Neanderthals Keep Getting Smarter
Contemplate this headline: “Archaeologists Find Neanderthal Stone Tool Technology in China.”
At one time, Neanderthals were considered stupid. So the implication would be that those tools didn’t work very well.
Things have changed. Neanderthal art, glue, ornaments, etc., have forced a rethink. Those who are looking for the subhuman are still looking…
Those Mysterious Neanderthals
Meanwhile, Neanderthals are presenting some mysteries, including this one:
At ZME Science, Alexandra Gerea reports that stone tools found in Yunnan province in China, dating from 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, “look exactly like those made by Neanderthals in Ice Age Europe” using a technique now called Quina:
For a long time, archaeologists thought people in East Asia completely skipped the Middle Paleolithic. But this discovery says otherwise.
Quina is not just a vague style. It’s a craftsmanship signature. These tools — thick, sharp-edged scrapers with repeated retouch marks — were long considered an unmistakable calling card of Neanderthals in Europe.
Their presence in East Asia is perplexing. They’re around 7 to 8 thousand kilometers east of the region traditionally associated with this technology.
“Neanderthal Stone Tool Technology,” April 4, 2025
From the paper’s Abstract
The finding of a Quina lithic assemblage in China not only demonstrates the existence of a Middle Paleolithic technology in the region but also shows large-scale analogies with Neanderthal behaviors in western Europe. Longtan substantially extends the geographic distribution of this technical behavior in East Asia. Although its origin remains unclear, implications for Pleistocene hominin dispersal and adaptation to diverse ecological settings are considered.
Q. Ruan et al., Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (14) e2418029122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2418029122 (2025)
Could these far-separated populations have met up?
Fifty Years of Progress
Study author Ben Marwick doesn’t speculate on that at The Conversation, but he does say,
During the Middle Paleolithic, there were multiple human species that could make tools like this. It could have been modern humans like us. But it could also have been Neanderthals. Considering that the Quina technology in Europe is directly associated with Neanderthals, this seems likely. But it could also have been Denisovans, an extinct species similar to modern humans found during this time in Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and Laos, or even a new human species that hasn’t been seen before.
Whoever was making and using these Quina scrapers, they were able to be inventive and flexible with their technology, adapting to their changing environment.
“Stone tool discovery in China shows people in East Asia were innovating during the Middle Paleolithic, like in Europe and Middle East,” March 31, 2025
Neanderthal man has sure smartened up in the last fifty years.
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