45,000-Year-Old Stone Tools Recovered in China

News January 3, 2018

(The Institute of Archaeology, CASS)
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China Tongtiandong Cave
(The Institute of Archaeology, CASS)

XINJIANG, CHINA—Newsweek reports that archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have recovered some 2,000 artifacts from continuous layers spanning tens of thousands of years in Tongtiandong Cave, which is located in northern China. Some of the artifacts, such as stone tools and the butchered and burned bones of rabbits, sheep, donkeys, rhinoceroses, bears, and birds, are thought to be 45,000 years old. Other artifacts include objects made of iron and bronze, pottery, and millstones for grinding grain. Wheat recovered from the cave has been dated to between 3,500 and 5,000 years ago. It could be some of the first wheat grown in the region. For more, go to “Letter From China: Tomb Raider Chronicles.”

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