Extraordinary discovery in China: 300,000-year-old wooden tools change what we thought about early humans

Dozens of carefully crafted wooden tools for digging and processing plants have been discovered at a Pleistocene site in southwestern China – indicating a technology far more complex than that attributed to early populations in East Asia.

Rare archaeological finds from the Gantangqing site in southwest China reveal the earliest known use of elaborately crafted wooden tools in East Asia. The tools date back to between 361,000 and 250,000 years ago, and indicate advanced technology and the ability to process vegetation – long before this was thought possible in this region.

Although humans have been known to have made wooden tools for over a million years, such objects are rarely preserved, especially from the Early and Middle Pleistocene. Most of the tools that survive from these early periods have been found in Africa and western Eurasia – spears and throwing sticks from Germany and Britain, wooden structures from Zambia, and digging sticks from sites in Israel and Italy.

For years, archaeological theory was dominated by the "bamboo hypothesis," which suggested that early humans in East Asia made most of their tools from this organic material, and therefore left behind almost no tools made of stone (a bit of an odd argument, talking about tools made of organic material that didn't survive, why do they say that stone tools didn't survive?) or wood. Now, the discovery of the tools at Gantangqing poses a serious challenge to this hypothesis.

The researchers, led by Jian-Hui Liu, present 35 wooden tools found at the site – all showing clear signs of deliberate design: carving, grinding and wear from use. Most were carved from pine wood, and include two-handed digging sticks, smaller one-handed tools, and even hook-shaped tools that may have been used to cut plant roots.

The analysis suggests that the tools were not used for hunting, but for everyday activities such as digging and processing plant material – suggesting a more complex lifestyle than previously attributed to Paleolithic populations in Asia. The researchers note that unlike sites from the same period in Europe, which were characterized by medium-sized hunting tools, the Chinese site displays a wide variety of small tools intended for agricultural or pre-agricultural uses.

This find highlights how organic artifacts – which are often not preserved – can change our understanding of human history. These tools reflect advanced technological mastery and high cognitive ability in the processing of soft materials. It is proof that the material culture of ancient humans was not limited to stone alone – but also included an intensive and creative use of wood.

for the scientific article

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