Luobi Cave () is a karst cave under the west face of Yin Ridge () located north east of Lizhigou Town (), from

Sanya Sanya (; also spelled Samah) is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan Province in South China. According to the 2020 census, the total population of Sanya was 1,031,396 inhabitants, li ...

City,

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

Province, People's Republic of China.

Features

The entrance to the cave is approximately high and wide. Inside the apex reaches a height of with a floor area of about Two large stalactites hang down from the roof like large pens, hence the cave's name.

History

A number of inscriptions carved into the walls of the cave are believed to date to the

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...

(1271–1368). One of these refers to the precise date of 1283 CE. Luobi Cave is later mentioned in

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

records for Hainan () compiled at the time of the

Zhengde Emperor The Zhengde Emperor (; 26 October 149120 April 1521) was the 11th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1505 to 1521. Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperor's eldest son. Zhu Houzhao took the throne at only 14 with the era name Zh ...

(r. 1505–1525 CE) which note the cave's stalactites and their unending flow of water.

Archaeological finds

Between 1992 and 1993, archaeologists carried out a comprehensive excavation and survey of the Luobi Cave over an area of . They discovered eight fossilised human teeth, stone and bone tools, as well as several hundred fossilised animal bones, more than 70,000 sea shells and evidence of ancient fires. Radiocarbon dating techniques show that the finds are from the late

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

era around 10,000 years ago and represent the earliest evidence of human activity in Hainan as well as the southernmost occurrence of stone tools from this period. Very few fossilised fish bones were discovered at the Luobi site, indicating that the inhabitants of the cave had yet to master the skill of fishing. The few fish they did obtain were probably found in rocky pools along the coast having been swept ashore. Since 2001 the Luobi Cave has been a national protected cultural site.

Folklore

According to legend, anyone coming into contact with water dripping from Luobi Cave's stalactites will become a talented writer whilst a number of large flat rocks scattered across the floor of the cave are said to be inkstones once used by

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

Immortals. The smaller Xianlang Cave () nearby is claimed to have been the home of female immortal who descended from heaven and married a man from the local Li minority.

References

{{Navbox prehistoric caves Caves of Hainan Karst caves Karst formations of China Tourist attractions in Sanya Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Hainan Archaeological sites in China Paleolithic China

Features

History

Archaeological finds

Folklore

See also

References