceros has added an important cultural landmark to sanzhan town.
Reporter Magnolia Wen/Photo
![Frozen for tens of thousands of years, the woolly rhinoceros has seen the light of day! The body was almost intact, with the last meal left in the abdomen[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)