水连东

Shui Lian Dong - Shuiliandong - Water Curtain Cave


Useful Information

Location: Village of Beiye in Pingshang, County, Hebei Province.
95 km west of the city of Shijiazhuang.
(38.204772, 113.757990)
Open: No restrictions.
[2021]
Fee: free.
[2021]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst cave
Light: bring torch
Dimension: A=467 m asl.
Guided tours:  
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography: Atsushi Uemine, Takaaki Watanabe, Fagang Wang, Masako Yamane (2021): Lithic production strategy of early upper Paleolithic in Shuilian Cave, North China, Quaternary International. 610. DOI pdf researchgate
Address: Shui Lian Dong.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2009 discovered during the development of the park for tourists.
August 2009 excavations conducted by the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

Description

水连东 (Shui Lian Dong, Waterfall Cave) is one of numerous caves with this name in China. This one is actually not a show cave, it's a scenic spot with a waterfall and a surrounding park. When the site was developed for tourism in 2009 the cave was discovered behind the waterfall. It contained archaeological remains and was excavated in the following years.

The cave is quite young, it formed during the middle Pleistocene as a tufa cave by the deposition of limestone. The surrounding rocks are Precambrian sedimentary rocks which include limestones. They were karstified and the limestone rich spring water deposited five plateaus or terraces in the valley. During the early Late Pleistocene the cave became accessible by upheaval movements.