The archaeological site of Wong Tei Tung in Sham Chung, Hong Kong was discovered by Mr. Wong Fu and Mr. Steven Ng in spring 2003. Funded by the Hong Kong SAR Government, the Hong Kong Archaeological Society and the Lingnan Research Centre of Archaeology, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, China jointly conducted a trial excavation at the site. Field scanning, hand augering and test pitting were conducted from late November 2004 to early January 2005.

The site is situated on the northern shore of the Sai Kung Peninsular in the east of Hong Kong. To the east of it is a hill, namely, Wong Tei Tung, which is 154 meters in height. To the west of it is a bay called Three Fathom Cove, which present depth is less than 10 meters below sea level. A substantial number of lithic artifacts are exposed on the surface of the pebble beach and the western hillside facing the sea. The lithics are scattered along the beach in a range of 300 meters and on the hillside up to a height of 15 meters. Besides, plenty of lithics are seen underwater. It suggests that the site might have been occupied before the sea reached its present level at 6,000 years bp.

The bed rocks of the site comprises mudstone and siltstone as well as bedrock by observation of the soil profile of the test pits and auger holes. The bedrock is overlain by dark grey or black silicon tuff. An outcrop of silicon tuff stands 40 to 50 meters high above sea level on the western slope. It may be a good source of raw material for lithic manufacturing. Thin section examinations of lithic samples collected from the site were conducted by Zhongshan University and the results indicate that they were made of silicon tuff.

The glacial-interglacial cycles have caused major fluctuations of world sea level and shifts in world climatic zones. Such changes, in turn, have made important consequences to the region, particularly the offshore areas. Around 75,000 years bp, a glacial cycle was at its maximum when the sea level fell to the point about 77 meters below the present level. The last stage of glaciation in the Pleistocene commenced about 25,000 years bp. It reached a maximum between 18,000 years bp and 17,000 years bp when the sea level dropped to a lowest point at about -120 to -130 meters. The present area of Three Fathoms Cove was then a river valley, as well as other coastal areas nearby. The site was suggested situated on a former river terrace between 40 and 100 meters wide, facing a tributary stream running into the Tolo Harbour and the Mirs Bay in northeastern Hong Kong. During this period, it was possibly a place of settlement for ancient people. According to the marine chart, an underwater terrace lies less than 5 meters below present sea level in front of the site. It suggests that ancient people might have occupied the terrace before the sea reached its present level 6,000 years bp. In other words, neither the present pebble beach nor the former river terrace might have provided an ideal habitat for ancient people.

A stratum rich in flakes, cores and lithics is seen on a slope by a concrete path alongside the pebble beach. Thus, it is likely that the lithics exposed on the beach fell from the slope. A total of five test pits were dug on the beach (T1 and T2, 1m x 1.5m) and the hillside (T3, T4 1m x 2m, 1m x5m and T5, 1m x 1.5m). In addition, three areas (2 areas of 5m x 10m each and an area of 10m x 10m) were enclosed on the beach and the hillside to measure the density of surface artifacts. No pottery associated with either prehistoric or historic lithics was found in the hillside test pits. Lithics were found in all test pits except T5, which was set on a hillside terrace near a stream as we assumed an ancient living area might have been chosen there. In both T3 and T4, there were five strata containing a substantial quantity of chunks, cores, flakes, debitage and lithic tools while L6, being a weathering bedrock, produced no lithics.

Over 2,000 artifacts were found on the pebble beach and in the test pits. By preliminary examination, a total of 156 lithic artifacts are classified into nine categories, i.e., (i) wedge-like lithics (short axes, 57.69%), (ii) scraper (16.02%), (iii) points (8.97%), (iv) hand-axes (bifacial lithics) (5.76%), (v) chopper (5.12%), (vi) projective point-like lithics (1.92%), (vii) awl-like lithics (1.92%), (viii) picks (1.28%) and (ix) burin (1.28%).

Most of the lithics found were made from blanks of thick transverse flakes and thereby are identified as flake tools. The techniques adopted in making the artifacts include bifacial processing, bipolar processing, sophisticated retouching of edges (Mousterian-like technique) and Levalloisian technique. A few cores are identified as prepared cores. We believe further identification of some used flakes by detailed examination are necessary.

In terms of morphology, a few of the lithics bear the traits of Sumatralith core. By the traits of the blades or flake-blades in the Wong Tei Tung assemblage, it is suggested that the stone tools found were made with the lithic technology of the Late Paleolithic Age as well as of the Early Neolithic Age.

