Yang Shixia, an associate researcher from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), and colleagues at home and abroad, recently discovered the use of pigments and their composite tools by early humans at the Xiamabei site in the Nihewan Basin, the "hometown of oriental humans". The archaeological evidence, including the pigment raw material hematite (ocher), processing stone tools and small stone inlays and other important remains, research confirms that its age is more than 40,000 years ago, and it is the earliest known prehistoric human processing in China and even in East Asia. Key evidence of the use of pigments and complex fabrication techniques.
In the early morning of March 3rd, Beijing time, this important research paper, which traces the formation, diffusion, communication, and the origin and evolution of "behavioral modernity" in early modern populations through "modern behavioral elements" such as the use of pigments, artistic creation, and composite tools, is published in The internationally renowned academic journal "Nature" was published online and released on the same day as one of the important progresses of the "Archaeological China" major project of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, thereby advancing the history of the use of pigments by early humans in East Asia to 40,000 years ago, and also making the eastern ancient humans. The history of artistic creation, aesthetics, and cognitive expression is greatly advanced.
On the eve of the publication of this important achievement, Yang Shixia, the co-first author and co-corresponding author of the paper, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency in Beijing to explain the discovery and research of the earliest human-made pigment remains in East Asia at the Xiama Stele Site.
(Reporter Sun Zifa)
Responsible editor: [Fang Jialiang]