Remnants of Old Stone Age Culture Discovered in an Architectural Site in China

The Paleolithic Period, also known as the Old Stone Age, is known for its primitive stone tools embedded in rocks dating to 3.3 million years ago. A recent excavation in an architectural site Beijing, China unearthed remnants of the time.

Less than 100 miles west of Beijing, an archaeological site, called Xiamabei, gives a short glimpse into the lives of now extinct Homo sapiens, where remnants of an Old Stone Age culture were discovered, LiveScience reported. The newly excavated site on the southern bank of the Huliu River lies within the Nihewan Basin, a depression in a mountainous region of northern China.

A dig of about 8 feet underground revealed a layer of "dark and silty" sediment dated between 41,000 and 39,000 years ago, containing treasure trove of artifacts and animal remains, among others.

A study published in the journal Nature reports the results of archaeological findings at Xiamabei and the novel set of cultural characteristics at the time, offering new important insights into the expansion of H. sapiens along the northern route.

Life 40,000 years ago

According to co-first author and researcher Shixia Yang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, the spotted remains "seemed to be in their original spots after the site was abandoned by the residents."

"Based on this, we can reveal a vivid picture of how people lived 40,000 years ago in Eastern Asia."

The artifacts were "a surprise" for co-senior author Francesco d'Errico, a CNRS Director of Research at the Bordeaux University and professor at the University of Bergen, as these were notably the earliest-known ochre workshop for East Asia, and the tiny stone tools collection suggests that specialized tool kits, like other primitive stone tools, predate the oldest confirmed specimens of Homo, according to Britannica.

Among the other findings were over 430 mammal bones; a hearth; physical evidence of ochre use and processing; a tool made of bone; and more than 380 miniaturized lithics, or small tools and artifacts made of chipped or ground stone.

Also read: Stonehenge May Have been a Timekeeping System to Keep Track of a Solar Year

Use of ochre

The researchers could not determine exactly how the pigment was used and "distinguishing between symbolic and functional uses of ochre in the material culture record is an ongoing challenge for prehistoric archaeologists," says Andrew M. Zipkin, an adjunct professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University and an associate scientist at Eurofins EAG Laboratories, who was not involved in the study.

The traces of ochre on several stone tools at the site hinted that the pigment may have been used as an additive used in hide processing and as an ingredient in a hafting adhesive which was used to affix handles to stone tools. Zipkin notes the possibility that the pigment may have also been used symbolically.

Overall, the team believes that these artifacts could have been used for multiple purposes, including boring through materials, hide scraping, whittling plant material and cutting soft animal matter. On the other hand, the unhafted lithics may have also been used for several purposes, such as boring hard materials and cutting softer materials.

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