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Associate Professor Bo Li and colleague Xue Rui of the Center for Archaeological Science of Wollongong University. Credit: Paul Jones
A new study on stone tools from a cave in China shows that sophisticated "Levallois" toolmaking techniques were present in East Asia much earlier than one year ago. did not think so before.
The results challenge the existing model of origin and diffusion of these techniques in East Asia, with implications for theories of modern human dispersal around the world.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW), the University of Washington, Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Office of the Protection of Cultural Relics of China, is published online in Nature November 19th.
Examples of Levallois technology (named after a Parisian suburb where tools made with this method were discovered) were discovered in Africa and Europe around 300,000 years ago. Until now, the first examples of Levallois techniques in East Asia dated from 40,000 to 30,000 years ago; the new study places them there 170,000 years ago.
Associate Professor Bo Li of the Center for Archaeological Science of UOW, one of the journal's corresponding authors, said the researchers had analyzed 2,273 stone artifacts found in the Guanyindong cave in the southwest of China in the 1960s and 70s, and discovered 45 objects (four tools, eleven hearts and thirty flakes) that show a scalping at the Levallois.
Some artifacts from the site of Guanyindong Cave in China show Levallois tool making techniques. Credit: Wollongong University
"Levallois technology is a breakthrough compared to previous stone tools because it involves a level of planning, preparation and repetition of technique," said Professor Li.
"Instead of hitting two stones together and picking up everything you find useful, for Levallois, you first have to prepare the core to make a special shape before you tap the core to produce a flake that can be used to cut or scratch.
"The earlier stone tools have a more arbitrary size and shape, and Levallois tools are more standardized.
"When we analyzed the artifacts of Guanyindong, we found that they had similar characteristics to the Levallois tools found in Africa and Europe, so the question was, how old are they?"
Previous dating on the site, using dated uranium series, indicated an age between 240,000 and 50,000 years, but focused on fossil and carbonate samples found far from stone objects. The team then returned to the Guanyindong Cave to perform other dating using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), which measures the time elapsed since the last exposure of sediments carrying artifacts to the sun.
"Dating for this site was difficult because it had been excavated 40 years ago and the sediment profile was exposed in the air and unprotected, so that trees, plants, animals and insects could disrupt the stratigraphy, which could affect the results of dating if conventional methods were used to get out, "said Professor Li.
"To solve this problem, we used a new single-grain dating technique recently developed in our OSL lab, here at the University of Wollongong, to date individual grains of minerals in sediments. found residual sediments left by the previous excavations we take samples for dating. "
The site of Guanyindong Cave in southwestern China. Credit: Jia-Fu Zhang
They discovered that the deepest layers of the cave in which Levallois tools were discovered date back to about 170,000 years ago, while those in the upper layers were around 80,000 years old.
"It's a very exciting result because it challenges the existing theory on the history and evolution of humans and technology in East Asia," said the Professor Li.
"Until now, archaeologists thought that modern humans had only arrived there 50,000 years ago and brought technology with them.
"We found something much older, which suggests a different pattern of human dispersion and technological evolution."
Levallois tools are also known as Mode III technology. They are part of a large evolutionary sequence preceded by hand ax technology (mode II) and followed by blade tool technology (mode IV). Since the Chinese archaeological archive appeared to be changing from Mode II to IV mode about 40,000 to 30,000 years ago without the development of Mode III tools, it was argued that the most advanced technologies had to come from from the West.
The other corresponding author of the journal, Associate Professor Ben Marwick of the University of Washington, described Levallois technology as "the knife of the prehistoric tools of the Swiss army," and said that Study suggests that more advanced technologies could have been invented independently in East Asia.
"In the past, it was thought that Levallois nuclei had arrived in China relatively recently with modern humans," said Professor Marwick.
Map showing the location of the Guanyindong Cave site in China. Credit: Wollongong University
"Our work reveals the complexity and adaptability of people there, equivalent to those of the rest of the world.This shows the diversity of the human experience.
"Our work shows that ancient people were just as capable of innovation as anywhere else.The technological innovations in East Asia can be developed here, and do not always come from there. # 39; West. "
The question of whether Levallois techniques were invented independently in East Asia will not be resolved until new archaeological evidence is discovered, Professor Li said.
"There are several possible explanations, but because of the lack of fossil evidence, we can not say exactly what is the truth.
"One theory is technological convergence, different groups have come up with the same idea, and the second is that technology has spread through communication between different groups of people who have exchanged their techniques.
<a rel = "lightbox" href = "https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/2018/1-theswissarmy.jpg" title = "The map shows where artifacts from Levallois were found The oldest, dating from 337 000 years ago, were discovered in Europe and Africa.The star on the map indicates the site of the Guanyindong cave, where new research has been published in the newspaper Nature shows that this technology was used 80,000 to 170,000 years ago in Asia, much earlier than expected. Credit: Marwick et al. ">
The map shows where Levallois artefacts have been found. The oldest, dating back 337,000 years, have been discovered in Europe and Africa. The star on the map marks the site of Guanyindong Cave, where new research has been published in the newspaper Nature shows that this technology was used 80,000 to 170,000 years ago in Asia, much earlier than expected. Credit: Marwick et al.
"The third possibility is the replacement of the population, this migration having brought these techniques to the region.
"Hopefully our study will lead to new excavations and more detailed studies in this area.There are many caves in this area that are perfect for the preservation of tools and fossils, but there have not been any a lot of excavations.
"If we can find a human fossil – or the fossil of a different species – then we can better understand who made these tools and what is the origin of the technique."
Explore further:
Innovative stone age tools are not an African invention, according to research
More information:
Yue Hu et al. The technology of late Middle Pleistocene stone tools in southwestern China, Nature (2018). DOI: 10.1038 / s41586-018-0710-1
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