Composite tool find puts China at centre of tech revolution up to 160,000 years ago: paper

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by Holly ChikJanuary 27, 2026 at 05:01 PM

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A new study suggests that hominins in China may have been technologically advanced as early as 160,000 years ago. Researchers discovered hafted tools, the earliest evidence of composite tools in eastern Asia, at the Xigou archaeological site in Henan province, China. This find challenges the prevailing view that Stone Age technology in eastern Asia lacked innovation. The discovery indicates that hominins in China possessed the cognitive and technical skills to create complex tools for cutting, piercing, and sawing, comparable to those found in Africa and Eurasia during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. The Xigou site, discovered in 2017, was excavated between 2019 and 2021.

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Africa 30% Eurasia 30% Norway 40% Spain 40% United States 40% Australia 40% Nature Communications 50% Danjiangkou reservoir 50% Qinling mountain range 50% Henan 60% Xigou ×370% China ×490%

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stone age technology 90% china 90% composite tools 80% xigou 70% hominin evolution 70% hafted tools 60% middle pleistocene 60% archaeological site 60% tool find 50% material culture 50%