Dr. Rick Potts co-directed excavations in the Bose region, Guangxi Autonomous region, with Prof. Huang Weiwen and Dr. Hou Yamei of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, along withother Chinese geologists and archeologists. As reported in the journal Science, the team found the oldest known large cutting tools in China, which resemble the handaxes of their African contemporaries in several ways. These include the intensive striking of flakes from both sides of large ovate rocks, typically river cobbles at Bose (rather than large flakes in Africa), and systematic shaping of a pointed or beveled end versus a rounded opposite end. The overall comparison indicates similar competence and skill in toolmaking in East Asia as occurred further west at the time of the Bose meteor impact, even though the large tool technology at Bose may have been independently developed.
LOCATION(S): China (People's Republic of)
Topics: Species
