Ancient wooden tools unearthed in China rewrite the origin of human diet – 300,000 years ago

Archaeologists have unearthed 35 complex wooden tools from southwestern China, and fundamentally our understanding of early human survival strategies.

Dating back 300,000 years, these tools are the oldest evidence of plant foraging techniques outside Europe and Africa, suggesting that our ancestors were more witty than previously thought.

The discovery fills a huge gap in archaeological records. So far, only two locations around the world have produced wooden tools from this period: Schöningen, Germany and Poggetti Vecchi, Italy. Both have hunting tools such as spears and excavation sticks, with occasional plant gatherings.

Different ways to survive

What makes Chinese tools stand out is not only their age, but their purpose. These tools are not weapons for hunting large games, but are specially designed for extracting plant food from lake shores and wetlands.

The tool collection includes large two-hand digging sticks, small pointed hand tools, and uniquely shaped “like hooks” carved out from the base and roots of the suitcase. Four mysterious sheets, each of which is only a few centimeters long, may be awls or tools that separate the root tangles.

Analysis reveals complex manufacturing techniques. Most tools are made of pine wood and show clear evidence of intentional shaping, smoothing and intensive use. The researchers identified five key properties of the entire tool:

• Strategic wood selection Optimal edges and handles
• Visible shaping marks From careful grinding and carving
• Smooth surface Around branch clearance location
• Evidence of wear and tear Including soil residues and tip damage
• Poland and stripes From repeated contact with plant materials

Foraging strategies by the lake

The Gantangqing site is located next to the ancient lake in Yunnan Province, where early humans established what seemed to be complex plant processing operations. Environmental evidence suggests that the region supports a diverse edible resource, including pine cones, hazelnuts, kiwis, berries, and many aquatic plants with edible stems, seeds and underground storage organs.

“These can be extracted from shallow water and muddy sediments on the lakeshore by digging sticks and grip tools,” the researchers noted in the Journal of Science. Strategic locations and professional tools recommend planning visits, rather than opportunistic foraging.

The subtropical environment during marine isotope phase 9 provides year-round plant resources that can maintain population without having to rely heavily on large-scale game hunting, in contrast to contemporary European sites where Mammoth and other Megafauna dominate the diet.

Rewrite prehistoric East Asian

Perhaps most importantly, this discovery challenges the long-term assumptions of early East Asia’s human technology. Compared with their European counterparts, stone tools in the region are often regarded as “primitive”, which has led some researchers to wonder about the cognitive abilities of the eastern population.

Gantangqing Wooden Tools tell a different story. Their complexity suggests that the obvious simplicity in the combination of stone tools may reflect material choice rather than limited functions. In areas rich in bamboo and other organic resources, early humans may have invested their technological innovations in perishable materials that rarely survive in archaeological records.

The site also produced four antler soft hammers, the earliest scrapers and cores in East Asia, indicating a complete technical toolkit suitable for local resources and needs.

The evidence supports the “bamboo hypothesis”, which proposes that large amounts of organic materials in East and Southeast Asia have enabled early humans to develop effective tooling techniques with little to no archaeological traces. Gantangqing Discovery provides the first direct confirmation that this organic tool traditionally exists and is very complex.

The results show that early populations developed different regional methods to survive – some focused on large-scale game hunting with spears, others used specialized excavation and processing tools for systematic plant exploitation. Both strategies require advanced planning, detailed environmental knowledge and considerable technical skills.

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