The oldest stone tools outside of Africa unearthed in China | Smart news

Throughout the 20th century, the widely accepted history of the migration of humanity from Africa began with a human ancestor called Homo erectus a species of d & rsquo; Relatively large and cerebral hominin who began to venture all over Asia. there is a million years. But in recent decades, new evidence has begun to punctuate holes in this timeline. Now, Carl Zimmer reports to The New York Times new stone tools unearthed in China indicate that someone has made 8,000 miles from Africa to Asia from the East there are 2.12 million years. Homo erectus .

Zimmer reports that in 1964, researchers found the skull of a Homo erectus in the Lantian region of Shaanxi Province, which at the time they were around 1.15 million years old. However, when researchers revisited the Lantian site in the early 2000s, they determined that the skull layer was older – about 1.63 million years old. They also noticed what appeared to be recessed stone tools 200 feet up a cliff.

This observation led to 13 years of careful digging. Meanwhile, the team discovered that various human ancestors occupied the Loess Plateau site in southern China between 1.26 and 2.12 million years ago. According to their study, published in the journal Nature, the researchers discovered 80 stone artifacts found in 11 layers of soil deposited when the climate was hot and humid. They also discovered 16 six-layer artifacts dating back to a time when the weather was colder and drier.

More importantly, they could date the soil layers using a technique called paleomagnetism by looking at some minerals that align with the Earth's magnetic field, which sometimes flip flops. The oldest artefacts were found in a layer sandwiched between rock formed 2.14 million years ago and 1.85 million years ago. Based on their position, researchers estimate that six of the tools date back 2.12 million years, making them the oldest stone tools found outside of Africa.

The finding does not necessarily indicate that it was Homo erectus made in China faster than expected. It is believed that Homo erectus had not even evolved at this point, so the artifacts could suggest that a whole other species of hominids was expanding towards the end. Asia

"The implications of all this are great". Petraglia, a paleoanthropologist from the Max Planck Institute who is not involved in the study, explains to Zimmer. "We need to re-evaluate our understanding of human prehistory in Eurasia."

So, if it was not Homo erectus who lived in China so long ago? A fossil mine unearthed in Dmanisi, Georgia, which was the oldest hominin site outside of Africa, could shed light. It included stone tools and, more importantly, a part of a skull of a relatively short brain hominin . It is possible that this species or a similar species has spread across Eurasia first

Then, again, we may not have the dates yet for Homo erectus . "It is quite possible that Homo erectus occupied China at that time, but given the age of the site, and the possibility that artifacts could be found at even farther ages , another member of the genus can occupy Asia, as a Homo habilis as his ancestor, "tells Petraglia to Michael Greshko at National Geographic

Rick Potts, head of the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program, agrees to tell Zimmer that he believes some Homo erectus- as fossils of more than 2 , 1 million years can still be found in Africa, making it likely that a larger hominid makes the artifacts found in Lantian.

It is not because this species has emerged from Africa that it is the ancestor of modern humans. There were probably many species or populations of hominians who left Africa, only to die somewhere in their journey across the globe. "Some populations have traveled as far as East Asia, but we have to imagine that there were small populations of hunting and gathering," Petraglia tells Robinson Meyer at the same time. Atlantic . "And although they have mated themselves across East Asia, that does not mean that they have survived for a long period of time." Some people might be skeptical. to be isolated, and some might have become extinct. "

Some might even develop into other species, such as Indonesian Homo floresiensis (nicknamed" hobbits "by the media ) According to recent research, it may have evolved much earlier than the first thought

It is unlikely that this is the only discovery on the first humans to come out of China. While most paleoanthropologists have spent most of their time and resources searching for hominids in Africa, an increase in field work in China and the rest of Asia will further dig up some surprises about of our increasingly complex human family tree. Article?
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