Ancient wooden tools, from long before Homo sapiens emerged, discovered in China

In the hills of southwestern China, near the ancient shoreline of Fuxian Lake, a major archaeological discovery has reshaped how scientists understand the early use of tools. A collection of 35 wooden implements—some resembling digging sticks, others shaped like small, pointed hand tools—was unearthed at a site called Gantangqing.

These rare wooden artifacts are estimated to be between 361,000 and 250,000 years old. This timeframe places them in the Middle Pleistocene, a period long before Homo sapiens emerged. Despite their age, the tools were remarkably well-preserved. The clay-heavy, low-oxygen soil near the lake helped protect the wood from the decay that usually erases organic tools from history.

This find offers a rare glimpse into the daily lives of early humans in East Asia and challenges previous beliefs about their capabilities. It also provides strong evidence that woodworking, once thought to be a later skill, was already in practice by these distant ancestors.

Unlike stone or bone, wood is fragile. It decays quickly when exposed to air, moisture, and microorganisms. That’s why ancient wooden tools are nearly impossible to find, especially ones older than 50,000 years. Most known examples come from Africa and parts of western Eurasia.

However, at Gantangqing, the unique conditions allowed wood to survive. The tools had been buried in deep, oxygen-poor sediment near an old lakeshore. This rare environment created the perfect preservation chamber.

Archaeologists, paleontologists, and geologists worked together at this site between 2014 and 2019. The result is a collection that reveals much more than just tool use. It opens a window into how these early humans lived, worked, and adapted to their environment.

Dating wood directly is nearly impossible without destroying it. Instead, scientists dated the sediment layers where the tools were found.

Using a method called infrared stimulated luminescence, they examined over 10,000 grains of mineral to determine when the surrounding soil was last exposed to sunlight. The results showed a range between 350,000 and 200,000 years ago.

To confirm this, researchers also dated a mammal tooth found in the same layer. It came back at roughly 288,000 years old. Both dating methods matched closely. Finally, using a mathematical model to combine all the evidence, researchers narrowed the likely age of the wooden implements to between 360,000–300,000 years ago and 290,000–250,000 years ago.

The wooden tools from Gantangqing include large, two-handed digging sticks, as well as smaller, hand-held implements. Many of the tools are made from pine, with a few crafted from harder woods. Several feature intentionally polished surfaces, sharp chisel-like blades, hook-shaped curves, or rounded tips.

Out of the 35 artifacts, 32 show clear signs of shaping—such as cutting, scraping, and polishing. Soil residues clinging to the tips suggest they were used for digging into the ground. Parallel grooves, wear marks, and polish patterns offer more clues about how they were used.

Microscopic traces of wear and shaping were found on 19 tools, while 17 show smooth, polished surfaces that came from repeated use. This kind of detail suggests skilled craftsmanship and planned use. These tools weren’t just broken sticks—they were carefully made, probably for specific tasks like digging up roots and tubers.

Some of the digging tools are heavier than anything seen at other sites from the same era. They may have been used to extract underground food from dense soil. Their shape and size indicate that they were likely crafted with two-handed digging in mind—something not seen before in similar tool discoveries.

Compared to finds from sites like Clacton in the UK or Florisbad in South Africa, the Gantangqing collection is more complete and diverse. It includes a broader variety of tools, with more complex modifications.

The tools suggest a lifestyle that relied heavily on plant gathering. The ancient people who used these tools lived in a warm, wet, subtropical climate filled with a rich variety of plants and animals.

Pollen analysis from the site identified 40 different plant families. Fossilized remains of trees, vines, herbs, and shrubs confirmed that Gantangqing was once a lush lakeside forest. Evidence from the sediment also included aquatic plants that likely grew in the shallow waters along the shore.

Animals like rhinoceroses, turtles, birds, and diving ducks roamed the area. Their fossils suggest a mix of grasslands, wetlands, and forests, with a freshwater lake at the center. Fruit-bearing trees like grapes and raspberries grew nearby, along with hazelnuts and pine nuts. Edible leaves, roots, tubers, and ferns were also present. Many of these plant foods grow underground or in shallow water, which would have made digging tools essential.

The evidence points to a plant-based diet. These early humans likely traveled to the lake with tools in hand, ready to dig for nutritious roots and other underground food. Their success would have required deep knowledge of the local plants, including when they were in season and which parts were safe to eat.

The Gantangqing site offers the earliest known proof of specialized digging sticks and underground plant gathering in East Asia. It shows that early humans in this part of the world were capable woodworkers who used complex tools to survive in a rich, wet environment.

This is a very different picture from the one painted by sites in colder regions like northern Europe, where survival depended more on hunting large animals. There, tools were often made of stone and used for cutting meat or scraping hides.

At Gantangqing, the wooden tools reveal a broader tool-making culture that went beyond what the stone record shows. Many archaeologists have long focused on stone tools simply because those are what survive best. But this find proves that early humans were just as skilled with organic materials like wood.

The advanced shaping of these tools challenges the idea that humans in East Asia during the Early Paleolithic were behind in tool-making skills. The wooden artifacts from Gantangqing are not only older than most other wood tools found globally, but also show a level of specialization and craftsmanship that rivals or exceeds other known sites.

This breakthrough changes how scientists view early human technology. It confirms that woodworking was a valuable part of survival strategies even hundreds of thousands of years ago. It also shows that early humans didn’t just react to their environment—they shaped it with planning, creativity, and skill.

Researchers believe many more wooden tools were likely used in the past, but have not survived the long passage of time. Finds like the one at Gantangqing offer rare and valuable insight into how early hominins lived and thrived. The discovery highlights how much we might still be missing.

Future excavations in similar preservation environments could help complete the picture of human evolution—not just through stone, but also through the lost world of wood.

Research findings are available online in the journal Science.

Note: The article above provided above by The Brighter Side of News.

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