The Tuanjie site lies on a stretch of flat land about 150m east of Tuanjie village, Haketownship, Hailar city, Hulun Buir league, Inner Mongolia, 20km east of Hailar city proper, and 2kinsouth of the Hailar River. It was surveyed in October, 1999, by the Inner Mongolian ArchaeologicalTeam, IA, CASS, in cooperation with the Hulun Buir League Nationality Museum, which resulted in thecollection of more than 170 stone, jade, pottery, bone and tooth objects. The stone tools are the most,numbering 151, largely made by pressure flaking and partly by chipping and polishing. The stone arrowheads and blades are neatly shaped and exquisitely retouched, representing the highest level of themicrolith-making technology in the Hulun Buir steppe. The jades total 7, belong to the types of axe,adze, bi disc, ring, bead, etc., and form the group largest in number among the Neolithic jade localitiesknown so far in the Hulun Buir steppe. The pottery vessels are mainly jars and bo bowls made by buildingclay rings and mostly decorated with various designs on the surface. The painted ware bears black-on-redpatterns with triangles and narrow zigzags as the main motifs. This is the first time that Neolithic paintedpottery has been discovered in the Hulun Buir steppe, and the site is the northmost among the localities ofNeolithic painted pottery recorded so far in China. A comparative study with related remains such as theAng' angxi, Xishuiquan and Xiduanliangshan sites shows that the Tuanjie site dates from about 6000-5500BP. Thus the discovery makes up the gap of that period in the archaeological study of the Hulun Buirsteppe.
