An international team of scientists uncovered 35 ancient wooden tools at the Gantangqing site in Yunnan Province, China, dating back 300,000 years. According to The Independent, these artifacts represent a "world-class archaeological discovery" and are the oldest wooden artifacts ever found in East Asia.
The tools were unearthed in oxygen-deprived clay sediments along the ancient lakeshore, which preserved them remarkably well. Researchers discovered that the wooden implements bear cutting and scraping marks indicative of activities like branch pruning and shaping. Some have the shape of hooks or thin blades, while others have rounded or pointed tips.
"Our results show that hominins from Gantangqing strategically used food resources on the lake shore," the researchers stated. Evidence of pine nuts, hazelnuts, kiwi fruit, and aquatic tubers found at the site supports the conclusion.
Unlike most prehistoric wooden tools, which were designed for hunting—such as the spears from Schöningen in Germany—the findings at Gantangqing suggest a different way of life with more emphasis on gathering plants and digging. The newly discovered tools were made for digging and include digging sticks made of pine and hardwood, with some having plant and soil remains on their edges, including starch grains. These residues provided clues about their function in extracting underground plants such as tubers and roots.
The tools show craftsmanship and cognitive skills, with 32 of the 35 artifacts exhibiting marks of intentional modification at their tips, working edges, or bases. The associated cultural relics found alongside the wooden tools include stone implements, antler soft hammers, animal fossils, and plant remains, suggesting that early humans at Gantangqing were woodworkers.
"The findings highlight the crucial role of bamboo and wooden tools in the lives of ancient humans in East and Southeast Asia, and reveal, for the first time, the nature of ancient human gathering economies," said Gao Xing from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), the study's corresponding author, according to People's Daily.
The research team determined that human activity at the Gantangqing site took place between 360,000 and 250,000 years ago. The age of the findings was determined using the method of infrared luminescence, analyzing more than 10,000 grains of mineral sediments. Another dating method, electron spin resonance, provided consistent results, confirming the artifacts' antiquity.
The discovery challenges previous assumptions about early human technology in East Asia. The wooden artifacts displayed more sophisticated manufacturing skills than the relatively rudimentary stone tools found at sites of similar age across East and Southeast Asia. This underscores the importance of organic artifacts in interpreting early human behavior and challenges the notion that East Asian technology lagged significantly behind Western technology.
These tools represent the earliest known use of wooden tool technology in the region. The findings suggest that prehistoric cultures living in different environments, like those at Gantangqing, developed specialized tools for various tasks, reflecting their local resource needs. The discovery also reveals that early humans in Asia 300,000 years ago possessed skills in wood processing, capable of making wooden objects with care and precision.
The study detailing these findings was published on July 3 in the journal Science. The international research team was led by experts from the IVPP under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.