US Edition160,000-Year-Old Sophisticated Stone Tools Discovered in China May Not Have Been Made by Homo Sapiens
More than 2,600 tools show planned, multi-step manufacturing and hafting, evidencing advanced cognitive skills in East Asian hominins 160,000–72,000 years ago, researchers said.
- On January 27, 2026, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Griffith University published findings in Nature Communications reporting more than 2,600 stone tools from Xigou archaeological site, including the earliest confirmed composite tools.
- The Xigou stratigraphy indicates a sequence spanning roughly 90,000 years, with stone tools dating between 160,000 and 72,000 years ago from excavation period 2019–2021 after discovery year 2017.
- Laboratory analysis found artifacts with hafted stone pieces showing two handle designs, while microscopic edge analysis revealed boring traces on plant materials and varied reduction strategies.
- Researcher Marwick said, `These come from a period when previous archaeological research has mostly found large artefacts produced using simple flaking methods`, challenging the long-standing Movius Line paradigm.
- The team cautioned it is unclear which hominin made the tools; candidates include Denisovans, Homo longi, Homo juluensis, and Homo sapiens, while fossil and DNA recovery may clarify this.
11 Articles
11 Articles
China’s 160,000-Year-Old Tools Reveal Early Hafting and Complex Technology
Reconstruction of Xigou tool-making. Credit: Hulk Yuan / Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Researchers in central China have uncovered stone tools that were deliberately shaped to be fixed onto handles, dating from about 160,000 to 72,000 years ago, providing early evidence of hafting in China’s stone tools. The discovery challenges long-standing assumptions that early technology in East Asia developed later or followed …
The human populations that inhabited the center of China between 160,000 and 72,000 years ago already manufactured stone tools designed to be tainted, a key technological innovation in the history of humanity that until now was considered much later in East Asia. An international study in which the IPHES-CERCA and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona, published in the journal Nature Communications, have participated, provides the oldest…
Hafted Stone Tools Dating Back 160,000 Years Uncovered in China - Archaeology Magazine
Tanged borer HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA—According to a Live Science report, hafted stone tools dated to as early as 160,000 years ago have been discovered in central China. More than 2,600 stone tools were uncovered at the site of Xigou, and some of them appear to have been attached to a handle or shaft, making them the oldest known composite tools in eastern Asia. Michael Petraglia of Griffith University explained that the use of a handle improved t…
These 160,000-Year-Old Tools Are Rewriting Human History
Ancient tools from central China are flipping the script, revealing early humans were far more innovative than history once gave them credit for. Archaeologists working at a newly excavated site in central China are changing long-standing ideas about how early hominins lived and adapted in East Asia. The discoveries suggest these ancient populations were [...]
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