A working team from the Archaeological Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in co-operation with the Administrative Committee of Cultural Relics of the local government, between 1990 and 199l unearthed an ancient bronze arrow, a large amount of stone ware and pottery at Qukong, a small village on the northern outskirts of Lhasa. The findings provide important material for the study of prehistoric culture in Tibet.

Qukong is located on the outer edge of the Lhasa River Valley, 3,680-3,690 metres above sea level, making it the highest ancient cultural site so far discovered in the country. A number of tombs and pits have been found in the area of about one square kilometre so far excavated. Inside them are stone coffins and dead buried with their limbs flexed. Unearthed from the tombs were more than 10,000 cultural relics and a great number of animal bones.Chipped stone tools constituted the bulk of the relics found and there were also some finely rubbed stone tools and jade ware. Among the rubbed stone tools were knives, ben (adze), arrows and comb-shaped objects. The actual use of the last remains a mystery. The unearthed bone objects include zhui (awl), needles and arrows. One of the bone needles has a rarely seen eye in its head. Among the unearthed decorative objects are mainly bone hairpins, pottery and stone earrings.

Most significant of the finds is a bronze arrow unearthed at the lower layer of the remains. Carbon 14 testing shows that it can be dated back to 3,700 years ago. The bronze arrow is flat in shape, similar to primitive bone arrows. Scientists from the Metallurgical History Research Section of the Beijing University of Science and Technology believe, after detailed testing, that the arrow was made of typical man-made bronze.

The discovery of this bronze arrow is of great archaeological significance as it is contemporary with the culture of the Xia Dynasty (21 century-16th century BC) and the early Shang (16th century-1066 BC) in central China. Its existence indicates that bronze metallurgy had reached an advanced stage in Tibet. The alloy technology displayed in the arrow shows there was already an advanced knowledge of metallurgy. The shape of the bronze arrow is primitive and similar jade arrows were also found in the cultural site, proving that it was a local product. From this evidence it can be concluded that people in the Tibetan Plateau had already entered the Bronze Age some time around 2000 BC.

Findings at the cultural site also indicate that the Qukong people had a considerable scale of agriculture, a fact proved by the large number of stone mills unearthed. This reverses the traditional belief that Tibetan agricultural civilization came very late.

The cultural features of the Qukong cultural site are quite different from the Karub Culture found at Qamdo. It is a new kind of culture. Those involved in its study are considering naming it the Qukong Culture.

(This article appears on page 49, No. 12, 1992)