The excavation of a stone tool has put back the date for human activity to as early as 200,000 years ago in the Xiangjiang River valley, a major tributary of the Yangtze River, in central China.
Previous archaeological findings indicated that human activity in the region began only some seven or eight thousand years ago, during the Neolithic Age, or New Stone Age. This period which began around 10,000 BC, featured the development of agriculture and the making of polished stone implements.
Sharpened for chopping or hacking, the tool made of quartz was unearthed from a brickyard in Xiangtan City, Xiangxiang County, in Hunan Province, archaeologists recently disclosed.
Quartz, a very hard mineral composed of silica, is found worldwide in many different types of rocks including sandstone and granite.
The quartz tool was a primary production tool for people during the Paleolithic Period, or Old Stone Age, which began with the earliest chipped stone tools, about 750,000 years ago, and lasted until the beginning of the Mesolithic Age (the Mid Stone Age) about 15,000 years ago.
The academic community usually agrees that the region of the Yangtze River valley and its tributaries was one of cradles of human civilization in China.
Archaeologists also found an ancient tomb of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC) with local people's help, who also handed over 17 bronze weapons and earthenware marked with characters from the dynasty. It is the oldest tomb found in the region, according to sources.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2002)
