361000-year-old discovery in China: Oldest wooden tools shake up archaeology
Researchers in China have unearthed the oldest complex wooden technology at the Paleolithic site of Gantangqing in southwestern China, significantly enhancing our understanding of human technological evolution.
Located near Fuxian Lake in Yunnan province, Gantangqing has yielded the earliest evidence of wooden tools in East Asia specifically crafted for gathering and processing plants. Only two other similar examples of wooden tools, spears and spear tips used for hunting animals, have been found in Europe and Africa.
The tools from Gantangqing are not only uncommon but also unique. They suggest that Paleolithic humans in this region of China primarily relied on a plant-based diet, diverging from the hunting-focused activities indicated by earlier discoveries.
“Gantangqing presents a scenario of early hominin subsistence in subtropical and tropical environments that are plant-oriented, in contrast to northern temperate environments such as Schöningen, where the hunting of large mammals is clearly dominant,” the authors of a new study stated.
Their findings, recently published in Science, demonstrate that wooden tools were utilized much earlier than previously understood and that humans adapted their tools to their specific environment.
Tools for gathering plants more sophisticated than hunting spears
First discovered in 1984, the last two excavations of the Gantangqing site in the 2000s uncovered a remarkable collection of 35 wooden hand-held tools from approximately “1,000 unearthed wooden materials,” as reported by China Daily.
This assemblage, which included digging sticks, soft hammers, and hook-like instruments, revealed that Paleolithic East Asia possessed “an advanced tool technology and cognitive and adaptative capabilities…comparable to their western counterparts,” added the study authors.
Crafted primarily from coniferous tree species, with 70 percent made from pine wood, the tools showed clear signs of use, China Daily continued. Cutting, scraping marks, smoothing, and wear indicated that these early humans pruned branches and specifically shaped them for gathering plants.
Moreover, these wooden tools might even suggest that areas of the world where only stone tools were found—as they were also present at Gantangqing—might have had a more “primitive technology landscape,” the study authors noted in a press release. These wooden tools signify that this early East Asian population developed an advanced form of tool-making.
Changing the narrative about East Asia
Humans have used wood for over a million years, but due to its organic nature, finding archaeological evidence of wooden tools, particularly from the Early and Middle Pleistocene, is “quite rare.” Therefore, the study supports the longstanding Bamboo Hypothesis, which posits that early East Asian populations relied on bamboo and wood for toolmaking, the press release further explains.
Raw material and technical analysis indicated that wooden tools might have replaced stone tools in the area due to the absence of essential raw materials for stone tool production, suggesting that these early humans adapted their strategy. Stone tools might have been employed to shape wooden tools.
The collection showcased remarkable diversity, indicating not just a few types of wooden tools. This population developed a sophisticated understanding of how to best extract plant resources using various tools.
Specifically, an instrument known as “antler tools” or “soft hammers,” which represents a sophisticated stone tool technology, has rewritten a narrative that previously placed East Asia in a less advanced category than the West.
“The sophistication of these wooden tools underscores the importance of organic artifacts in interpreting early human behavior,” the press release concludes. They showed a technological innovation unique to East Asia, rooted in the need to adapt and survive.
Source: Interesting Engineering
361000-year-old discovery in China: Oldest wooden tools shake up archaeology