Overview

• Archaeologists uncovered 35 intentionally shaped wooden implements at the Gantangqing site in Yunnan Province, China.
• Feldspar mineral dating places the toolkit between 361,000 and 250,000 years ago, marking the earliest known organic artifacts in East Asia’s Early Paleolithic.
• The artifacts exhibit clear signs of carving, smoothing and wear, indicating deliberate manufacture by hominins.
• Tool form and wear patterns suggest they were used for digging underground tubers and slicing nuts, pointing to a plant-based subsistence strategy.
• Published in Science on July 3, 2025, the study overturns assumptions of technological stagnation in Paleolithic East Asia and implicates Denisovans as the likely toolmakers.