The team from the Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University has published the latest research results on the Guanyindong site lithic industry.

Recently, Yue Hu, an associate researcher at the Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, published a research article titled 'Lithic technologies at Guanyindong cave, Southwest China: diversity and innovation during the Chinese Middle Palaeolithic' in the internationally renowned archaeological journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. The research was conducted in collaboration with the University of Washington (USA), the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the University of Wollongong (Australia), among others.

In 2019, the team discovered Levallois core, flakes and tools knapped based on the Levallois concept, one of the most common prepared core technologies in the Middle Paleolithic at the Guanyindong site. The main research objects of this study are dozens of lithic artifacts related to this flaking technology, and other types of lithic artifacts have not been explored in depth. Based on a systematic study of 2,211 lithic artifacts unearthed from the Guanyindong site, this study further reveals the rich and diverse Paleolithic technological connotations of the Guanyindong site. The study found that in addition to using the Levallois concept to produce flakes, Guanyindong hominins also adopted a variety of different flaking strategies to produce various types of flakes and related products, including Discoidal production, core-on-flakes, and Volumetric exploitation.

In addition to diverse and flexible flaking techniques, tool retouching techniques also demonstrate a Middle Paleolithic technological level that differs from expedient tools. This includes exquisitely crafted pointed tanged tools, parallel-retouched end scrapers, standard denticulate tools, and a large number of Quina scrapers with scalar retouch. Most of the flakes were processed into tools, and the GIUR and II indices show that most of the tools were heavily processed, with repeated retouching and reuse, reflecting the strong mobility of the Guanyindong site's hominins.

The study concludes that the Levallois concept is not the only representative of African and Middle Paleolithic technological characteristics at the Guanyindong site, and its appearance is not isolated. Guanyindong hominins had mastered a variety of flaking methods and were able to exquisitely process tools as early as 180,000 to 80,000 years ago. The existence of this diversity and innovation indicates that when analyzing and studying the East Asian Middle Paleolithic, we should maintain an objective and unbiased attitude, avoid using single or general concepts for generalization, and analyze specific problems specifically.