An important cache of 35 wooden tools, dated at an estimated 300,000 years ago, has been unearthed at the Gantangqing site in Yunnan Province, southwest China. This discovery sheds new light on the technological progress and plant subsistence behaviors of early hominins in East Asia. Preserved in oxygen-poor clay sediments on the banks of an ancient lake, the tools are the oldest wooden artifacts ever found in the region and represent a world-class archaeological find.
The tools, made of pine and other hardwoods, include digging sticks, hooks, and small pointed devices likely employed in the harvesting of underground plants such as tubers, rhizomes, and roots. The majority of them still bear signs of wear, scraping patterns, and even microscopic plant and soil residues. Micro-wear analysis shows that 32 out of 35 exhibit deliberate modification at their tips or edges, implying purposeful design and use.
“This discovery is exceptional because it preserves a moment in time when early humans were using sophisticated wooden tools to harvest underground food resources,” the lead author of the study, Professor Bo Li of the University of Wollongong (UOW), stated in a statement released by the University of Wollongong. “The tools show a level of planning and craftsmanship that challenges the notion that East Asian hominins were technologically conservative.”
Professor Li’s team used infrared-stimulated luminescence—a technique he helped pioneer—to date potassium feldspar grains, alongside electron spin resonance analysis of a mammal tooth. These methods dated the tools to between 250,000 and 361,000 years ago. The sediments in which the tools were found also contained animal fossils, antler soft hammers, stone tools, and plant remains, suggesting a complex prehistoric ecosystem and a community adept at woodworking.
Unlike European Paleolithic finds such as the hunting spears of Schöningen, Germany, the Gantangqing tools were employed primarily for the gathering of plant foods. This suggests another strategy for living: whereas European hominins hunted large mammals, their East Asian contemporaries were targeting plant-based resources, revealing high behavioral adaptability.
The research, which was published in the journal Science, was a collaborative effort by University of Wollongong scholars, Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers, researchers from the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and several other institutions. The results contradict the usual notions that prehistoric societies in East Asia were behind Africa and Europe in technological development—a belief previously based on discoveries in the region that had largely consisted of simple stone tools.
“The diversity and sophistication of the wooden tools also fill a significant gap in the archaeological record,” said Professor Li. They show that early humans in East Asia had highly developed cognitive skills and a deep knowledge of their environment.
In addition to shedding light on toolmaking, the discovery also provides unique insight into the diets of early humans in the area. While plant residues on the tools were too decomposed to be positively identified, other remains at the site include pine nuts, hazelnuts, kiwi fruit, aquatic tubers, and berries. The presence of such plant food items indicates that these early hominins possessed knowledge of edible flora and undertook strategic foraging trips to the lakeshore with accompanying tools.
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