Baishiya Karst Cave

Baishiya Karst Cave
白石崖溶洞
Location in Gansu
Location in Gansu
Location in Gansu
Location in Gansu
Location in Gansu
Baishiya Karst Cave (Gansu)
Location in Gansu
Location in Gansu
Baishiya Karst Cave (China)
LocationXiahe County, Gansu, China
RegionGanjia Basin, Tibetan Plateau
Coordinates35°26′53″N 102°34′17″E / 35.44806°N 102.57139°E / 35.44806; 102.57139
Altitude3,280 m (10,761 ft)[1]
Typekarst cave
Length> 1 km (3,281 ft)
Width20 m (66 ft)
Height10 m (33 ft)
Site notes
Excavation dates2018
ArchaeologistsZhang Dongju, Chen Fahu

Baishiya Karst Cave (Chinese: 白石崖溶洞) is a high-altitude paleoanthropological site and a Tibetan Buddhist sanctuary located on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau in Xiahe County, Gansu, China. This karst cave is the site of the discovery of the earliest hominin fossil found on the Tibetan Plateau, the Xiahe mandible. The mandible, by way of palaeoproteomic analysis, is the first confirmed discovery of a Denisovan fossil outside of Denisova Cave. This fossil discovery shows that archaic hominins were present in a high-altitude, low-oxygen environment by around 160,000 years ago.