嘎仙洞

Gaxian Dong - Gaxian Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Oroqen Autonomous Banner, Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China, 165450. 10 km northwest of Alihe Town, Hailaer, Oroqen Autonomous Banner, Hulunbair League. (50.6285971, 123.6040356)
Open:
Fee:	Adults CNY 20. [2007]
Classification:	tectonic?
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=200 m, W=20 m. GH: L=92 m, W=28 m, H=20 m. P: W=19 m, H=12 m.
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:	Gu Deqing, Wen Yuan (1999): Gaxian Cave, Ruins of the Stone House Of the Toba Chiona Pictorial, 1999, Issue 1, p 47. Scott Pearce (2023): The Emperor Taiwu and the Creation of History, In: Northern Wei (386-534): A New Form of Empire in East Asia, Oxford University Press, Chapter 1, pp 3-11. DOI pdf
Address:	Gaxian Dong, Oroqen Autonomous Banner, Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China, 165450, Tel: +86-470-562-2668.
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History

1980	first archaeological research by Prof. Mi Wenping.

Description

嘎仙洞 (Gāxiāndòng, Gaxian Cave) is located at the eastern foot of the Great Hinggan Mountains in the Da Xing'an Range. The southwest facing entrance is easily accessible from a small fluvial plain ten meters below. The portal is shaped like a triangle 12 m high and 19 m wide. Located in a 100-metre-high granite peak the huge chamber is 92 m long from south to north and 28 m wide, which sums to about 2,000 m². The ceiling is up to 22 m high. In the east wall is a side branch, starting 11 m above ground, which is 5 m wide and 10 m deep.

The cave is almost empty, but with a comfortable almost flat dirt floor, which makes it a good shelter and meeting place. In the middle of the chamber lies an irregular natural stone plate, about 3.5 m by 3 m, resembling a rock table. It is supported by a half-metre high stone.

The cave has been occupied since Palaeolithic times. The first exploration was undertaken by Prof. Mi Wenping, a prominent specialist on Manchurian archaeology and history. He discovered an engraving at the west wall showing 19 lines and 201 characters, in a style typical for the Northern Wei empire (386-581). It was a passage from the Wei Shu, the dynastic history, telling about a mission sent by the Wei emperor to visit an ancestral temple in his tribal homeland, probably a reference that Gaxian Cave may have been this temple. It also contains a date, which equivalents the year 443. There is also an interpretation that this is the result of a political manipulation by Emperor Taiwu.

To maintain the loyalty of his dynasty’s original followers, the men of Inner Asian origin who filled the ranks of his army, Emperor Taiwu (423–452), the “Wolf Lord,” sent an expedition to this cave. He used the discovery of a “stone shrine” in a cave in the wilds of the upper Khingan Mountains. He sent a mission there to make sacrifices to his forefathers and foremothers, and so he gave the message that they had shared origins far to the north. Most likely the whole story was fabricated.
Scott Pearce (2023): The Emperor Taiwu and the Creation of History, In: Northern Wei (386-534): A New Form of Empire in East Asia, Oxford University Press, Chapter 1, pp 3-11. DOI

Until now only very little archaeological research has been made. There has been one excavation of a 1 m x 20 m trench by Prof. Mi and his team, which equals about 2% of the total floor area. But the results are impressive, a number of man-made objects which are today exhibited at the museum in Hailar, late Palaeolithic stone tools, Neolithic vessels and bone artifacts. There have been numerous palaeontolic remains, especially bones of wild mammals. Medieval and modern time artifacts have been discovered too.

The cave is an archaeological site and was declared a Major National Historical and Cultural Site of Inner Mongolia. It is referred to as 嘎仙洞遗址 (Gaxian Cave Historic Site). There is a museum at the site named 拓跋鲜卑历史博物馆 (Tùo bá xiānbēi lìshǐ bówùguǎn, Tuoba Xianbei History Museum) which is dedicated to the discoveries from the cave. It explains how the Xianbei, the nomadic people who inhabited the area some 3000 years ago, settled the plains in three separate waves of migration. They established the foundations for the Northern Wei dynasty.

Gaxian Cave is extraordinary, as no other comparable caves exist in the vicinity. The geology is not suitable for the formation of caves. Concerning the sources we have, we guess it is a tectonic cave, but we do not really know.