Karuo Archaeological Site 卡若遗址

About Karuo Archaeological Site

Excavations revealed house foundations, stone and bone tools, pottery and traces of millet cultivation and pig keeping. The changing house forms—from partly sunken structures to stone-walled buildings—make the site especially useful for understanding early settled life on the plateau. Its famous double-bodied pottery vessel is held by the Tibet Museum in Lhasa, so distinguish the protected settlement landscape here from the original objects displayed elsewhere.

Construction work at a cement factory revealed stone axes, adzes and pottery in 1977, leading to excavations in 1978-1979. The settlement covers about 10,000 square metres at an elevation of about 3,100 metres. Excavated objects date to 4,000-5,000 years ago. Residents abandoned the settlement around 1750 BC, possibly because cooling temperatures made local millet cultivation increasingly difficult.

Alongside the domestic remains are roads, walls, circular stone platforms and stone enclosures that may have had religious functions. The tool assemblage combines large chipped stone implements with microliths, polished stone tools and bone objects. Pottery is distinguished by incised geometric decoration. The excavated material indicates connections with cultures in the upper Yellow River (黄河) regions of Gansu and Qinghai, as well as the Yuanmou culture (元谋文化) in Yunnan.

What to look for

• The protected settlement area and its documented sequence of house foundations, wherever the visitor route permits viewing.
• The upper Lancang valley setting that supported the settlement’s farming and hunting economy.

Location & getting there

Getting to Karuo Archaeological Site

Use Karuo village near the former Chamdo cement-plant area as the precise site location, outside central Chamdo.

• Confirm site access with local heritage staff before making the journey; major excavated objects are held in museum collections.