Visitors interested in history may find Ordos an attractive destination, as the city is home to more than 1,000 heritage sites, including the Salawusu and Zhukaigou archeological areas.

As one of China’s key 100 heritage sites, the Salawusu area, which covers about 6,641 hectares, has been under the priority protection of the country since 2001.

The site is named after a nearby river that was discovered by Emile Licent, a French paleontologist, in 1922.

A year later, he and his colleague Pierre Teihard de Chardin made the first excavation in the area and dug out the fossilized front tooth of a child in the valley. It was later named “The Ordos Tooth” by Canadian anthropologist Davidson Black. The tooth for the first time proved the presence of human life in the region 30,000 to 60,000 years ago.

The archeological site was investigated on three other occasions in 1956, 1980 and 2006.

To date, more than 600 cultural relics such as human fossils and stone tools have been found at the site.

According to the unearthed fossils and geological strata, it was inferred that the site dated back between 70,000 years to 140,000 years.

The site is of great significance and value for scientific research into ancient humans, paleontology and paleoclimate, according to experts.