20,000 Year-Old Stone Tools Discovered

 

    Archaeologists have disinterred 21 sites of ruins of the Palaeolithic Age dating back more than 20,000 years in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

They unearthed over 20,000 stone implements from the sites near Longwangchan Village of Hukou Town, Yichuan County, during excavations, said a source with the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Institute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These stone implements include fine stone cores, a millstone and other tools, said the source.

The most eye-catching discovery was a polished shovel made of shale, measuring 12.7 centimeters long, 9.2 centimeters wide and 0.8 centimeters thick.

Experts said the shovel was one of the most important discoveries from the Paleolithic Age in China and estimated it could be the earliest polished stone tool ever discovered in China.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These implements will doubtless help experts study the origins and development of China's microlithic industry, archaeologists said.

Compared with Europe, China has unearthed relatively few decorative items from the Palaeolithic Age.

However, the archaeologists recently discovered two pieces of ornaments made of clamshell: one a rectangle, 3.7 centimeters long and 1.6 centimeters wide; and the other fan-shaped, 1.5 centimeters long and 1.1 centimeters wide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These ornaments provide material evidence of the way of life in late Palaeolithic times, said experts with the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Institute.

Archaeologists also discovered fragments of charcoal and charred animal bones at over 20 sites, evidence of the use of fire.