Ancient miniaturized stone tools reveal human resilience to climate change

 

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Selected microblade and microblade cores excavated from Xiqiaoshan. 1, 2, 5: Wedge-shaped core with double platforms; 3, 4, 6, 7: Wedge-shaped core; 8: irregular core; 9: Crest microblade; 10–14: Microblades.

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Credit: Journal of Geographical Sciences

Miniaturized stone tools have long been recognized as hallmarks of human adaptation, but their role in South China has remained scarcely investigated. A new study provides the most detailed analysis to date of three archaeological sites spanning from the terminal Pleistocene to the middle Holocene. Researchers applied advanced quantitative methods to more than 12,000 artifacts, revealing distinct strategies for producing small, portable, and efficient tools. These included bipolar splinters, bladelet-like pieces, and standardized microblades. The findings highlight how human groups used technological innovation to respond to fluctuating environments and shifting population dynamics, demonstrating the flexibility and resilience of prehistoric groups in this crossroads region of Asia.

During the Late Pleistocene, human populations across Asia developed a diverse range of stone-tool technologies. In northern China, microblade industries have been extensively documented, while South China was long thought to be dominated by cobble-tool traditions. Recent discoveries, however, have revealed overlooked evidence of lithic miniaturization, suggesting a broader technological repertoire than previously assumed. Miniaturized artifacts are linked to advantages such as efficient raw material use, longer cutting edges, and improved transportability—features critical in times of ecological stress or high mobility. Yet, questions remain about their development and spread across South China. Due to these gaps, in-depth research on lithic miniaturization in South China is urgently needed.

A team of Chinese and international researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with collaborators from Griffith University, the University of Washington, and the Smithsonian Institution has now conducted the first multivariate comparative study of lithic miniaturization in South China. The findings were published (DOI: 10.1007/s11442-025-2375-7) in Journal of Geographical Sciences in May 2025. The study analyzed assemblages from Fodongdi in Yunnan, Fulin in Sichuan, and Xiqiaoshan in Guangdong, spanning roughly 18,000 to 5,600 years ago. By combining techno-typological analysis with statistical tools such as Principal Component Analysis and K-means clustering, the researchers traced the evolution of miniaturized stone technologies and their links to changing climates and human populations.

The study examined more than 12,000 artifacts, identifying 456 bipolar pieces at Fodongdi, 222 bladelet-like pieces at Fulin, and 387 microblades at Xiqiaoshan. Each site reflected different ecological settings and chronological contexts. At Fodongdi, located in tropical Yunnan, quartz pebbles were systematically reduced into small elongated splinters during cooler, resource-scarce phases of the Last Glacial Maximum. At Fulin, next to the eastern edge of Tibetan Plateau, tiny bladelet-like flakes were produced around the Younger Dryas, offering portable and efficient hunting tools in a rugged, high-altitude environment. By the middle Holocene, the Xiqiaoshan assemblage demonstrated highly standardized microblade production, including wedge-shaped and conical cores, likely driven by the demographic expansion of northern populations. Statistical analyses confirmed that these miniaturized lithics formed distinct clusters, reflecting intentional design rather than by-products of flaking. Across the three sites, a trend toward more standardized and elongated forms emerged, with average length-to-width ratios increasing over time. The results show that multiple technological systems converged on similar small, portable toolkits, highlighting a shared adaptive logic that linked human survival strategies to environmental shifts and growing populations.

“Our findings demonstrate that lithic miniaturization in South China was not a marginal phenomenon but a central adaptive strategy,” said corresponding author Yang Shixia, Associate Professor of Paleolithic Archaeology. “By comparing different sites across ecological zones, we see how communities responded innovatively to climatic fluctuations, population pressures, and cultural interactions with northern regions. The convergence toward miniaturized tools underscores the flexibility of human technological systems and provides a new lens through which to understand the dynamics of human evolution in Asia during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.”

