A recent reexamination of the Shilu site in northern China revealed that modern humans inhabited parts of the region 45,000 years earlier than previously known.
According to a study published in the same journal, the Shiyu site was first discovered in 1963, just as China's “Cultural Revolution” (i.e., social decline) was causing mass unrest in the country. Nature. Francesco D'Errico, a professor at the University of Bordeaux, points out that this was not the “optimal time” to find the site. Said New scientist.
Approximately 15,000 stone artifacts and thousands of animal bones have been found throughout the site, and there appear to be at least four major sedimentary layers. However, more than 90% of the human bones found at the site have disappeared, making analysis of Siyu's story extremely difficult, D'Errico argued.
“Our new research has identified an Early Upper Paleolithic archaeological assemblage from the Shiyu site in northern China dating back 45,000 years. points, long-distance obsidian migration, and the use of perforated graphite disks.'' Yang Shixia, one of the other study authors Said Phys.org.
One reviewer wondered if the Shiyu artifacts had penetrated into an older layer, casting doubt on their age. His one of our answers was that to prove that point he dated three cut-marked bones. https://t.co/b3BONdK66q pic.twitter.com/qwOECrIA3A
— Michael Petraglia (@MDPetraglia) January 18, 2024
At least three animal bones and materials pointed to by Shixia show that human migration apparently began much earlier than previously thought. This not only sets back the story of Homo sapiens in China, but also sets back the story of Homo sapiens throughout this period of our history, when other species of humans such as Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo floresiensis migrated. This will shed light on the movement of sapiens. extinct.
Did early Homo sapiens travel east to escape the volcanic ash cloud caused by Italy's last major Campi Flegrei supervolcano eruption? blamed We killed the last Neanderthal, so why not let our ancestors escape?
