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South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Tools unearthed in China are first evidence of East Asia's ‘Wood Age'
The earliest tools used by humans were made of stone , followed by bronze , then iron, and finally steel. But was there a 'Wood Age'? This question has been difficult to answer as wood decomposes easily, leaving behind little evidence of ancient wooden tools – especially in East Asia. However, a study published in the top journal Science on Friday suggests that wooden tools were widely used in southwest China 300,000 years ago. These wooden tools, unearthed during excavations in 2015 and 2018, were the first ever found at a Palaeolithic – or early Stone Age – site in East Asia. The Palaeolithic age spans from around 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago. Corresponding author Gao Xing, of the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told state news agency China News Service that the dozens of wooden artefacts unearthed at the Gantangqing site in Yunnan province represented a 'world-class archaeological discovery'. Gantangqing is situated at the southern edge of Fuxian Lake, near Yunnan's provincial capital, Kunming. Excavations at the site uncovered many relics, earning Gantangqing a place among China's top 10 archaeological discoveries in 2015. 'This discovery fills a gap in the study of Chinese Palaeolithic wooden tools,' said Liu Jianhui of the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in a paper in 2015. Liu is first author of the most recent study and led the second excavation at Gantangqing in 2018.
The Star
01-05-2025
- Science
- The Star
Park built on Yuanmou ape-man archaeological site opens to public
KUNMING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A park built on the Yuanmou ape-man archaeological site in southwest China's Yunnan Province opened to the public on Thursday. Located in the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, the park aims to become an integrated cultural space where visitors can experience millions of years of human history. The Yuanmou ape-man site, located on a hillside about 200 meters from Danawu Village in Yuanmou County, was where two fossils of ancient human teeth were discovered in 1965. These fossils date back some 1.7 million years. The park has a planned total area of over 370 hectares and is being developed in three phases. "We will strive to build the park into a comprehensive base that integrates paleogeological research and education, the scientific exploration of human origins, and the in-depth study of prehistoric cultural development," said Zhang Wenwang, head of the prefecture. Gao Xing, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, said that the Yuanmou ape-man and culture were significant discoveries of ancient human remains in China. They are the first chapters in China's elementary and middle school history textbooks, and an important testament to the survival and evolution of the early Homo erectus in East Asia. Also on Thursday, an event marking the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the Yuanmou ape-man site was held in the county. Scholars and researchers from diverse fields convened to discuss topics such as human migration tracing, Paleolithic archaeology, site value transformation and digital cultural innovation.