This research reframes South China as a key region for exploring technological innovation in human prehistory. The identification of diverse miniaturization strategies reveals how ancient groups adapted flexibly to varied ecological challenges—from glacial cooling to coastal subsistence shifts. Beyond enriching archaeological theory, the study underscores the value of combining advanced statistical approaches with traditional lithic analysis. Future interdisciplinary work, integrating ancient DNA, paleoecology, and material culture, could further clarify how climate and migration shaped human resilience. By illuminating how small tools supported big transitions, the study contributes to broader discussions of human adaptability in the face of environmental change.

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References

DOI

10.1007/s11442-025-2375-7

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-025-2375-7

Ancient hunting traps used by South American social groups revealed

 

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An illustration of a chacu, courtesy of Gerald Díaz-Vigil

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Credit: Gerald Díaz-Vigil

Satellite images have revealed an ancient system of elaborate, funnel-shaped mega traps likely built by hunters and pastoralists to catch prey in the high altitudes of northern Chile.

New research on the Andean landscape and the people who lived there has identified 76 stone ‘chacus’, often stretching hundreds of metres in length, that would have been used to capture vicuña, a wild relative of the alpaca.

Similar structures have been found in other arid regions of the world, including the Middle East, but this is the first time such a concentration has been discovered in the area, and it raises the possibility that they pre-date those known to have been used by the Inkas.

An archaeologist at the University of Exeter has also found evidence of settlements and outposts in the area known as the Western Valleys, establishing a high probability that it was home to foragers many centuries after it was believed people had adopted more settled agricultural social systems.

The study, by Dr Adrián Oyaneder, of Exeter’s Department of Archaeology and History, is published in the journal Antiquity, and is based on the research he conducted during his PhD.

“There has long been a discrepancy between what archaeological and ethnohistorical records have told us about life in the Western Valleys of northern Chile during the colonial period,” says Dr Oyaneder. “On the one hand, archaeological research has pointed to a gradual decline in hunting and gathering from 2,000 B.C. onwards with the introduction of domesticated plants and animals. But, historical sources, such as Spanish tax records from the 16th to the 19th centuries, refer to ‘Uru’ or ‘Uro’, which was a generic term for foraging populations who were of little economic interest to the colonisers.”

Using publicly available satellite data, Dr Oyaneder examined a 4,600 square-kilometre area of the Camarones River Basin, focusing on upland areas that had hitherto remained little studied. Over four months, he identified a huge number of new sites of archaeological interest.

Among them were 76 chacus, with the great majority being V-shaped traps formed by two ‘antennae’ built from dry-stone walls, around 1.5 metres in height and on average 150 metres in length. These funnelled down to an enclosure of around 95 square metres, which would have been dug or established to a depth of around two metres, sufficient to trap any animals driven into it by the hunters.

All the chacus were located on steep slopes, pointing downhill, with some employing natural topographical features to create one of the antennae. They were also at an altitude within the usual range of the vicuña.

“My reaction when I saw the first chacu was to double and even triple check it,” said Dr Oyaneder. “Initially, I thought it was a bit of a unique occurrence, but as I progressed with my survey, I realised that they were everywhere in the highlands and in a quantity never previously recorded in the Andes.

“And then when I began to read papers and books around the subject, particularly by Thérèse Bouysse-Cassagne and Olivia Harris, there was reference to the choquela, specialised vicuña hunting groups, and words referring specifically to chacu hunting people and chacu hunters.”

Dr Oyaneder identified almost 800 small-scale settlements, ranging from single buildings of no more than one square metre to groups of nine or more structures. These were plotted using GIS and grouped into likely clusters linked to nearby chacus and other settlements, all within a 5km distance.

“The picture that emerges is of a landscape occupied by a range of human groups from at least 6000 B.C. to the 18th century,” adds Dr Oyaneder. “These groups moved strategically across the highlands, tethered primarily to hunting resources, particularly vicuña. The evidence indicates overlapping lifeways, combining hunting-gathering with agropastoral practices, and a network of short-term seasonal settlements and outposts to help people move across rugged and difficult terrain.”

Dr Oyaneder is now conducting further research to date some of these sites and establish whether they represent the first examples of their kind in the Andean region.

