While the Middle Age period is seen as a dynamic time in European and African history, it is considered a fixed period in East Asia. The discovery of a sophisticated set of stone tools at the Longtan site in southwestern China, which reaches 50,000 to 60,000 years, challenges this perception.
Quina products on the Longtan website, China. Credit image: Rawan And others. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2418029122.
The Middle Age occurred about 300,000 to 40,000 years ago and is a decisive time in human development.
This period is related to the origin and development of modern people in Africa.
In Eurasia, it is associated with the development of many old human groups such as primitive and Denisovan.
However, there is a widespread belief that development in China was slow during most of the ancient Stone Age.
“Our discovery challenges the current understanding of human history and technological development in East Asia,” said Professor and Longong Bi Lee.
“This discovery challenges the long awaited theory among archaeologists that the tools in the Middle Old China were relatively simple and have not changed.”
Professor Lee and his colleagues discovered a rich set of stone tools at the archaeological site of Longan in the Chinese province of Yunnan.
Tools have revealed the existence of a complete Quina technology system, including the cores used to produce large and thick chips, which have been formed and maintained as reveals.
Quina Industry is one of the most represented tools that have been developed in the Middle Ages, about 300,000-40,000 years ago.
It is characterized by very brilliant slope on thick chips, resulting in strong scraps with a severe edge modification, often associated with primitive human being, and represents a strategy developed as a response to open forest land environments and cold/dry climates during the maritime theory 4, about 57,000 to 71,000 years.
The Quina technology system was found in western and southern Europe in this period but was not believed to have been in East Asia.
The effects of corrosion on the Longtan Quina scratches have suggested that they were used on a variety of materials, such as bones, pods, wood, meat, leather and non -wood plants.
Professor Lee said: “The evidence showed that the discovery in Longan greatly expands the geographical distribution of hominin types, the tools they used, and their ability to adapt to different climates and environments.”
“The discovery of Longtan also provides perspectives to understand how Huminins has evolved and advanced in East Asia before the widely of expatriates of the first contemporary human beings about 45,000 years ago.”
“By detecting the artifacts that grow greatly, we are forced to reconsider our models of human immigration patterns and the development of technology in this part of the world.”
“This opens new and exciting ways to search and can rewrite prehistoric in East Asia as we know it.”
A paper About the results published this week in The facts of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Che Yun Rowan And others. 2025. Quina technology indicates the diversity of the later human bysoline dynamics in East Asia. pnas 122 (14): e2418029122; Doi: 10.1073/pnas.2418029122