Kanuo Ruins

A Brief Introduction to Kanuo Ruins

Kanuo Ruins are located in Kanuo Village, 12 kilometers southeast to the Chamdo County. The ruins are at longitude 97°2'east, latitude 31°1' north, with an altitude of 3,100 meters. Kanuo Ruins are the key national cultural relics protection unit. Two rivers, Lantsang River and Kanuo River, dissect the place into terraces of different elevation. Located at the forth terrace at the west bank of the Lantsang River, the ruins are close to Kanuo river to the south, Zilongla Mountain to the north, and Kanuo village to the west. Kanuo Ruins is no doubt a perfect site for exploring the early history of Tibet in your Tibet tour.

Origin of Kanuo Ruins' Name

Kanuo Ruins was named after the village Kanuo, which refers to "castle" in Tibetan language. As the legend goes, in Yuan Dynasty, Tibetans built castles to resist the Yuan General Dorda. Though they were defeated and the castles were destroyed, the name Kanuo continued to be used as the village name.

Discovery and Unearth of Kanuo Ruins

Discovered in 1977, the Kanuo Ruins were first excavated from May to August, 1978. An area of 230 square meters was unearthed. The remains found were 26 ruins of houses, together with many culture relics, mainly including stone tools, such as shovels, hoes, cutters, tossing tools, cutting and smashing tools, striking and smashing tools, scraping tools, grinding tools, axes, stone digging tools. Adornments such as loops, beads and bracelets as well as fictile, corns and animal bones were also found. In the year of 1979, Kanuo Ruins were secondly excavated and an area of 1,570 square meters was unearthed. A total area of 1,800 square meters was unearthed in the two excavation work. The primitive area of the Kanuo Ruins covers an area of about 10,000 square meters. Apart from the area destroyed in the early times, the majority of Kanuo Ruins has been unearthed.

Study of Kanuo Ruins

In the past two excavations, there are altogether 28 relics of houses, 7,968 stone tools, 366 bone tools and more than 20,000 pottery, 50 ornaments, grains and animals' bones and so on.

Archeologists' work shows that the Kanuo Ruins constitute New Stone Age sites, which date back 4000 to 5000 years. The ruins reveal that the ancient people were engaged in farming and livestock breeding, and they used rough tools as early as more than 4000 years ago. The primitive culture reflected by Kanuo Ruins is rich in local colors.

Kanuo culture was not an isolated culture on the Tibet Plateau. Instead, it has, more or less, some connections with the primitive culture in the areas of the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. Some stone tools found in Kanuo Ruins are also found in the Yellow River areas. The grains unearthed in Kanuo Ruins belong to the traditional crops in Yellow River areas which are seldom planted in southern China. Therefore, the Kanuo Ruins reflect that Kanuo ancestors had already had communications with people in other areas and cultures.

Importance of Kanuo Ruins

The whole Kanuo Ruins, except the east part (damaged at an earlier time), have been excavated. The excavation of Kanuo Ruins has epoch-making meanings for the study of primitive Tibetan cultures and provided enough evidences for the origin of the Tibetans and is of great importance to research the early history of Tibet and the Sino-Tibet relationship.