A stone artifact unearthed at the Baima Dangang site in Yongkang. [Photo/WeChat account: yongkangren168]

The Yongkang Cultural Heritage Protection Center recently uncovered a significant Paleolithic site in Zhangdian village, Yongkang, a county-level city in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, marking the first of its kind in the city and representing a breakthrough in the area's archaeological timeline.

The Baima Dangang site has been dated to approximately 200,000 to 500,000 years ago. This finding fills a critical gap in the Paleolithic sequence of Jinhua and underscores its substantial protective value.

In Zhejiang, south of the Qiantang River, the only other known Paleolithic site is Jiande Wugui Cave, which dates to 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. The Yongkang site predates this by at least 100,000 years, offering new insights into early human activity in the region.