Atlas of China
Lajia Archaeological Site 喇家遗址Lǎjiā Yízhǐ
4A scenic area · National heritage site · Haidong, Qinghai
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Days to budget
- Half a day
- City
- Haidong
- Region
- Qinghai
- Type
- Heritage
- Listed as
- 4A scenic area, National heritage site
About Lajia Archaeological Site
Lajia is a Qijia-culture settlement about 4,000 years old on a Yellow River terrace, where excavations found houses destroyed in a sudden disaster, with victims' remains still inside. The cause is still debated, with earthquakes and floods the main explanations. A bowl of noodles from the site, identified as millet in a 2005 paper in Nature, is described by its authors as the oldest noodles yet found; a site museum and archaeological park show the finds to visitors.
How to get to Lajia Archaeological Site
In Guanting town on the Yellow River near the Gansu border, about 75 km by road from Minhe's county town.
Nearby
Also within 20 km: Dadun Gorge 大墩峡 (10 km), Salar Mosques of Xunhua 撒拉族清真寺古建筑群 (20 km).
On the map
Open Lajia Archaeological Site on the illustrated map to see the terrain around it and what else is close, and to add it to a trip.
Open Lajia Archaeological Site on the map