Cool FindsStone Tools Discovered in China Resemble Neanderthal Technology Used in Europe, Creating a Middle Stone Age MysteryArchaeologists previously assumed that East Asia did not see considerable tool development during the Middle Paleolithic, but new findings might change that widely held idea The Quina technology discovered in East Asia was a set of stone tools for making other tools. Prehistoric sites in Europe that host similar tools are associated with Neanderthals. Ben MarwickDuring the Middle Paleolithica period spanning about 40,000 to 300,000 years ago, also called the Middle Stone Agegroups such as modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans emerged and began developing new stone tools. Archaeologists have found evidence of these dynamic changes taking place in Africa, Europe and western Asia, but they hadnt seen similar patterns in East Asia. As a result, scholars have suggested the region did not experience such progress during this period.A new discovery, however, challenges that assumptionand it could even overhaul scientists understanding of human development.In 2019 and 2020, researchers in southwest China unearthed a roughly 55,000-year-old Quina system: a prehistoric tool-making kit previously associated with the Middle East and Neanderthal sites in Europe. As detailed in a study published Monday in the journal This is a big upset to the way we think about that part of the world in that period of time, study co-author Ben Marwick, an archaeologist at the University of Washington, says in a statement. It really raises the question of, what else were people doing during this period that we havent found yet? How is this going to change how we think about people and human evolution in this area?The Quina system was a set of tools for making tools, asDiscover magazines Paul Smaglik describes it. These sets of stone artifacts include thick, sharp and asymmetrical scrapers often resharpened to cut materials like meat, animal skins and wood, writes Marwick for the Conversation. European archaeologists theorize prehistoric humans used Quina scrapers while hunting migratory animals.These reusable and versatile tools would have been useful to mobile groups of people living in progressively colder and more severe climates, as study co-author Davide Delpiano, an archaeologist from the University of Ferrara in Italy, tells Science News Bruce Bower. Interestingly, the study reveals that southwestern Chinas climate would have matched the one in Europe at the time these tools were made.The discovery, however, raises more questions than it answers. Quina tools in Europe are specifically associated with Neanderthalsbut Neanderthal remains have never been uncovered in East Asia. So, the finding reveals a mystery: How did the Quina system appear in China?Delpiano suggests two possibilities, per CNNs Katie Hunt: Neanderthals could have spread the technology to China (either themselves or via contact with other groups), or a different group of archaic humans, such as Denisovans, could have independently developed the Quina system around the same time.Paleolithic archaeologist Dongju Zhang of Chinas Lanzhou University, who was not involved in the study, tells CNN that while both speculations are possible, to me, it is far too early to give an explanation of the producers of this style in Longtan, the archaeological site where the tools were found.With further excavations, researchers could uncover a site with more historical layers preserved and examine the archaeological record that predates this find. There, they could search for evidence of earlier versions of Quina technology, which, if found, would suggest early humans in East Asia had developed it independently.Either way, additional work could continue revealing details about East Asias long-underrated Middle Paleolithic.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.