Wooden Tools Discovered in SW China Show Early Human Ingenuity

A significant archaeological find in Yunnan Province, China, has unveiled 35 extraordinarily well-preserved wooden tools that date back approximately 300,000 years. This discovery sheds new light on the technological sophistication of early humans in East Asia.

The wooden tools were uncovered at the Gantangqing site and their importance is highlighted in a recent study published in the journal Science, marking them as the earliest known evidence of intricate wooden tool technology in this region.

Alongside these wooden artifacts, an array of accompanying cultural relics was also discovered, including stone tools, antler soft hammers, animal fossils, and plant remains, providing a broader context for understanding early human life.

Led by an international research team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the study indicated that the wooden tools were primarily utilized for foraging plant roots and stems.

While it is known that early humans have utilized wooden tools for over a million years, actual wooden artifacts are rare in archaeological findings, especially during the Early and Middle Pleistocene epochs.

Analysis by the research team revealed that the human activity at the Gantangqing site occurred between 360,000 and 250,000 years ago. This underscores the diversity and complexity involved in the survival strategies of early humans.

Crafted primarily from pine, the tools exhibit evidence of cutting and scraping, suggesting their use in various functions such as pruning branches and shaping materials. Polished marks and fractures observed on their tips further demonstrate how they were employed.

The discoveries include soil residues on some tool tips that contain plant starch grains, confirming that these wooden implements were mainly used to excavate underground plant food resources.

This research emphasizes the significant role wooden and bamboo tools played in the lives of ancient humans in East and Southeast Asia, revealing insights into their gathering economies, as noted by corresponding author Gao Xing.

Unlike wooden tool sites encountered in Europe, which typically comprise medium-sized hunting tools, Gantangqing reveals a wider and more diversified selection of small, handheld tools.

The complexity of these wooden tools highlights the necessity of recognizing organic artifacts to better interpret early human behavior. This is particularly relevant in regions where stone tools may suggest a more primitive technological narrative.

Furthermore, the site produced stone tools primarily used for crafting wooden implements and butchering, demonstrating a potential shift in resource use as the inhabitants adapted from stone to wooden tools due to resource limitations.

Additionally, the identification of four deer antler fragments as soft hammers with usage marks indicates that East Asian stone tool technology during the early and middle Paleolithic was more advanced than previously understood, challenging the prevailing belief that it lagged behind Western advancements.