Longgu Cave

{{Short description|Cave in Hubei, China}}

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| name = Longgu Cave

| other_name = Giant Ape Cave

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| location = Jintang Village, Gaoping Town, Jianshi County, Enshi City, Hubei Province{{cite book|title=The Three Gorges Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeological Research Academic Seminar Proceedings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tqxKAQAAIAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Sciences Press|isbn=978-7-03-011558-4|pages=43–}}

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The Longgu Cave{{cite book|author=National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)|title=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Amo_clI_LgC|year=2007|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|pages=10934–}} ({{zh|s=龙骨洞|t=龍骨洞}}), literally meaning "Dragon Bone Cave",{{cite book|author=Spencer G. Lucas|title=Chinese Fossil Vertebrates|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AzHUXy7HGo4C&pg=PA278|date=30 January 2002|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-50461-4|pages=278–}} also known as Giant Ape Cave,{{cite book|author1=John G Fleagle|author2=John J. Shea|author3=Frederick E. Grine|author4=Andrea L. Baden, Richard E. Leakey|title=Out of Africa I: The First Hominin Colonization of Eurasia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CO5zfl460CEC&pg=PA90|date=20 August 2010|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-90-481-9036-2|pages=90–}} is a cave located in Longgu Slope, Jintang Village, Gaoping Town, Jianshi County, Enshi City, Hubei Province.{{cite book|title=Journal of Stratigraphy, Volume 30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LZdOAQAAIAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Sciences Press}} It is {{cvt|120|m}} long, {{cvt|6|to|7|m}} high and {{cvt|2|to|15|m|ft|frac=2}} wide. The Cave is divided into two entrances, east and west, the east entrance is {{cvt|3.5|m|}} high and the west entrance is {{cvt|2|m|ft|frac=2}} high.{{cite web |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2005-01-18/00294862624s.shtml|title=The discovery of Homo erectus site in Jianshi County|author=|date=2005-01-18|work=Sina News}}

In 1970, a field team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) discovered the Longgu Cave in Jiansi County and conducted an official excavation.{{cite book|author=Yang Baocheng|title=Archaeological Discovery and Research in Hubei|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A3MeywnViQ0C|year=1995|publisher=Wuhan University Publishing House|isbn=978-7-307-01891-4}} The Cave spans from 1.2 to 2.5 million years ago{{cite book|title=The Study of Three Gorges Culture in Modern Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sKQzAQAAIAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Bashu Publishing House|isbn=978-7-80659-831-3}} and was named "Jianshi Homo Erectus Site" by the IVPP.{{cite book|title=Hubei Yearbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7eLjAAAAMAAJ|year=2005|publisher=Hubei People's Press}}

From 1970 to 1998, the IVPP and the Hubei Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology successively conducted eight excavations here, and they were always searching for new information and new information on the survival and reproduction of ancient humans here.{{cite web |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2010-11-18/124221493032.shtml|title=Secrets in the Longgu Cave|author=|date=2010-11-18|work=Sina News}}