Lower Paleolithic cultures in Asia were more advanced than previously believed

The culture from the lower Paleolithic in Asia Eastern were not as rudimentary as was thought. The analysis of remains found at the Cenjiawan archaeological site (China) points out that those hominids had advanced technical skills to create stone tools.

A study published today by PNAS carried out by researchers from Spanish and Chinese institutions analyzes the use in East Asia of prepared stone cores to create tools, which represents a milestone in the development of technical and mental planning capabilities in early human evolution .

The prepared cores were the result of initial stages of reduction in which the shape of the flake that was wanted to be obtained was created; the final objective was the production of flakes with predetermined morphologies, researcher Ignacio de la Torre explains to EFE. from the Institute of History of the CSIC and one of the signatories of the investigation.

Excavations at the Cenjiawan site between 1986 and 2019 recovered 2,015 lithic artifacts, including cores, flakes, flake fragments, retouched tools and crushed pieces, of which the authors analyzed 102 sets.

Prepared core technology emerged in East Africa about 1.7 million years ago, but the timing of its spread across Eurasia is unclear. The new study presents evidence of the use of this technique in the Chinese site, dated approximately 1.1 million years ago.

Advanced technical skills tests

Until now, “Lower Paleolithic cultures produced by premodern humans in Asia were thought to be very rudimentary, which was believed to be a product of the absence of technological innovations and the biological isolation of premodern Asian hominid populations.”indicates De la Torre.

However, the research results reveal that a standardized process with multiple stages of organized flaking was already used to create predetermined stone products.

These findings provide evidence of advanced technical skills among early Pleistocene hominids in East Asia.

The prepared cores were made using hammers as tools and from them they extracted flakes, which were knives with sharp edges, many of which were found in the Chinese site, says the researcher.

Cenjiawan toolmakers flexibly adapted these techniques to the quality of available raw materials.

More sophisticated than thought

The technology of prepared cores is usually attributed to the Acheulean lithic industry, which emerged in Africa, but this was also characterized by the appearance of hand axes, which have not been found in East Asia, which can be explained, says De la Torre, of different ways.

On the one hand, the Acheulean hominids migrated to East Asia and stopped making hand axes, either for ecological or functional reasons, but they maintained the ability to make carving sequences made from prepared cores.

Another explanation would be that hominids who arrived in Asia before the appearance of the Acheulean in Africa independently developed complex technologies.

In either case, what Cenjiawan indicates is that the cultures of premodern Asian humans “They are much more sophisticated than previously thought.”