Moreover, the finds on the pebble beach and in the test pits include debitage, waste flakes, blades, cores, nodules and chunks from which we can reconstruct an entire process of lithic manufacturing. It hints the possibility that the site may have been an ancient lithic manufacturing base.

By OSL dating, L1, L2 and L3 of T4 on the hillside date from 1,938 years bp, 2,848 years bp and 6,800 years bp respectively. L4 and L5 date from 39,000 years bp and 35,000 years bp respectively. The two sets of dating and strata are correlated with the Fanling Formation in the Holocene and the Chek Lap Kok Formation in the Late Pleistocene respectively of the stratigraphy of Hong Kong.

Based on the lithic technology of the artifacts, their morphology, OSL dating and the related geological formations, a preliminary conclusion can be drawn on the finds that they are artifacts of two different periods, one as early as 40,000 years bp while the other dating from 7,000 years bp.

The Wong Tei Tung assemblage shows a few traits of the lithics of Southeast Asia, especially its morphology, short axes and Sumatralith cores. However, we cannot jump to the conclusion that it originated from the Hoabinhian. A lithic assemblage is the result of the interaction between environmental factors and human adaptation. The particularities shown in the Wong Tei Tung assemblage should be interpreted in this perspective. In this initial stage, it is prudent to take the lithic remains found in the Wong Tei Tung site as an assemblage of "techno-complex", instead of classifying it under any archaeological culture.

The history of Hong Kong as a port, British colony and city is generally well recorded. When it was ceded to Britain in 1841, the island was described, in the famous (and now highly ironic) phrase, as "a rock with hardly a house upon it". The neighboring islands supported a few scattered fishing villages, while Kowloon peninsula and the New Territories to to the north were settled by rice farmers of several large clans.

It was not until the 1920's that scholars begin to examine the pare-British period of Hong Kong's history. Reliable documentary evidence extends back to the early years of the Ch'ing dynasty (late 17th century). Genealogies of the major New Territories clans indicate origins in the Ming, Yuan and possibly Sung periods (10th to 16th centuries). A few tantalizing earlier references exist which may correlate with places in Hong Kong, and describe salt industries and pearl fisheries that may have been practiced here.

Archaeological investigation also began in the 1920's and showed that Hong Kong had a much longer history of human occupation, extending back to the Neolithic. Sites abound on outlying islands and along the coastline of the New Territories. More than one hundred sites of the Neolithic and Bronze Age have been recorded, and many have been systematically surveyed or excavated. The results of this research have been well published in recent decades, and scientific studies of excavated materials have thrown much light on prehistoric life in the area. A large brick chamber tomb of the Han period (220 B.C.-206 A.D.), discovered in 1955 during construction of a public housing estate, marks the beginning of the historical era.

As archaeological work has advanced over the years, the earliest date of human occupation in the Hong Kong region has been pushed far back from the Ch'in-early Han (250-111 B.C.) expansion into South China recorded in historical texts, and from the 1000 B.C. estimate of one pare-war archaeologist. Recent radiocarbon dates from a hilltop site with polished stone tools but without pottery have confirmed that man was present in this area of the South China coast by at least 5000 B.C. There are no caves in the area to preserve even earlier sites, and open sites would now be in the seabed.

In addition to the dramatic extension of Hong Kong's prehistory back several thousands of years, fieldwork in the last two decades suggests that there was a general continuity of occupation and population from the earliest period down to recent historical times. With the discovery of several well-stratified prehistoric sites with long sequences of occupation, and dozens of early historical sites, all of the major gaps in Hong Kong's 7000-year human past have been closed.

It was once believed that South China was "rather quiet and had a simple culture" during the prehistoric period. Discoveries of early Chinese civilization in the Central Plains of North China gave rise to notions that material progress in agriculture, bronze metallurgy, art, etc. must be derived ultimately from that crucible of Chinese civilization. The relative paucity of archaeological work in South China tended for many years to corroborate such notions, since it appeared that these regions were "sparsely populated, if at all" by primitive hunter-gatherers.

This view began to change in the 1960's, when important discoveries of early agriculture and bronze in Southeast Asia were made. In the 1970's, the discovery of a well-developed neolithic culture and rice cultivation as early as 5000 B.C. at a site near Shanghai laid to rest forever the notions that the coastal areas of southeast China had been a backwater until the supposed arrival of farmers from the North.

The evidence from Hong Kong archaeology provides an important part of the reconstruction of prehistoric life in the southern coastal regions. Although great movements of people or culture across the continental land mass are rarely postulated today, there were certainly widespread links through trade and diffusion of ideas.

