Rare wooden tools from Stone Age China reveal plant-based lifestyle of ancient lakeside humans

By Bo Li, Professor, Environmental Futures Research Centre, School of Science, University of Wollongong
Jianhui Liu, Senior Researcher, Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Robin Dennell, Professor Emeritus, School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities, University of Sheffield
Xing Gao, Professor, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Ancient wooden tools found at a site in Gantangqing in southwestern China are approximately 300,000 years old, new dating has shown. Discovered during excavations carried out in 2014–15 and 2018–19, the tools have now been dated by a team of archaeologists, geologists, chronologists (including me) and paleontologists.

The rare wooden tools were found alongside an assortment of animal and plant fossils and stone artifacts.

Taken together, the finds suggest the early humans at Gantangqing were…

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