The story goes back a long, long time, when there were many different kinds of ancient humans living on Earth. Regarding the origin, evolution and diffusion of modern man, this is a topic that has attracted much attention in recent years. Among them, there are two special "relatives" - Neanderthals and Denisovans, who are members of the human family like the ancestors of modern man, late Homo sapiens, that is, ourselves.
But why are modern people able to succeed?
It's really about our ability to adapt. Modern human brains are smarter, better able to understand and use their surroundings, and have even invented many sophisticated survival strategies. This wisdom allows them to navigate with nature and find a way to survive in both cold glaciers and hot deserts. In addition to this, there is another important reason, and that is that our technical and cognitive abilities develop very quickly. This allows us to create a wide variety of tools and items that help us survive in a variety of environments. Not only that, but late Homo sapiens also knew how to work together to form closer social ties. This wide range of adaptability allowed "modern man" to occupy an absolute advantage in competition with other ancient humans, and eventually became the only intelligent species on earth.
A long time ago, there was a period called the "Early Paleolithic Period". At this stage, in the western part of Eurasia, the people there mastered two particularly powerful crafts - "Levalowa" and "Stone Leaf Technique". These two crafts are like their magic wands, conjuring all kinds of useful tools out of stone. This is a cultural hallmark of the early Upper Paleolithic.
Not only do they make tools, but they also travel long distances to find valuable resources, just like we go to the market to buy things now, but then we have to walk a long, long way. Moreover, these ancient people also knew how to decorate themselves with brightly colored paints, making exquisite trinkets to fill life with color and personality. But in the heart of our East Asian region. Such cultural signs of "modernity" were not found for a long time. This has led some to believe that humanity in East Asia may have entered the "modern age" later than elsewhere.
On January 18 this year, the well-known scientific journal Nature Ecology and Evolution published an academic paper entitled "Initial Upper Palaeolithic material culture by 45,000 years ago at Shiyu in northern China". An exciting new discovery has been revealed. Subverts the above view. The protagonist of this story is a young talent at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researcher Yang Shixia, who leads a scientific research team, including experts such as Huang Weiwen, Hou Yamei and Zhao Keliang, to reveal an astonishing historical secret.
The ruins of Shiyu are located in the bosom of nature called the Nihewan Basin, which was discovered in 1963. There was a well-known archaeologist named Jalanpo who found that these people were very good at hunting, and they even made bows and arrows to catch animals. He is especially good at chasing down horses that run fast. Mr. Jia admired these skills of the Yu people very much, and he affectionately called them "horse hunters". This title was recognized by another well-known cultural celebrity, Mr. Guo Moruo. Since then, the story of the "Horse Hunter" has been remembered by more people and passed down from generation to generation.
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Scientists have used advanced scientific and technological means to recalculate the age of the Shiyu site. It was originally thought to be 35,000 years old, but it is now confirmed to be 45,000 years old, nearly 10,000 years earlier than originally estimated. Scientists have carefully studied the material, and they believe that this is the oldest evidence of the Upper Paleolithic early period culture in northern China and even East Asia. These include particularly fine stone tools, ornaments, and bone objects, as well as obsidian materials brought in from afar.
For example, there are several obsidian stone tools that have been tested to come from the distant Changbai Mountains or the Russian Far East, about 800 to 1,000 kilometers from the Zhiyu site! It is unimaginable that the long journey began tens of thousands of years ago.
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These discoveries paint a vivid picture: 45,000 years ago in northern China, the Shiyu people created a unique cultural combination. Their stone tools incorporated Western techniques while retaining Eastern production concepts, and they also crafted beautiful ornaments and bone tools.
Although the Shiyu site is an old place discovered in the 60s of the last century, scientists have made new discoveries here. It now seems that even if a site has already been studied, new insights can be found if it is re-examined in a new way. It's like re-reading a book you've already read and you might find something important that you hadn't noticed before. So, scientific research is not just about finding new places or new materials. Sometimes, researching already existing material in a new way can also be very rewarding.