The detailed and relatively intensive archaeological work that has been done in the Hong Kong archipelago makes it one of the best studied areas of the southeast coast. It is also an ideal laboratory to test new ideas and collect new data on local evolution as a means of accounting for many of the cultural changes observed through time. For example, traits such as bronze metallurgy and high-fired pottery which were formerly assumed to have been imported from the North are now considered to have resulted from a widespread technological evolution in Southeast China with little or perhaps no outside stimulus.

The Development of Archaeology in Hong Kong

Archaeology in Hong Kong began in the 1920's with the discovery of polished stone adzes on low eroding hillslopes near the coast. Several individuals were active in the 1930's in surveying and excavating sites, studying the artifacts recovered, and publishing their research. Two cultural phases were identified by the pare-war archaeologists: a Late Neolithic phase with polished stone tools and fine earthenware pottery, and a Bronze Age with stoneware ceramics and bronze artifacts. These phases are now dated to approximately 3000-1200 and 1200-400 BC.

A major stimulant to local archaeology was the discovery of the large Han chamber tomb in 1955. The next year, a University Archaeological Team was formed, with a limited membership including some members of the public. The Team carried out extensive surveys, and excavated an important Bronze Age site on Lantau island in 1960-61.

In 1967, the Team was dissolved to form the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, in order to encourage a wider public participation in local archaeology. The Society has carried out a number of major excavations, the most important of which was at Sham Wan, Lamma island. Five seasons of excavation at this site in the 1970's yielded evidence of occupation during historical and prehistoric times, including a new "Middle Neolithic" phase dating to approximately 3800-3000 BC. A 300-page monograph of multi-disciplinary studies on this site was published by the Society in 1978.

Recent work has focused on major salvage projects employing full-time staff. A 16-month study of Chek Lap Kok island, site of the new airport, was conducted in 1990-91. Another salvage project revealed a separate cultural phase with painted pottery; this layer was dated to 4400-3800 B.C. An archaeological unit was also formed at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and it has carried out surveys and excavations on a number of areas slated for development.

Finally, steps were taken during this period by the Hong Kong Government in archaeology. With the enactment in 1976 of the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance, all "relics" (artifacts dating earlier than 1800) found in Hong Kong became Government property. A licensing procedure for excavation was set up to ensure that proper standards were met. An Antiquities and Monuments Office was established, and it has conducted numerous surveys and excavations.

The Neolithic Period

The period from 10,000 to 5,000 B.C. in East Asia marks a highly important but as yet little understood cultural evolution. From a primitive food gathering economy at the beginning, man had in many areas reached the food-producing stage by the end of the period. Most of the evidence relating to this "Early Neolithic" era has come from cave sites in the interior of South China and Indo-China.

At the end of the last glacial period, the broad continental shelf was exposed, and the territory of Hong Kong was entirely dry land at the inner edge of this shelf. As the glaciers melted in the period from 15,000 to 4000 B.C., there was a rapid rise of sea up to its present level. When the sea level had stabilized, sand deposits began to form behind beaches, and in these elevated deposits the earliest evidence of the human occupation of Hong Kong was preserved.

These first inhabitants were clearly a coastal population, sheltering in the bays and lagoons of small islands with good anchorage, but probably also venturing into open sea on fishing expeditions. Most of the Middle Neolithic sites are in beach or dune deposits 4 to 6 meters above sea level -- well above the storm and tidal zones. At one site, fish bones and remains of large stingrays and sharks were uncovered in the cultural layer, along with bones of deer and pig. The first inhabitants had an extensive knowledge of pottery making, and produced vessels of various shapes, types of clay and decoration. Generally, the pottery can be described in two categories: a coarse sandy ware with stamped cord impressions, usually round-bottomed and often blackened from firing and cooking; secondly, dishes and bowls of a fine paste, usually incised or painted around the foot-rim.

Cremation and inhumation burial were both practiced, along with occasional perforation of the lower jawbone (post mortem). Placement of whole pots and stone tools in small pits may indicate that secondary burial was also practiced. Several burial grounds have been identified from this period.

The Late Neolithic in Hong Kong and South China generally is marked by a grey ware made of fine clay and stamped with net, trellis, spirals, lozenges and other geometric designs. This "geometric pottery" replaced the fine painted and incised ware of the earlier phase, and probably evolved directly from it, as is suggested by parallels in type of clay, method of manufacture, and some elements of style.

