When Did Modern Humans Occupy China?

News January 18, 2024

SHARE:

GUIZHOU PROVINCE, CHINA—According to a Xinhua report, a modern human molar; animal bones; and objects made of stone, bone, and horn have been unearthed in southwestern China at the Chuandong site by researchers from the Guizhou Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Discovered in 1978, the newly excavated layer in which the artifacts were found has been dated to more than 50,000 years ago. Three burials dated to 10,000 years ago and a bone fishhook were also found at the site. For more on Homo sapiens in China, go to "An Opportunity for Early Humans in China."

  • Letter from El Salvador November/December 2023

    Uneasy Allies

    Archaeologists discover a long-forgotten capital where Indigenous peoples and Spanish colonists arrived at a fraught coexistence

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Roger Atwood)
  • Artifacts November/December 2023

    Sculpture of a Fist

    Read Article
    (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Bridgeman Art Library)
  • Digs & Discoveries November/December 2023

    The Benin Bronzes’ Secret Ingredient

    Read Article
  • Digs & Discoveries November/December 2023

    The Medusa of Mérida

    Read Article
    (Consortium of the Monumental City of Mérida)