Sophisticated stone tools dating back between 160,000 and 72,000 years have been found in central China’s Danjiangkou Reservoir region, according to a study published on Tuesday in Nature Communications.
"It has long been believed that hominin technologies in Eastern Asia lack signs of innovation and sophistication," the study said, adding, however, that this new finding shows technological innovations occurring at the Xigou site.
Researchers found that Xigou hominins — or early humans — used core-on-flake and discoid techniques to produce small flakes and make a wide variety of tools.
"The identification of the hafted tools provides the earliest evidence for composite tools in Eastern Asia, to our knowledge," the scientists added, saying that the complex technological advancements recorded at Xigou indicate that hominins developed adaptive strategies that enhanced their survivability across fluctuating environments of the late Middle Pleistocene and middle Late Pleistocene in Eastern Asia.
The oldest known use of wooden tools in East Asia dates back 300,000 years, according to the Live Science news website.
However, the discovery shows the earliest known tools made from two materials, as shown by the hafted artefacts.
Xigou was discovered in 2017 and subsequently excavated from 2019–2021.