Most of the sites which had been occupied during the Middle Neolithic continued to be used in the next phase. One of the preferred types of site was the "tombolo" island, formed by a sand bar linking two small land masses. Sites are also found at the mouths of small bays or lagoons. These sites are all well sheltered, but were quite possibly selected in some cases for agricultural use. However, it is quite probable that the sea continued to be the major source of food.

The Bronze Age

The rise of Bronze Age cultures during the second millennium B.C. in South China has traditionally been seen in the light of the impact of Shang and Chou civilizations on the more primitive southern "barbarians". In recent years, however, evidence has been brought to light of equally early bronze-working cultures in northern Vietnam, northeast Thailand, Sichuan province, and in the Lower Yangzi Basin. From Late Neolithic to Bronze Age in the Hong Kong area, life appears to have continued in much the same way as in earlier times. Most of the same sites were occupied, with beaches on small sheltered bays and sand bars on the islands continuing to be the preferred type of site. But the importance of the "tombolo" island as a shelter or activity area seems to have declined.

Fishing remained a major subsistence activity. At one site, several thousand bones of a local fish known as "head grunt" (Arius leiotetocephalus) were virtually the only type found, for reasons unknown. Bronze fish-hooks and pebble net weights were also discovered there. Shellfish were another major source of food, and shell remains indicate that sandy, muddy and rocky shores were all being exploited for shell food resources.

The local Bronze Age is characterized of course by bronze artifacts, but at most sites these are few and often fragmentary. Fish hooks, projectile points, knives and axe heads are the most commonly found types, but molds for the manufacture of vessels, bells and hairpins have also been found. In neighboring Guangdong province, there has been debate for years concerning whether the province had a "true" Bronze Age as distinct from the early Iron Age beginning ca. 400 B.C. The excavation in 1989 of a site on Lamma island near Hong Kong provided important data on these questions, and should lay some of the debate permanently to rest. A clearly defined cultural layer was identified, with several molds for casting bronze axes in intimate association with high-fired geometric pottery. Also found were traces of bronze slag, and charcoal which was dated to ca. 1200-800 B.C. The site is the first bronze casting site to be discovered in Guangdong.

A major change did take place, however, in the manufacture of the fine paste pottery. The design of kilns had improved to the stage that very high temperatures could be reached, and much of the geometric pottery was fired at 1200-1300 degrees C, and is extremely hard. A variety of circle, spiral, "double-F", diamond and other geometric patterns decorated the pottery. While no local kiln site has been found for this ware, it is assumed that only a few highly specialized kilns produced this stoneware for a large area.

The Bronze Age people in Hong Kong also produced several elaborate rock carvings at locations along the coast, most of them remote and inaccessible. Some of the patterns are abstract and possibly zoomorphic; others are very similar to the geometric decoration on the pottery, and date the rock carvings securely to the Bronze Age. They probably had a ceremonial or religious significance.

The Historical "Yueh"

The southeastern coastal inhabitants were known to the Chinese as the Yueh barbarians. The name was extended southward as the Chinese expanded their empire. These Yueh people were noted for their skills in navigation and their savagery in battle; the population of the early state of Yueh (5th-4th centuries B.C.) centered in the Lower Yangzi practiced wet rice cultivation and were engaged in trade along the coast. Modern ethnographic and linguistic researches point to an Austroasiatic linguistic affiliation for these peoples. The Vietnamese retain the name "Yueh" and the Cantonese are also still called "Yuet" and derive in part from the aboriginal population.

The Yueh, in later texts referred to as the "Hundred Yueh", were certainly a diverse population, and may have included different language families and markedly different customs. The Tai-speaking Chuang of Guangsi province today have oral traditions of earlier occupation of coastal areas, and may have been included in the Yueh. Similarly, the Kedai-speaking Li tribes of Hainan Island are almost certainly descended from the Yueh.

A process of gradual though erratic cultural assimilation of the Yueh began after the Ch'in - early Han conquest, and by the end Han had brought a large number of the Yueh people into the sphere of Chinese culture. Han historical texts provide ample evidence of the acceptance of Yueh chiefs and high ranking individuals into the Han administrative system, even into the army itself.

The Han chamber tomb mentioned above may represent the presence of a Han official in the area of northern Kowloon, but it is equally possible that it represents a sinicized Yueh chieftain with Han patronage. However, there are few Han sites in the territory, and the implication is clearly that the large population suggested by number and richness of Bronze Age sites had dispersed.

By the Six Dynasties era, the local population seems to have revived, and evidence of lime kilns dating from the 3rd to the 9th centuries A.D. are found on most of the beach sites. These people were almost certainly partly assimilated Yueh -- the ancestors of the Cantonese.