A tethered hunting and mobility landscape in the Andean highlands of the Western Valleys, northern Chile is published in Antiquity and was funded by the Becas Chile-ANID doctoral scholarships programme and a FONDECYT project by the same agency, led by Dr Daniela Valenzuela (Universidad de Tarapacá).

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Journal

Antiquity

DOI

10.15184/aqy.2025.10213 

Origins of Ancient Egypt’s Karnak Temple revealed

 

Most complete study of the temple complex and its land- and waterscapes establishes earliest occupation and suggests link to creation myth

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Uppsala University

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Coring in the 'garden of Amun' Karnak

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Credit: Angus Graham/Uppsala University

The most comprehensive geoarchaeological survey of Egypt’s Karnak Temple complex has been carried out by an international research team led from Uppsala University. The temple is one of the ancient world’s largest temple complexes and part of a UNESCO World Heritage site within the modern-day city of Luxor.

The study, published in Antiquity reveals new evidence on the foundation of the temple, possible links to ancient Egyptian mythology, and new insights about the interplay between the temple’s riverine landscape and the people who established, occupied and developed the complex over its 3,000 years of use.

“Our research presents the clearest understanding of the landscape upon which the ancient Egyptians founded their temple at Karnak approximately 4000 years ago,” says Dr Angus Graham, Uppsala University, who led the team.

From Flooded Land to Temple Foundation

Karnak temple is located 500 meters east of the present-day River Nile near Luxor, at the Ancient Egyptian religious capital of Thebes, but this was not always the case.

The team analysed 61 sediment cores from within and around the temple site and studied tens of thousands of ceramic fragments to help date their findings. Using this evidence, the team have been able to interpret how the landscapes and waterscapes around the site changed throughout its history.

They found that prior to about 2520 BCE, the site would have been unsuitable for permanent occupation as it would have been regularly flooded by fast-flowing water from the Nile. The earliest occupation at Karnak would have likely been during the Old Kingdom (c.2591–2152 BCE). Ceramic fragments found at the site support this finding, with the earliest dating from sometime between c.2305 to 1980 BCE.

The land on which Karnak was founded was formed when river channels cut their beds to the west and east of a terrace, creating an island of high ground in what is now the east/south-east area of the temple precinct. This emerging island provided the foundation for occupation and early construction of Karnak temple.

A New Interpretation of the Temple Site's Role

Over subsequent centuries and millennia, the river channels either side of the site migrated, creating more space for the temple complex to develop.

Researchers were surprised to find that the eastern channel – until this study not much more than a supposition – was more well-defined, and perhaps even larger than the channel to the west, which archaeologists had previously focussed on.

“What also surprised us was the longevity of this eastern channel. It remains a very minor channel until the arrival of the Romans in the first century BCE. We also have evidence of how the Ancient Egyptians engineered the landscape. They may well have been impatient to expand their temple footprint as they dumped desert sands into a minor river channel that was already starting to silt up,” adds Angus Graham.

The Landscape Reflects the Creation Myth

This new knowledge of the temple’s landscape has striking similarities to an Ancient Egyptian creation myth, leading the team to believe that the decision to locate the temple here could have been linked to the religious views of its inhabitants.

Ancient Egyptian texts of the Old Kingdom say that the creator god manifested as high ground, emerging from ‘the lake’. The island upon which Karnak was found is the only known such area of high ground surrounded by water in the area.

“It’s tempting to suggest the Theban elites chose Karnak’s location for the dwelling place of a new form of the creator god, ‘Ra-Amun’, as it fitted the cosmogonical scene of high ground emerging from surrounding water,” says Dr Ben Pennington, lead author of the paper and a Visiting Fellow in Geoarchaeology at the University of Southampton.

“Later texts of the Middle Kingdom (c.1980–1760 BC) develop this idea, with the ‘primeval mound’ rising from the ‘Waters of Chaos’. During this period, the abating of the annual flood would have echoed this scene, with the mound on which Karnak was built appearing to ‘rise’ and grow from the receding floodwaters.”

The paper has built upon the project’s 2024 Nature Geoscience paper (doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01451-z), which demonstrates how climatic and environmental changes have shaped the landscape of the Egyptian Nile Valley over the past 11,500 years.

