The largest archaeological project in Sichuan Province—the archaeological excavation in the Wudongde Hydropower Station is nearly completed. On this site, the earliest stone coffin tombs in Sichuan and the human civilization existing 4,000 years ago were found, which fills the gap of prehistoric archaeology in the middle and lower reaches of the Jinsha River, according to the archaeological training session held in Xichang, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

　　The Wudongde Hydropower Station is situated in Huili County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture. In 2017, to coordinate the construction of the hydropower station, the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, together with the museum in Liangshan and the cultural relics management institute in Huili started archaeological excavations at the site which covers an area of 134,800 square meters. In the lower reaches of the Chenghe River basin, archaeologists found more than 600 stone coffin tombs dating from 4,500 to 4,000 years ago in the late Neolithic Age. Archaeologists discovered a peculiar burial custom in these stone coffin tombs. In some tombs, the head was separated from the body and placed on the chest. And arrowheads were found on more than 10 skeletons. The discovery of these stone coffin tombs can help us determine a fact that such stone coffin tomb appeared 1,000 years earlier than previously believed, according to the head from the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute

　　On the Monkey Cave Site, the ruins of human civilization in the Neolithic Age were found, where many remains such as house sites, ash pits and pottery and stone tools were unearthed, which appeared 5,000 to 4,000 years ago. 

　　The fact that human settlement sites dating back more than 4,000 years were found in the Jinsha River basin adds evidence for the theory of Chinese civilization blending--In the late Neolithic Period, a tribe of people from the Yellow River basin far away climbed over mountains to live and multiply on this land. Many experts said the discovery of the early remains proves that this land was an early central settlement site as early as 4,000 years ago. These remains provide valuable proofs for the prehistoric cultural genealogy in the middle and lower reaches of Jinsha River and even for the cultural genealogy in the Pre-Qin Period in Sichuan.