Ashan Site in Baotou [Photo/Baotou news network]

Stone spinning wheel at Ashan Site [Photo/Baotou news network]

One day in June 1979, a farmer walked into the newly-established Baotou Cultural Relics Management Office with a stone tool he found on Daqing Mountain. In this way, the Ashan Site in Baotou, which originated in the Neolithic Age, saw light again after 6,000 years.

Of the more than 10 Neolithic sites found in Baotou, Ashan Site has the largest archaeological excavation area.

A large number of pits, walls, house sites, tombs and other relics have been cleared from Ashan Site, accompanied by abundant stone, bone and pottery relics, which are of great value to the study of culture, social morphology and cultural ties to adjacent areas in the Neolithic Age in North China.

On May 25, 2006, Ashan Site was announced by the State Council of the People's Republic of China as being among the sixth group of national key cultural relics protection sites.

Zhang Gui, the city's cultural and historical expert, commented in his book that "Ashan Site's finely-polished stone tools, colorful pottery and exquisite bone ornaments all show the wisdom and artistic genius of Baotou ancestors."