Conference on 100th Anniversary of Discovery of 'Ordos Tooth' to kick off in Ordos

A view of the Salawusu Site. [Photo/Publicity Department of Uxin Banner]

The International Conference on the 100th Anniversary of the Discovery of "Ordos Tooth" will be held in Uxin Banner in the city of Ordos in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region in mid-August. 

This was announced at a press conference held on July 12.

The Ordos municipal government, Inner Mongolia Culture and Tourism Department, Inner Mongolia Cultural Relics Bureau, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Minzu University of China, and the Society for Chinese Archaeology will jointly organize the conference.

The four cultural, intellectual property (IP) images of "Ordos Tooth" and their related creative products were unveiled for the first time during the conference. The design inspiration for the IP images mainly comes from the representative "Ordos Tooth" of the Salawusu Site, the Hetao giant deer, and others.

A press conference on the holding of the International Conference on the 100th Anniversary of the Discovery of "Ordos Tooth" is held. [Photo/Publicity Department of Uxin Banner]

Uxin Banner has a long history and culture. In the Paleolithic Age, "Ordos Tooth" thrived here, creating the famous "Ordos Tooth" culture. It is one of the birthplaces of human civilization and one of the regions with the most intact preservation and inheritance of Mongolian primitive ecological culture.

In 1923, French scholar Emile Licent invented the "Ordos Tooth" during his expedition to Shaojiagou Bay in the Salawusu River Basin of Uxin Banner. The fossil collection included a batch of mammal fossils and a deciduous upper left lateral incisor of a 7 to 8-year-old child. The incisor size resembled modern humans, but the crown structure had primitive characteristics. This tooth was named "Ordos Tooth" in the 1940s.

The "Ordos Tooth" refers to late Homo sapiens living in the Salawusu area during the Paleolithic Age. The archaeological protection shed covers an area of 675 square meters and is mainly used to protect and display archaeological stratigraphic profiles and excavation sites.

In 2023, a 100-square-meter excavation license was obtained, and archaeological excavations are underway.