The mystery of stone tools discovered in China
Scientists have uncovered Neanderthal tools in a place we thought Neanderthals never went to. Learn what might explain this surprising find.
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The Neanderthals were ancient humans who existed up to 400,000 years in the past. Their remains and tools have most often been found in the Middle East and Europe, and scientists thought the Neanderthals never went into East Asia.
However, in April 2024 a group of archaeologists shared information that shed new light on prehistory – and sparked more questions.
These scientists revealed that they found Neanderthal stone tools in Yunnan province in southwestern China, near China’s border with Myanmar. That’s hundreds of thousands of miles away from the closest known location of Neanderthals.
How could we explain this mystery? Join us at Sky HISTORY as we explore this fascinating news from the world of archaeology.
Neanderthals and stone tools
Neanderthals are a type of human, though not the same species as us. We’re homo sapiens, while they’re homo neanderthalensis.
The Neanderthals lived in the Stone Age, so it’s no surprise to hear that they relied on stone tools. Scientists can recognise these Neanderthal stone tools by their shapes. Other types of humans, such as a group called the Denisovans, used different types of stone tools.
Typically, Neanderthals endured tough lives. In their era, the Pleistocene, ice often covered large parts of the earth. So, the Neanderthals’ muscular bodies were adapted to endure the cold. It’s impressive that they were able to survive their ice age using just their stone tools as they hunted and gathered. In our age, of course, the world’s ice is melting – and revealing more secrets from history long hidden.
When and where did the Neanderthals live?
It’s believed that Neanderthals existed from about 400,000 years ago to about 40,000 years ago.
During parts of this time span, other species of humans existed too.
Our own species, homo sapiens, originated in Africa and migrated to other parts of the world about 60,000-90,000 years ago. By about 16,000 years ago, homo sapiens were in Europe – as we know from cave paintings like those at Lascaux, France.
Denisovans, another group closely related to the Neanderthals, lived in eastern Eurasia.
And Neanderthals generally lived in Europe and the Middle East. Evidence of them had previously been found as far west as Siberia’s Altai Mountains.
But scientists had believed Neanderthals never migrated southward from Siberia, into China. And stone tools of the types used by the Neanderthals had never been found there.
The discovery in China
In 2019 and 2020, archaeologists discovered a treasure trove of Neanderthal stone tools in Longtan, Yunnan province, China. That’s an astonishing 7,000 kilometres away from the closest evidence of Neanderthals in Siberia. And it’s far further south and east than anyone expected Neanderthals to be.
How did the scientists know the tools were connected to the Neanderthals?
They knew because they recognised the style of the tools. These tools were of a style called ‘Quina’, after La Quina in France where they were first discovered. Quina tools are often scraping tools. And they’re typically tools that help the users to create other, more refined tools.
What could explain this discovery?
So, how did Neanderthal stone tools end up in southwest China 50,000 or 60,000 years ago?
One possibility is that the Neanderthals travelled much farther than we thought.
Or perhaps the Neanderthals taught their stone tool methods to other groups of humans.
The bones of a girl who was part Denisovan and part Neanderthal have been found in a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. So, it’s clear that different human groups met up sometimes. Perhaps the Denisovans learned how to make Quina tools and took their knowledge south into China.
Another answer could be simply that a group of ancient humans residing in that area invented the same types of tools on their own.
What’s the next step?
Though we don’t know exactly why these tools were found in this location, there’s still a lot to learn from this discovery. Previously, there wasn’t much evidence of stone tool technology advancing in East Asia in this period. Now, we can see that assumption was wrong.
Scientists can now start looking for more evidence to solve the mystery. Can we find any Neanderthal remains in East Asia? Or could archaeologists uncover more Quina stone tools together with evidence of other ancient human species?
Only time will tell.
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