Overview
- Nature Communications publishes a cross-validated chronology placing Xigou’s cultural layers at roughly 160,000 to 72,000 years ago using multiple luminescence methods, including ReOSL.
- Excavations recovered 2,601 stone artifacts displaying prepared-core production, discoid and core-on-flake strategies, and standardized retouching on predominantly small tools.
- Traceological evidence confirms the region’s earliest composite tools, with two distinct haft designs identified as juxtaposed and male.
- Microwear studies indicate tasks such as boring against plant materials, likely wood or reeds, consistent with handled implements.
- The toolmakers remain unidentified, with researchers citing possible Denisovan, Homo longi, Homo juluensis, or early Homo sapiens populations, and the findings challenge the long-used Movius Line narrative.