The work was carried out under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society (London) with a permit from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Egypt).

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Journal

Antiquity

DOI

10.15184/aqy.2025.10185 

A magnificent and expansive agricultural estate, about 1,600 years old uncovered in central Israel.

 A magnificent and expansive agricultural estate, about 1,600 years old, was uncovered in Kafr Qasim, located in central Israel.

The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by the Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing prior to establishing a new northern neighborhood, is within the boundaries of the archaeological site Kh. Kafr Ḥatta. Impressive remains of a Samaritan settlement, which existed for about 400 years, from the end of the Roman period to the end of the Byzantine period (forth–seventh centuries CE) were revealed. The site of Kh. Kafr Ḥatta is described in historical sources as the birthplace of Menander, the Samaritan magician, successor of Simon Magus, who was considered the father of the Gnostic sects and one of Christianity’s first converts.

According to Alla Nagorsky and Dr. Daniel Leahy Griswold, the Israel Antiquities Authority excavation directors: “The size and splendor of the buildings discovered, the quality of their mosaic floors and the impressive agricultural installations, all point to the great wealth and prosperity of the local Samaritan community over the years.”

In one of the buildings, a magnificent mosaic floor was preserved, decorated with a dense geometric pattern and vegetal images. Alongside its central medallion are acanthus leaves combined with rare decorations of fruits and vegetables – such as grapes, dates, watermelons, artichokes and asparagus. In the entrance to this room was a partially preserved Greek inscription wishing the building’s owner Good Luck!; the owner’s first name was common in Samaritan communities.

In the northern part of the estate were found an olive press, a spacious warehouse building and a public purification bath – a miqveh. The proximity of the oil press to the miqveh was probably used to produce olive oil in purity. The olive press was carefully planned, consisting of two wings; the northern wing contained the main production areas, while auxiliary rooms were erected in the southern wing. In the production areas, two screw presses were found, as well as a large crushing basin in which the olives were crushed. “This type of olive press is more typical of the Jerusalem region and the Judean Shephelah and is less common in Samaria” says Nagorsky. Over the years, the estate saw dramatic changes. “The wealth and luxury of the buildings were replaced by oil production and agricultural installations. New walls damaged the mosaic floors, and the magnificent capitals and columns were integrated within the new walls.”

Nagorsky suggests that these changes are related to the Samaritan Revolts under the Byzantine rule – a series of 5th–6th century CE uprisings against the Byzantine emperors, who enforced restrictive laws on members of other religions.

“What makes this site particularly interesting is that unlike some of the other Samaritan sites that were destroyed in these revolts, the agricultural estate in Kafr Qasim actually continued in use, and even preserved its Samaritan identity – as evidenced by the Samaritan ceramic oil-lamps uncovered in our excavation,” Nagorsky says.

“This is a fascinating site, which displays the historical gamut between the days of prosperity and the decline of the Samaritan community,” says Nagorsky. “Its long-term existence and impressive findings will allow us to reconstruct its history over centuries and will enrich our knowledge about this population in ancient times.”

The Ministry of Construction and Housing is cooperating with Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in the field and assisting in conservation operations, parallel to promoting the neighborhood’s development in other areas.

Earliest Neolithic communities were inclusive and open to newcomers

 

An international team of researchers, including the involvement of the Research Group in Archaeology of the Mediterranean and the Near East (GRAMPO) of the Department of Prehistory at the UAB, analysed the chemical signatures of the teeth of 71 people found in five archaeological sites in the Euphrates Valley, present-day Syria. The remains cover the entire Neolithic period between 11,600 and 7,500 years ago, the period in which the first settlements and cities were created.

By analysing the strontium and oxygen isotopes of tooth enamel, researchers were able to establish whether individuals were locals or had moved there from a different area, reconstructing previously invisible patterns of mobility.

Analysis of the teeth, combined with skeletal remains found at the sites and evidence of funerary practices, reveal that once villages were firmly established, the majority of the population stayed and ties with particular communities were strengthened.

Women were more likely to move

Interestingly, the research demonstrates that towards the end of the Neolithic it appears that women were more likely than men to move between communities. This suggests patrilocal traditions, in which women relocated to form marriages in new communities, whereas men remained in their home villages. 

