Nature: In China, people used pigments 40,000 years ago!

Author: Hu Minqi

"Stone flakes" produced by the hammering method. Photo provided by Yang Shixia

There are some special signs of the evolution of modern humans and the birth of complex civilizations, such as the use of pigments, artistic creation, the wearing of ornaments, and the production of complex tools... For a long time, paleoanthropologists and archaeologists have been curious about when ancient humans in East Asia first began to show this "modern behavior"?

In the past, the international mainstream view was that the technology and culture of people in western Eurasia developed earlier than those in East Asia. However, the latest archaeological evidence from China's Nihewan Basin shows that the two not only developed synchronously, but also had their own characteristics.

On March 3, Nature published online the research results jointly completed by research teams from China, Germany, Spain, France and other countries.

East Asians used pigments 40,000 years ago

In the process of evolution from ancient humans to modern humans, the use of color is one of the important signs, because it is related to the development of human aesthetics and symbolic behavior, and represents the beginning of human beings' deepening into the spiritual world.

However, there has been a lack of archaeological remains in East Asia showing ancient humans' use of pigments and artistic creation.

From 2013 to 2014, the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology discovered the Xiamabei site in Nihewan and conducted systematic excavations. Wang Fagang, the first author of the article and an associate research curator at the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that the thickness of the deposit at this site is 290 centimeters, and the main cultural layer is a rare in-situ burial, preserving many stone tools, bone tools and animal fossil fragments.

The results of high-precision accelerator mass spectrometry carbon-14 and optically stimulated luminescence dating and Bayesian model calculations show that this main cultural layer was formed between 41,000 and 39,000 years ago.

"We saw a red dyed area enriched in hematite in this main cultural layer which is only 12 square meters in size, but this discovery is not enough to prove that it was left behind by human processing," said Wang Fagang.

The task of unraveling the mystery and finding evidence was handed over to Yang Shixia, an associate researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IVPP). She began to think about how to organize and complete various research tasks.

At that time, the field excavation team of the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology found two pieces of hematite of different sizes in the dyeing area. After completing the preliminary determination of the properties, the domestic team cooperated with Professor Francesco d'Errico and Dr. Daniela Eugenia Rosso, "big names" in the field of ornament archaeology at the University of Bordeaux in France, in order to more perfectly interpret this discovery.

The results showed that the surface of the larger piece had obvious signs of repeated friction. "Under the microscope, we can see that the friction has a direction, and the scratches left are also obviously regular," Yang Shixia explained.

They also found hematite micro-chips on another long strip of limestone that was obviously dyed red. The size of the micro-chips was about 200 microns, as thin as a hair. "It's like when we rub a rubber back and forth, a lot of rubber residue will be produced," Yang Shixia said.

To be absolutely sure, the research team also analyzed the sediments in the hematite powder-dyed area of ​​the site and compared them with sediments in other areas of the site and surrounding areas outside the site.

With the help of Deng Chenglong, a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research team conducted geochemical and rock magnetic analyses of the sediments and ultimately determined that only the hematite processing area contained hematite powder left over from artificial grinding.

What did the ancients use these pigments for 40,000 years ago? "It could be for makeup, tattoos, decoration, or for rock painting, or even for more practical purposes, such as leather processing," Yang Shixia told China Science Daily.

The processing and use of pigments is an important "archaeological cultural factor" in the complexity of modern human behavior and the development of ideology. Song Xinchao, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, believes that it represents the higher pursuit of artistic creation, aesthetics, and cognitive expression by ancient humans in East Asia, and that "this pursuit is in sync with the world."

Small and rough, just good to use

During the field excavation, the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology also found nearly 400 stone tools. When they appeared in front of Yang Shixia, the well-informed Paleolithic researcher, she was very surprised.

These stone flakes are very small, more than half of them are less than 2 centimeters. "The diameter of a 5-cent coin is 2.05 centimeters." She said excitedly, "Aren't you curious about what these small pieces that can't even be held by hands are used for? Can they be used to cut meat or scrape bones?"

