Technological innovations in Africa and Western Europe in the later part of the Middle Pleistocene signal the behavioral complexity of hominin populations. Yet, at the same time, it has long been believed that hominin technologies in Eastern Asia lack signs of innovation and sophistication. Archaeologists have now uncovered evidence of technological innovations at the site of Xigou in China’s Henan province, dating to between 160,000 and 72,000 years ago. Technological, typological, and functional analyses reveal the presence of advanced technological behaviors spanning more than 90,000 years.
Artist’s reconstruction of Xigou tool-hafting. Image credit: Hulk Yuan, IVPP.
“Researchers have argued for decades that while hominins in Africa and Western Europe demonstrated significant technological advances, those in East Asia relied on simpler and more conservative stone-tool traditions,” said Dr. Shixia Yang, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
In the new research, Dr. Yang and colleagues revealed hominins in the region were far more inventive and adaptable than previously believed, at a time when multiple large-brained hominins were present in China, such as Homo longi and Homo juluensis, and possibly Homo sapiens.
“The Xigou findings challenge the narrative that early humans in China were conservative over time,” said Griffith University’s Professor Michael Petraglia.
“Detailed analyses from the site show hominin inhabitants employed sophisticated stone toolmaking methods to produce small flakes and tools that were then used in a diverse array of activities.”
Among the most striking finds was the discovery of hafted stone tools — the earliest-known evidence of composite tools in East Asia.
These tools combined stone components with handles or shafts, and demonstrated complex planning, skilled craftsmanship, and an understanding of how to enhance tool performance.
“Their presence indicates the Xigou hominins possessed a high degree of behavioral flexibility and ingenuity,” said Dr. Jian-Ping Yue, also from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
The site’s rich layers, covering a 90,000-year period, aligned with growing evidence of increasing hominin diversity in China.
Large-brained hominins identified at Xujiayao and Lingjing, sometimes referred to as Homo juluensis, provided a possible biological context for the behavioral complexity reflected in the Xigou assemblages.
“The technological strategies evident in the stone tools likely played a crucial role in helping hominin populations adapt to the fluctuating environments that characterized the 90,000-year-period in Eastern Asia,” Professor Petraglia said.
The Xigou findings reshaped the understanding of human evolution in East Asia, proving early populations possessed cognitive and technical abilities comparable to their counterparts in Africa and Europe.
“Emerging evidence from Xigou and other sites shows early technologies in China included prepared-core methods, innovative retouched tools, and even large cutting tools, pointing to a richer and more complex technological landscape than previously recognized,” Dr. Yang said.
The team’s paper was published today in the journal Nature Communications.
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JP. Yue et al. 2026. Technological innovations and hafted technology in central China ~160,000-72,000 years ago. Nat Commun 17, 615; doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-67601-y
