A new study from the Nihewan Basin in China showed that hominins with advanced cutting skills equivalent to the technological characteristics of method 2 lived in East Asia 1.1 million years ago (Ma), 0.3 million years before the relevant date. The first hand axes found in East Asia. This suggests that Type 2 hominins spread into East Asia much earlier than previously thought.

The research was carried out by a joint team led by Professor PEI Shuven from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor Ignacio de la Torre from the Institute of History of the National Research Council of Spain. CSIC), published on: PNAS It provides information about March 4 and the early spread and adaptation of hominids in Eurasia.

Advanced tool manufacturing technologies

By reconstructing the Cenjiawan repair dikes in the Nihewan Basin, the research team discovered an organized flaking technique aimed at producing thin flakes through core preparation on both the impact platform and the flaking surface. The standardized workflow was demonstrated not only with repair kits: Many products were removed at each step of the process, thus providing strong evidence of standardized core preparation.

The basic technologies developed were characterized by organized methods for obtaining predetermined flakes that required detailed planning and an in-depth understanding of the flake mechanisms that emerged during the Acheulean period and, in particular, more than 1.0 million years ago.

As for retouched tools, technological analysis of reworked products separated from the prepared core technology indicates that thin chips were deliberately split in two. One or more of the resulting parts were then selected as blanks for retouching, with the aim of creating tools with tips with two converging sides, thereby significantly changing the original shape of the blanks.

Additionally, retouching patterns of tools such as bits and drills, indicating standardization of tool shape, are also well documented in Cenjiawan finds, suggesting complex mental patterns among Cenjiawan artisans.

The complexity of making early Pleistocene tools

The basic technology prepared, standardized predefined products and tool forms for retouching, together with a high level of manual precision, segmented reduction sequences, long reduction sequences and organized management of raw materials documented in the Cenjiawan collection, provide convincing evidence of advanced technical capabilities. . and in-depth mapping of Early Pleistocene hominid behavior in East Asia.

The first author of the study, Dr., who conducted the research during his doctoral study. “The advanced technological behavior documented at the Cenjiawan field is more similar to Mode 2 technology than the technical simplicity attributed to Mode 1,” said MA Dongdong. He works at IVPP and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the CISC Institute of History.

Lower Paleolithic technology in China was long thought to be simple (Oldovian/Mode 1-like) and uniform until the Late Pleistocene. Compelling evidence from the Cenjiawan community opens a new perspective in understanding China’s micro-lending system and may force a reassessment of current perceptions of technological stagnation in East Asia.

The authors argued that the study of Early and Middle Pleistocene assemblages in East Asia should be based on technological features rather than the simple presence or absence of particular types of tools (such as hand axes). This allows for a more comprehensive understanding of Mode 2 technology, as well as human cultural and biological connections between East Asia and other parts of the Old World.