BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) — A groundbreaking archaeological discovery at an ancient site in central China’s Henan province is reshaping views on prehistoric innovations, as an international team of researchers has found clear evidence that early humans in East Asia were making sophisticated handled stone tools as early as 70,000 years ago.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, focuses on 22 specific stone tools excavated from the Xigou site, located in the Qinling Mountains. Detailed technical and microscopic use-wear analysis confirmed that these artifacts were either hafted or had their bases intentionally modified to attach to wooden or bone handles, forming knife-like composite tools.
“This is the earliest confirmed evidence of hafting technology in East Asia, supported by both technological typology and traceology,” said Yang Shixia, corresponding author of the study and a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“This will significantly delay the recorded emergence of this technology in the region,” Yang added.
Estimated with certainty to be between 160,000 and 72,000 years old, the Xigou site served as a workshop and yielded more than 2,600 stone artifacts, primarily made from quartz and quartzite, which were once considered unsuitable for making sophisticated tools.
An international research team led by IVPP discovered that the ancient inhabitants of this site had mastered a systematic core technology for manufacturing flake tools. One method involved separating the smaller flakes from the larger flakes, and the other involved efficiently and centripetally beating the flakes out of the stone core. The toolkit included a scraper, a baller, and a point.
Analysis revealed that the handled fragments show obvious fundamental modifications for attachment, with some retaining direct evidence of being attached to a handle. Similar to attaching a blade to a knife handle, these early hominins employed two attachment methods to increase the effectiveness of their stone tools: insertion and lateral hafting.
This discovery directly challenges the long-held academic view that East Asia was “technologically conservative” during the late Middle Pleistocene to early Late Pleistocene (approximately 300,000 to 50,000 years ago), when complex behaviors such as hafting techniques, formal bone tool making, and the use of personal ornaments and pigments were on the rise in both Africa and Europe.
The researchers established a robust chronological framework by applying multiple luminescence dating techniques to the in-situ deposits, which measure when buried minerals last received sunlight.
The discovery in Saigo is not an isolated case. This joins a series of recent discoveries across China that collectively portray early human populations in East Asia as innovative adaptors, including evidence of prepared core techniques, molding of bone tools, and the use of pigments elsewhere.
In the face of a highly volatile climate, they have developed a versatile and flexible repertoire of technologies, according to Yang.
“This discovery rewrites the traditional story of early human behavioral development and adaptation in East Asia,” she said. “This highlights the important and dynamic role this region played in the global story of human evolution.” ■