Discovering a 40,000-year-old civilization created by many human species

A trove of tools and sculptures has just been unearthed in the mountains of northern China, revealing an unknown civilization in which ancient hominins specialized in mining ocher and crafting stone blades.

According to Science Alert, the Xiamabei archaeological site offers a rare glimpse into the lives of ancient Homo sapiens and their extinct relatives, which may have lived in the area 40,000 years ago.

Newly Unearthed Tools

The newly discovered site is located in the Nihewan Basin, a low-lying area in the mountains of northern China. The remains of an ancient civilization hidden in dark sediment 2.5 meters above the ground, are a treasure trove of more than 430 mammal skeletons, wood stoves, physical evidence of use and ocher processing, more than 38- sculptures, many stone tools and artifacts.

The two lead authors - Dr Shixia Yang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and Professor Francesco d'Errico, CNRS Research Director, University of Bordeaux - say what they found belonging to the oldest ocher mill ever excavated in East Asia.

The way ocher was used to color tools, as well as the way they created various shades of ocher reveal very distinctive features of symbolism, technology and behaviour, belonging to a primitive civilization. separate declaration.

Which human species was the main author of this ocher tool-making technology is unknown, as no direct human fossils have been found. The evidence around suggests that Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans could all exhibit electricity here, even coexisting because, as is known, these species still frequently intermarried.