Evidence of the earliest stone tools with handles in northern China: Discovered from the study of Salawusu stone tools 90,000 years ago-Chinanews.com

2023-02-01T07:39:04.724Z

In the distant Paleolithic Age, when did ancient humans in northern China begin to attach handles to the stone tools for easy use? This issue has attracted much attention for a long time, but previous research has not had a clear conclusion. The latest news from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (Institute of Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) said that Yang Shixia, an associate researcher at the institute, led the re-study of a batch of stone artifacts from the Salawusu site in Inner Mongolia. Morphology, 3D modeling, and microtrace analysis revealed that the Salawusu stone tools about 90,000 years ago were indeed processed with "repair collars" ("collars" are the parts where stone tools are connected to the handles, which is convenient for binding them to the handles), and there are The traces of the use of handles have become the earliest evidence of stone tool handles in northern China so far known. The research results were jointly completed by researchers from the Institute of Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Minzu University of China, Tohoku University in Japan, and the University of Hawaii in the United States. It has recently been published in the international professional academic journal "Journal of Archaeological Science: Report". The picture shows that on January 30, in Beijing, researchers from the Institute of Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences displayed a sample of a "collar-repairing" Salawusu stone tool. Photo by China News Agency reporter Sun Zifa