A new study conducted in a China cave site shows that sophisticated “Levallois” tool-making techniques were present in East Asia as far back as 170,000 years ago.
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Previously the earliest examples of Levallois techniques in East Asia were dated to 40,000 – 30,000 years ago.
The latest findings challenge the existing model of the origin and spread of these techniques in East Asia, with implications for theories of the dispersal of modern humans around the world.
The study, by researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW), University of Washington, Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China’s Bureau of Cultural Relics Protection, was published online in Nature on November 19.
One of the paper’s corresponding authors was Associate Professor Bo Li from UOW’s Centre for Archaeological Science.
Professor Li said the researchers analysed 2273 stone artefacts excavated from Guanyindong Cave in southwest China in the 1960s and ’70s, and found 45 artefacts (four tools, eleven cores and thirty flakes) that show Levallois-style knapping.
“Levallois technology is a step up from earlier stone tools because it involves a level of planning, of preparation, and a repetition of technique.” he said.
“Instead of hitting two stones together and picking up whatever looks useful, for Levallois tools you first have to prepare the core to make it a special shape before you knap the core to produce a flake that can be used for cutting or scraping.
“Earlier stone tools are more arbitrary in size and shape. Levallois tools are more standardised.
“When we analysed the artefacts from Guanyindong we found they had similar features to Levallois tools found in Africa and Europe. The question then was, how old are they?”
What they found was that the deepest layers of the cave in which Levallois tools were uncovered dated back to about 170,000 years ago, while those from the upper layers dated to about 80,000 years ago.
“This is a very exciting result, as it challenges the existing theory about the history and evolution of humans and technology in East Asia,” Prof Li said.
The paper’s other corresponding author, Associate Professor Ben Marwick from the University of Washington, said the study suggests the more advanced technologies could have been invented in East Asia independently.
The question of whether Levallois techniques were invented independently in East Asia won’t be resolved until further archaeological evidence is uncovered, Professor Li said.