160,000-Year-Old Stone Tools Reveal Advanced Tool Making in East Asia

At a site overlooking the Danjiangkou Reservoir in central China, archaeologists uncovered stone tools so small and finely worked that they’d be easy to overlook. Closer inspection showed that some of the tools had once been attached to handles, forming composite implements that required careful planning and technical skill.

The work centers on Xigou, an archaeological site dated to between 160,000 and 72,000 years ago. The tools suggest that early humans living in this region were capable of sophisticated stoneworking strategies and flexible problem-solving during a period when several large-brained hominin species may have coexisted in China. The findings, reported in Nature Communications, complicate prevailing ideas about how, and where, technological innovation unfolded in human evolution.

“Researchers have argued for decades that while hominins in Africa and western Europe demonstrated significant technological advances, those in East Asia relied on simpler and more conservative stone-tool traditions,” said expedition leader Shixia Yang, in a press release.

“The Xigou findings challenge the narrative that early humans in China were conservative over time,” added study co-author Michael Petraglia.

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Uncovering Early Human Stone Tools in Asia

At Xigou, stone tools are embedded in sediments that accumulated over nearly 90,000 years. The length of this sequence makes it possible to track how toolmaking practices changed over time, instead of drawing conclusions from a single moment in the past.

To establish when the tools were made, the research team applied multiple luminescence dating techniques to sediments from different layers of the site. By comparing results from different samples, they were able to build a reliable timeline placing human activity within the Middle to early Late Pleistocene.

This period coincides with growing evidence of hominin diversity in China. Fossils from other sites, including Xujiayao and Lingjing, suggest the presence of large-brained hominins sometimes referred to as Homo juluensis, alongside forms such as Homo longi and possibly early Homo sapiens. While no hominin fossils have yet been recovered from Xigou itself, the site’s archaeological record fits squarely within this broader evolutionary landscape.

Precision in Small Stone Tools

The excavation turned up more than 2,600 artifacts, many of them small flakes and retouched tools.

Researchers found that toolmakers at Xigou used multiple stone-reduction strategies, ranging from expedient flaking to discoid and core-on-flake technologies, in which flakes are systematically removed from a stone core. Many tools show consistent retouching patterns, indicating deliberate shaping rather than casual use.

“Emerging evidence from Xigou and other sites shows early technologies in China included prepared-core methods, innovative retouched tools, and even large cutting tools, pointing to a richer and more complex technological landscape than previously recognized,” said Yang.

The Earliest Composite Tools in East Asia

One of the clearest signs of technological complexity at Xigou comes from tools that were once hafted — attached to handles or shafts made from other materials. These composite tools represent the earliest confirmed example of hafting technology in East Asia.

Producing such tools requires more than shaping stone. Toolmakers must plan ahead, select appropriate materials, and understand how different components work together. Trace analysis indicates that Xigou hominins used at least two handle designs, pointing to experimentation and technical flexibility.

“The technological strategies evident in the stone tools likely played a crucial role in helping hominin populations adapt to the fluctuating environments that characterized the 90,000-year-period in Eastern Asia,” said Petraglia.

The findings show that early humans in East Asia were not outliers. They made tools that helped them adapt to changing environments.

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