Located in Yangyuan County, the Nihewan Basin hosts over 30 sites spanning the Early, Middle, and Late Paleolithic periods, making it a crucial area for studying the origins and activities of early East Asian humans.

The team was led by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

According to Pei Shuwen, the leader of the research team, China possesses numerous archaeological sites dating back to the Early to Middle Pleistocene (approximately 2.58 million to 130,000 years ago). However, early stone tool technology was previously thought to have remained relatively primitive and stagnant.

However, through technical analysis and high-precision 3D scanning of the stone tools unearthed at the Cenjiawan site, the research team identified that the "prepared core technology" had been adopted by hominins in the region as early as 1.1 million years ago.

Additionally, sharps and drills that were thought to have the function of repairing were discovered at the site, providing further evidence of the existence of the prepared core technology.

Prepared core technology is an important part of the Acheulean industry, the first standardized tradition of toolmaking of Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens.

Experts believe that the prepared core technology originated during a more advanced stage of the evolution of stone tool technology among ancient humans. Previously, similar techniques have been found in archaeological sites in southern China dating back approximately 800,000 years.

Pei suggests that the latest research indicates the hominins at the Cenjiawan site with higher cognitive abilities were living in northern China 1.1 million years ago. They master the prepared core technology and developing distinct survival strategies and technological forms from those in western Eurasia.

"As a key region outside Africa for studying human evolution and technological development, the Nihewan Basin holds immense potential for shaping research in the evolution and behavioral development of humans in East Asia over millions of years," Pei stated.

The findings, titled Earliest Prepared core technology in Eurasia from Nihewan (China): Implications for early human abilities and dispersals in East Asia, have been published in the international academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on March 4.

Global Times