When did populations of Homo sapiens first arrive in China and what happened
when they encountered the Denisovans or Neanderthals who lived there? A new
study in Nature by an international team of researchers opens a window into
hunter-gatherer lifestyles 40,000 years ago. Archaeological excavations at
the site of Xiamabei in the Nihewan Basin of northern China have revealed
the presence of innovative behaviors and unique toolkits.
The discovery of a new culture suggests processes of innovation and cultural
diversification occurring in Eastern Asia during a period of genetic and
cultural hybridization. Although previous studies have established that Homo
sapiens arrived in northern Asia about 40,000 years ago, much about the
lives and cultural adaptations of these early peoples, and their possible
interactions with archaic groups, remains unknown. In the search for
answers, the Nihewan Basin in northern China, with a wealth of
archaeological sites ranging in age from 2 million to 10,000 years ago,
provides one of the best opportunities for understanding the evolution of
cultural behavior in northeastern Asia.
The article published in Nature describes a unique 40,000-year-old culture
at the site of Xiamabei in the Nihewan Basin. With the earliest known
evidence of ochre processing in Eastern Asia and a set of distinct
blade-like stone tools, Xiamabei contains cultural expressions and features
that are unique or exceedingly rare in northeastern Asia. Through the
collaboration of an international team of scholars, analysis of the finds
offers important new insights into cultural innovation during the expansion
of Homo sapiens populations.
"Xiamabei stands apart from any other known archaeological site in China, as
it possesses a novel set of cultural characteristics at an early date," says
Dr. Fa-Gang Wang of the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and
Archaeology, whose team first excavated the site.
Cultural adaptations at Xiamabei
"The ability of hominins to live in northern latitudes, with cold and highly
seasonal environments, was likely facilitated by the evolution of culture in
the form of economic, social and symbolic adaptations," says Dr. Shixia
Yang, researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck
Institute for the Science of Human History, in Jena, Germany. "The finds at
Xiamabei are helping us to understand these adaptations and their potential
role in human migration."
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| Ochre pieces and stone processing equipment laying on a red-stained pigment patch. Credit: Fa-Gang Wang, Francesco d’Errico / Wang et al. Nature. 2022 |
One of the significant cultural features found at Xiamabei is the extensive
use of ochre, as shown by artifacts used to process large quantities of
pigment. The artifacts include two pieces of ochre with different mineral
compositions and an elongated limestone slab with smoothed areas bearing
ochre stains, all on a surface of red-stained sediment. Analysis by
researchers from the University of Bordeaux, led by Prof. Francesco
d'Errico, indicates that different types of ochre were brought to Xiamabei
and processed through pounding and abrasion to produce powders of different
color and consistency, the use of which stained the habitation floor. Ochre
production at Xiamabei represents the earliest known example of this
practice in Eastern Asia.
The stone tools at Xiamabei represent a novel cultural adaptation for
northern China 40,000 years ago. Because little is known about stone tool
industries in Eastern Asia until microblades became the dominant technology
about 29,000 years ago, the Xiamabei finds provide important insights into
toolmaking industries during a key transition period. The blade-like stone
tools at Xiamabei were unique for the region, with the large majority of
tools being miniaturized, more than half measuring less than 20 millimeters.
Seven of the stone tools showed clear evidence of hafting to a handle, and
functional and residue analysis suggests tools were used for boring, hide
scraping, whittling plant material and cutting soft animal matter. The site
inhabitants made hafted and multipurpose tools, demonstrative of a complex
technical system for transforming raw materials not seen at older or
slightly younger sites.
A complex history of innovation
The record emerging from Eastern Asia shows that a variety of adaptations
were taking place as modern humans entered the region roughly 40,000 years
ago. Although no hominin remains were found at Xiamabei, the presence of
modern human fossils at the contemporary site of Tianyuandong and the
slightly younger sites of Salkhit and Zhoukoudian Upper Cave, suggests that
the visitors to Xiamabei were Homo sapiens. A varied lithic technology and
the presence of some innovations—such as hafted tools and ochre processing,
but not other innovations, such as formal bone tools or ornaments—may
reflect an early colonization attempt by modern humans. This colonization
period may have included genetic and cultural exchanges with archaic groups,
such as the Denisovans, before ultimately being replaced by later waves of
Homo sapiens using microblade technologies.
Given the unique nature of Xiamabei, the authors of the new paper argue that
the archaeological record does not fit with the idea of continuous cultural
innovation, or of a fully formed set of adaptations that enabled early
humans to expand out of Africa and around the world. Instead, the authors
argue that we should expect to find a mosaic of innovation patterns, with
the spread of earlier innovations, the persistence of local traditions, and
the local invention of new practices all taking place in a transitional
phase.
"Our findings show that current evolutionary scenarios are too simple," says
Professor Michael Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute in Jena, "and that
modern humans, and our culture, emerged through repeated but differing
episodes of genetic and social exchanges over large geographic areas, rather
than as a single, rapid dispersal wave across Asia."
Reference:
Shi-Xia Yang, Innovative ochre processing and tool use in China 40,000 years
ago, Nature (2022).
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04445-2