Ancient Mystery Unearthed: 300,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools Found Intact Beneath Chinese Clay
The prehistoric tools from Gantangqing seemingly served a different purpose, however. Based on initial observations, they appear to have been used for obtaining and processing plants, illustrating the diverse implementation of wooden tools throughout history and offering insight into how different cultures adapted to the local environment.
A Rare Collection Of Wooden Tools From Prehistoric China
Liu et al. 2025Evidence of whittling on the wooden tools, showing that they were deliberately made.
In total, archaeologists at Gantangqing found 35 wooden tools from layers of soil dating to between 250,000 and 300,000 years ago. These artifacts, according to researchers from the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, appear to have been designed, crafted, and used to harvest plants. Given the wetlands surrounding Gantangqing, starchy foods would have been abundant, and these tools suggest that whichever group of hominins lived in the area knew which plants to harvest and which tools best were suited for the job.
The discovery was announced via a study published in the journal Science in which researchers noted the “sophistication” of these prehistoric wooden tools, especially when compared to more primitive stone tools from the same period.
However, the tools don’t paint a perfectly clear picture. Some are reminiscent of implements found at Neanderthal sites in Europe: large, two-handed implements for digging — effectively, rudimentary shovels. Other large digging tools found alongside them, however, bear no resemblance to other prehistoric tools.
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