Earliest hafted tools uncovered in central China (160k–72k years ago)

New findings from Xigou in central China date to roughly 160,000–72,000 years ago and reveal advanced lithic technologies—core-on-flake and discoid reduction, a diverse suite of small flakes, and the earliest hafted (composite) tools in Eastern Asia—indicating a long span (about 90,000 years) of technological innovation and adaptive strategies during the late Middle to middle Late Pleistocene, with implications for hominin variability (e.g., brain size) at contemporary sites like Lingjing.