![\"Neanderthals](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/92d218b3-1c4b-47af-86c6-8fdbb4dac29f_a5764165.jpg\" "\\"Neanderthals")
Neanderthals engaging in a feast during prehistoric times, as depicted in L\u2019Homme Primitif, published in 1870. Photo: Universal History Archive\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\nArchaeologists in central China have directly challenged the long-held belief that humanity\u2019s earliest ancestors reached their creative peak during warm and hospitable climates.<\/p>\n
For more than a decade, a team of researchers in Henan province has studied a 146,000-year-old animal-butchering site once inhabited by Homo juluensis, an extinct human species that lived about 300,000 years ago in eastern Asia. Their discovery of remarkably inventive tools suggests that these ancient cousins of Homo sapiens were driven to technological innovation by challenging environmental conditions.<\/p>\n
Yuchao Zhao, the lead author of a new paper published in the Journal of Human Evolution, said in a statement: \u201cPeople often imagine creativity as something that flourishes in good times. Finding out that these stone tools were made during a harsh ice age tells a different story. Hard times can force us to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neanderthals engaging in a feast during prehistoric times, as depicted in L\u2019Homme Primitif, published in 1870. Photo: Universal History Archive\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Moreover, these tools indicate that ancient humans in East Asia during the Middle Pleistocene (about 120,000 to 300,000 years ago) were more technologically advanced than previously assumed. Until now, it was widely believed that humans in this region lagged behind their counterparts in Africa and Europe.<\/p>\n
The stone tools, while simple, were created by striking smaller stones against larger ones in a process that the scientists noted would have required planning and the eventual development of a manufacturing technique.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the team indicated that the stones were shaped into various forms, suggesting that the tools were not created by simply smashing rocks together; rather, the makers understood how the materials would interact.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe underlying logic of this system \u2013 and the cognitive abilities it reflects \u2013 shows important similarities to Middle Palaeolithic technologies often associated with Neanderthals in Europe and with human ancestors in Africa, suggesting that advanced technological thinking was not limited to Western Eurasia,\u201d Zhao explained.<\/p>\n
Homo juluensis is a proposed extinct cousin of modern humans, meaning they may not have actually existed. However, if they did, scientists believe they occupied much of East Asia. This species may have belonged to what is referred to as the \u201cmuddle of the middle,\u201d a term used to define the various types of humans as Homo erectus gradually evolved into Homo sapiens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Archaeologists in central China have directly challenged the long-held belief that humanity\u2019s earliest ancestors reached their creative peak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[217500,4204,32243,15538,217494,217502,11217,381,5214,442,217495,25209,217498,97215,17545,22082,18,217496,1015,217499,168747,150605,3292,11591,28813,19,3536,17,217504,217501,150607,10082,133,4567,152454,5591,82,95146,217497,217503],"class_list":["post-500184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-adapt","tag-africa","tag-ancient","tag-ancient-humans","tag-archaeologist","tag-archaeologists","tag-archaeology","tag-china","tag-chinese","tag-climate-change","tag-climates","tag-cold","tag-cool","tag-creative","tag-creativity","tag-east-asia","tag-eire","tag-environent","tag-europe","tag-freezing","tag-harsh","tag-homo-juluensis","tag-homo-sapiens","tag-human-evolution","tag-humans","tag-ie","tag-innovation","tag-ireland","tag-journal-of-human-evolution","tag-lingjing","tag-middle-pleistocene","tag-neanderthals","tag-science","tag-scientists","tag-sophisticated","tag-survival","tag-technology","tag-tools","tag-warm","tag-yuchao-zhao"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}