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Did Denisovans or Homo Erectus Make the Oldest Wooden Tools in East Asia?

GANTANGQING ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE, JIANGCHUAN COUNTY, YUNNAN PROVINCE, CHINA, JUL 3 – The 35 wooden tools reveal early humans used complex technology to harvest underground plants, indicating advanced cognition and a plant-based diet, researchers said.

  • Researchers published a study on July 3, 2025, revealing 300,000-year-old wooden tools from the Gantangqing site in southwest China.
  • The discovery stems from excavations in clay sediments by an ancient lakeshore, where pre-100,000-year-old wooden tools are rare outside Africa and Western Eurasia.
  • Among the 35 tools discovered, two large digging sticks were identified as heavy-duty implements used to harvest subterranean edible parts of plants, including tubers, rhizomes, and corms.
  • Professor Bo Li stated that the discovery captures a specific period when ancient humans employed advanced wooden implements to gather subterranean edible plants, thereby revising previous ideas about how early humans adapted.
  • This discovery expands knowledge of Middle Pleistocene East Asian hominin technology and suggests strategic use of lakeshore plant resources in a subtropical environment.
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World News broke the news in United States on Thursday, July 3, 2025.
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