The discovery challenges our understanding of human evolution in East Asia – and could rewrite human history
Archaeologists have unearthed stone tools in China that experts say have caused “big upset” to the way we think about East Asia during the Middle Stone Age.
The tools, made by the Quina method, were previously thought to have been used by Neanderthals in Europe, and had never been found in East Asia.
The Neanderthal-like tools were unearthed at a site in southwest China dating back 50,000 to 60,000 years.
“This is a big upset to the way we think about that part of the world in that period of time,” said Ben Marwick, a co-author of the study from the University of Washington. “It really raises the question of, what else were people doing during this period that we haven’t found yet?”
The Middle Stone Age was a crucial period of human evolution between 300,000 and 30,000 years ago. It is linked to the origin of the modern human species, Homo sapiens, in Africa, as well as now extinct groups of archaic humans like Neanderthals and Denisovans.
This period is believed to have been a time of dynamic evolution in Europe and Africa, but static in East Asia. However, the discovery challenges the assumption that there was little development in early human ancestor populations in this region.
The Quina method is a type of stone tool technology linked to Neanderthals in Europe. It is characterized by thick and asymmetrical stone scrapers with a broad and sharp edge, and evidence of use and resharpening.
Archaeologists are not yet sure whether this technology developed independently in East Asia or if it was introduced by Western migration.
“We can try to see if they were doing something similar beforehand that Quina seemed to evolve out of,” Dr Marwick said. “Then we might say that development seems to be more local – they were experimenting with different forms in previous generations, and they finally perfected it.”
Alternatively, if the tools were found to have appeared suddenly, they might have been introduced by another group.
“The idea that nothing has changed for such a long time in East Asia also has a tight grip on people,” Dr Marwick said. “They haven’t been considering the possibility of finding things that challenge that. Now maybe there are some scholars who are interested in questioning those ideas.”
More research is needed to fully understand how these tools reached China and why, but the findings could rewrite what we know about human evolution.
“There have never been any Neanderthals found in East Asia, but could we find a Neanderthal? Or, more likely, could we find a Denisovan, which is another kind of human ancestor?” Dr Marwick said. “If we can find the human remains associated with this period, we might find something surprising – maybe even a new human ancestor that we don’t know about yet.”
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.