Archaeologists have discovered what is believed to be China's largest stone tool processing workshop of the Neolithic Age in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China.

The workshop with an area of 1,200 square meters was spotted at the Beidaling Ruins, dating back about 7,000 years ago, in the Du'an Autonomous County of Yao ethnicity, said Lin Qiang, a deputy researcher fellow with autonomous regional cultural heritage research team.

Tens of thousands of stone tools and instruments such as stones in shape of hammers and chopping blocks, whetstone and semi-finished stoneware were unearthed from the site of the workshop.

Lin Qiang said, judging from the pile-up of the stoneware, the workshop site could have been used for approximately 100 years before it was abandoned.

Apart from its large size, acknowledged Lin, this ancient workshop has also left behind doubts and suspicions: where had these stone tools had gone to and why ancestors discarded this workshop?

But, he noted, what amazes archaeologists is that they excavated more than 20 tombs belonging to the Neolithic Age, the period from the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1100 BC) to the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC) and the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) respectively.

It is rare for tombs of different historical periods to be found at the same site, archeologists said, adding that the discovery of ancient tombs would provide evidence for the study of ancient cultural progress in the area.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2005)