Moreover, these small stone flakes are irregular in shape and the manufacturing technique is very simple, they are all made by a method similar to cracking walnuts (hammering method). Yang Shixia used the method of experimental archaeology to replicate such small fragments, and a lot of fragments can be obtained in a very short time, so the technical requirements are not high.

If we follow conventional thinking, these stone tools would probably be ignored, but Yang Shixia was obsessed with it.

Based on preliminary observations under a microscope, she selected the specimens and decided to conduct residue and microtrace analysis. For this part of the work, she contacted Professor Andreu Ollé of the Institute of Paleoecology and Human Evolution of Catalonia in Spain.

Using a combination of multiple microscopic equipment and after extensive observation, they not only found traces of cutting on the stone flakes, but also discovered that some of the small stone flakes had bone handle remnants attached to them, and especially the presence of linearly arranged plant fiber remnants, proving that ancient humans at the time already knew how to tie and reinforce bone handles to stone flakes for use as cutting and drilling tools.

In the late Paleolithic period, there was a kind of technology symbolizing early modern people, which was stone blade technology, especially in the western part of the Old World. This technology has a fixed operation process of prefabricated stone cores, directional flaking, and systematic processing. The tools produced were standardized, exquisite, and sharp. Later, microblade technology was developed, which represented a peak of human stone tool technology.

In East Asia, blade and microblade technology appeared relatively late, and the evidence is relatively sporadic. In the past, the mainstream international view was that when ancient humans spread from the western part of the Old World to East Asia, they brought this "advanced" technology with them.

Small stone flakes are easily labeled as backward due to their irregular shapes and simple processing. But the world is dialectical.

When stone tool technology reached its peak, the labor that ancient humans put in for processing also increased exponentially. In order to survive, humans chose more convenient and durable tools rather than complex and sophisticated ones. "From this perspective, East Asian people who are used to using small stone flakes may have long understood the principle of 'simplifying the complex'," Yang Shixia said frankly, "and they also learned to form composite tools by adding handles, which further shows that the ancient humans in East Asia 40,000 years ago were not simple."

"The blade and microblade technology popular in the western part of the Old World is not the only symbol of technological progress in the late Paleolithic period." Gao Xing, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, emphasized in his comments that no matter how and through what paths early humans spread and communicated, it was not a single model, and the manifestations of the complexity of modern humans' technology and behavior should be diverse.

Make ordinary materials extraordinary

"In the past, research on ancient humans in East Asia mainly focused on the origins of Eastern populations, but this research highlights another important direction, which is the development process of human activities." Wang Youping, a professor at the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University, commented that the 12-square-meter main cultural layer of the Xiamabei site fully displays the life of ancient humans in East Asia 40,000 years ago.

People can clearly see that the hematite processing area is located in the northwest corner of the site, with a fire pit to the east, ashes overflowing from the fire pit, and stone tools scattered around. These stone tools are distributed in different positions according to their functions. They rested around the fire, sharpened stones to make colors, embedded stones to make blades, and shared prey, each showing their abilities and performing their duties.

Gao Xing also mentioned that human fossils are not the only important archaeological discoveries, but human cultural relics also have unique significance.

However, the excavation of cultural relics depends not only on simple discovery, but also on various advanced scientific and technological means to make these inconspicuous minerals and tools "speak", such as high-precision accelerator mass spectrometry carbon-14 and optically stimulated luminescence dating analysis, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, rock magnetic analysis, etc.

Bringing together a variety of scientific and technological means relies on international, interdisciplinary, and multi-platform collaboration. For this study, Yang Shixia, the first author and corresponding author, "jokingly" said in an interview that she used almost all the "connections" in her personal resume to find the most suitable collaborators.

"This is also in line with the development trend and requirements of scientific research in the field of human evolution. We need cross-disciplinary cooperation and an open attitude." She believes that in the process of exploring key global scientific issues, international scholars need to unite and cooperate and pay attention to the history of human evolution.

Related paper information:

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04445-2

China Science Daily (2022-03-04 Page 1 News original title: "Look at the 'minimalist' wisdom of East Asians 40,000 years ago")

Editor | Zhao Lu

Typesetting | Zhihai