This movement cycle may have evolved to avoid inbreeding within communities. 

Inclusive communities

Researchers found that in most cases individuals born elsewhere appeared fully integrated into village life, suggesting early farming communities were inclusive and open to newcomers. Evidence of that was that local and non-local people were buried in close proximity in the same cemeteries and spaces, with the same elaborate burial assemblages and with similar post-mortem manipulations, such as being buried in a seated position.  

One striking example of this came from one of the sites, Tell Halula, where multiple layers of human remains were preserved within house floors. The analysis revealed that the individuals buried together in the same house included both locals and non-locals, all treated with the same funerary practices.  

This indicates that mobility did not preclude social inclusion, and that villagers in the Neolithic period were open to assimilating newcomers fully into community life and that newcomers received the same distinct treatment in death. 

“The study is important for the interdisciplinary methodology used, on the one hand a broad development of isotope analysis (strontium and oxygen) and on the other hand the study of the archaeological and historical context of the area”, explains Anna Bach, lecturer in the UAB Department of Prehistory. The research team of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona worked for more than 20 years at the Tell Halula site, located in the Euphrates Valley near Aleppo. “The digs began in 1991 and were suspended in 2011 due to the war, and unfortunately we have not been able to continue our work there, and are now working in Iraqi Kurdistan”, says Miquel Molist, lecturer in the same department and coordinator of the UAB’s GRAMPO research group. Despite the hardships, the studies on the Neolithic in the Euphrates Valley continue “with the analysis and study of the archaeological samples that were obtained and temporarily deposited at the UAB, both by researchers from the university and, above all, by the broad international collaboration, an example of which is the work that has given rise to this publication”.

The research recently published in Nature Scientific Reports is the result of a project led by Eva Fernández, lecturer at Durham University, UK, and a team of several European universities and research groups, including the Research Group in Archaeology of the Mediterranean and the Near East (2012 SGR 00744) of the UAB Department of Prehistory.

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-025-18134-3 

Early humans butchered elephants using small tools and made big tools from their bones

Multiple sites in central Italy show consistent strategy during warm parts of the Middle Pleistocene

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Excavation at Casal Lumbroso.

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Credit: Beniamino Mecozzi, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

During warmer periods of the Middle Pleistocene, ancient humans in Italy were in the habit of butchering elephants for meat and raw materials, according to a study published October 8, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Beniamino Mecozzi of Sapienza University of Rome, Italy and colleagues.

Ancient humans used animal carcasses for meat and other resources, but direct evidence of butchery is sparse and can be difficult to identify in the archaeological record. In this study, Mecozzi and colleagues describe the remains of an elephant carcass at the site of Casal Lumbroso in northwest Rome. Comparative study of ash deposits at the site reveals that these remains date to 404,000 years ago, during a particularly warm period of the Middle Pleistocene Epoch.

The researchers identified over 300 skeletal remains from a single straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon, alongside more than 500 stone tools. Several of the bones exhibit fresh fractures made shortly after the animal’s death, each associated with impact marks where blunt force was used to create the fractures. A lack of apparent cut marks on the bones is consistent with small tools having been used to butcher soft tissues, and accordingly most of the stone tools at the site are less than 30mm in size, possibly due to low availability of large stones. Several elephant bones were physically modified to be used as larger tools.

The features of this site are consistent with several other sites in central Italy that exhibit butchered elephant remains alongside modified bones and small stone tools. This pattern implies a consistent strategy used by ancient hominins during periods of mild climate conditions in the Middle Pleistocene, and further suggests that central Italy is a valuable region for research into the subsistence strategies of early European humans.

The authors add: "Our study shows how, 400,000 years ago in the area of Rome, human groups were able to exploit an extraordinary resource like the elephant—not only for food, but also by transforming its bones into tools."

"Reconstructing these events means bringing to life ancient and vanished scenarios, revealing a world where humans, animals, and ecosystems interacted in ways that still surprise and fascinate us today.”

The freely available article in PLOS One: http://plos.io/4gIj95A