Three years ago, paleontologists came upon a particularly thick layer of such sediments.
Paleontologists have found a record of ancient tools in China, showing that the first representatives of our species entered the territory of Asia, over two million years ago. Their photographs and findings of scientists was presented in the journal Nature.
“Our discovery suggests that now we have to revise the time when the first representatives of our species left Africa and began to settle on the Ground,” said Robin Dennell (Robin Dennell) from the University of Exeter (UK).
The alleged human ancestors, upright-walking humans (Homo erectus) appeared in the East and southern Africa approximately two million years ago. In addition, they are considered the direct ancestors of the Neanderthals and the whimsical “hobbit” from Flores island. In addition, Homo erectus were the inventors of the first complex of instruments of labour, the discoverers of fire and the first cooks of the Earth, mastered the secrets of cooking food.
Upright people, as shown by the finds from Dmanisi in Georgia, left Africa roughly 1.85 million years ago. They were the first representatives of our species who managed to cross the boundaries of “cradle of mankind”, which is traditionally considered the African continent.
Dennell and his colleagues found that it most likely occurred much earlier than commonly believed, while making excavations in Central China, in a place called West lake Hubin business centre. Here for the past three million years have formed the giant deposits of loess, compacted sand and clay, brought down by the waters of the yellow river.
Three years ago, paleontologists came upon a particularly thick layer of such deposits, which they gradually excavated and studied. Inside it is unexpectedly found not only the jaw of ancient cows and other animals, but also almost a hundred of tools, which had extremely varied in form and purpose.
For example, among them were not only simple axes and scrapers, but also relatively complex tools — arrowheads, hammers, chisels, and other highly specialized “household items”.
Despite their obviously ancient, paleontologists could not determine their age, as the rate of formation of the loess, in contrast to many other sedimentary rocks, could vary depending on the activity of the winds, speed of river flow and many other parameters.
To solve this mystery has helped the Earth’s magnetic field, whose poles periodically change places. Traces of these revolutions, as the scientists explain, are stored in the granules of clay and in particles of certain rocks. This allowed us to determine in which direction was turned to the compass in that moment, when the ancient people made these chopped, and find out their approximate age.
A large part of the tools were made about 1.5 million years ago, after the supposed Exodus of humanity. At the same time, six scrapers and chopping, according to Dennell and his colleagues were much older — their age exceeded 2.12 million years.
This discovery, as the researchers note, suggests that people from Dmanisi was not the most ancient inhabitants of Asia — China, apparently, was inhabited much earlier than Georgia. How this exactly occurred is not clear, but the fact of this suggests that the first representatives of our species was more adapted to the cold climate of Asia than previously thought.
© 2018, paradox. All rights reserved.
