Liuzhou Bailian Cave Science Museum (4A)

Liuzhou Bailian Cave Science Museum. [Photo/yfq.gov.cn]

Liuzhou Bailian Cave Science Museum, which covers an area of 66,000 square meters, is located 12 kilometers southeast of Liuzhou, near the southern slopes of Baimian Mountain.

It is a cave science museum established around the Bailian Cave site located in Baimian Mountain in the southern suburb of Liuzhou. The cave was named after a white stalactite at the entrance of the cave which resembles a lotus bud.

The museum, proposed by Pei Wenzhong, Chinese anthropologist professor, was the first cave research museum in China. It was built in May 1985, and integrates cave science research, science popularization and tourism. In June 2006, the Bailian Cave site was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

In 1956, Pei led a team to Liuzhou and discovered the Bailian Cave site. After many archaeological excavations, two human tooth fossils, more than 500 stone tools, over 4,000 animal skeleton fossils, two fire pits, and several pottery pieces and bone tools were unearthed from the site. The site contains cultural layers dating from the Upper Paleolithic to the early-mid Neolithic; about 7,000-37,000 years ago.

Aside from the outdoor Bailian Cave site, the museum has an indoor exhibition hall which explores the origins of life, human evolution, and the development of Liuzhou's prehistoric civilization.