While the Middle Paleolithic period is viewed as a dynamic time in European and African history, it is commonly considered a static period in East Asia. The discovery of a sophisticated set of stone tools at the Longtan site in southwest China, dated to 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, challenges that perception.
Products of the Quina system at the Longtan site, China. Image credit: Ruan et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2418029122.
The Middle Paleolithic occurred about 300,000 to 40,000 years ago and is considered a crucial time in human evolution.
The period is associated with the origin and evolution of modern humans in Africa.
In Eurasia, it is linked to the development of several archaic human groups such as Neanderthals and Denisovans.
However, there is a widely held belief that development in China was sluggish during most of the Paleolithic.
“Our discovery challenges the current understanding of human history and technological development in East Asia,” said University of Wollongong’s Professor Bo Li.
“This discovery challenges the long-established prevailing theory among archaeologists that tools in Middle Paleolithic China were relatively simple and unchanged.”
Professor Li and colleagues unearthed a rich collection of stone tools at the Longtan archaeological site in China’s Yunnan province.
The tools revealed a complete Quina technological system, including cores used to produce large and thick flakes, which were further shaped and maintained as scrapers.
Quina industry is one of the most representative tool-making strategies developed in the Middle Paleolithic, around 300,000-40,000 years ago.
It is characterised by steep, scaled retouch on thick flakes, producing robust scrapers with heavy edge modification, often associated with Neanderthals, and represents a strategy developed as a response to the open forest-grassland environments and cool/dry climates during the Marine Isotopic Stage 4, about 57,000 to 71,000 years ago.
The Quina technological system was found in Western and Southern Europe in this period but was not believed to have been present in East Asia.
The wear traces on the Longtan Quina scrapes suggested they were used on a variety of materials, such as bones, antlers, wood, meat, hides, and non-woody plants.
“The evidence showed that the discovery at Longtan substantially broadens the geographic distribution of hominin species, the tools they used, and their adaptability to adapt to different climates and environments,” Professor Li said.
“The Longtan discovery also provides perspectives for understanding how hominins species evolved and progressed in East Asia before the large-scale arrivals of early modern humans around 45,000 years ago.”
“By uncovering artifacts that are significantly older, we’re forced to reconsider our models of human migration patterns and the evolution of technology in this part of the world.”
“This opens up exciting new avenues for research and could rewrite the prehistory of East Asia as we know it.”
A paper on the findings was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Qi-Jun Ruan et al. 2025. Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia. PNAS 122 (14): e2418029122; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2418029122
