A recent reexamination of the Shiyu archaeological site in northern China revealed modern humans inhabited parts of the region 45,000 years earlier than previously known.
The Shiyu site was originally discovered in 1963, right around when China’s “cultural revolution” (i.e.: social devolution) caused massive unrest in the nation, according to a study published in the journal Nature. This wasn’t exactly “the best time” to find the site, University of Bordeaux professor Francesco d’Errico told New Scientist.
Some 15,000 stone artifacts and thousands of animal bones have been uncovered throughout the site, which appears to have at least four major deposit layers. But more than 90% of the human remains found at the site have disappeared, d’Errico claimed, meaning analysis of the Shiyu story has been an uphill battle.
“Our new study identified an Initial Upper Paleolithic archaeological assemblage from the Shiyu site of North China dating to 45,000 years ago that includes blade technology, tanged and hafted projectile points, long-distance obsidian transfer, and the use of a perforated graphite disk,” one of the other study authors, Yang Shixia told Phys.org.
One of the reviewers wondered if the Shiyu artefacts were intruded into older layers – calling into question their age. One of our responses was to date three cut-marked bones to prove the point. https://t.co/b3BONdK66q pic.twitter.com/qwOEQrIA3A
— Michael Petraglia (@MDPetraglia) January 18, 2024
At least three animal bones, along with the materials noted by Shixia, revealed human migration clearly started well before previously considered. This not only pushes back the story of Homo sapiens in China but sheds light on Homo sapiens migrations throughout this period of our history, when other species of humans, such as Neanderthal, Denisovan and homo floresiensis, went extinct.
Could it be that early Homo sapiens were traveling east to escape the ash clouds caused by the last major Campi Flegrei supervolcanic eruption in Italy? This eruption is partially blamed for killing off the last of the Neanderthals, so why wouldn’t it push our ancestors to flee?