China’s Oldest Bone Tools

News May 8, 2018

(Luc Doyon)
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China bone tools
(Luc Doyon)

ZHENGZHOU, CHINA—Xinhua reports that seven bone hammers estimated to be 115,000 years old have been found in central China, at a Paleolithic site in Xuchang City. Li Zhanyang of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology said the tools had been made from the long leg bones of herbivores, and are thought to have been used to retouch stone tools. Before this discovery, China’s oldest known bone tools, unearthed in southwest China, dated to 35,000 years ago. For more on archaeology in China, go to “Tomb Couture.”

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