In yesterday's post about the habitats of Neanderthals and Denisovans where I mentioned a lone outpost of Neanderthals in Northeastern China known as Jinsitai Cave, I recalled that I wrote a short post about it back in 2019. Today we will revisit this spot, and learn what else has been discovered and published about it.
Originally described by Feng Li et al., in 2018 (Li, F., Kuhn, S. L., Chen, F., Wang, Y., Southon, J., Peng, F., Shan, M., Wang, C., Ge, J., Wang, X., Yun, T., & Gao, X. (2018). The easternmost Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) from Jinsitai Cave, North China. Journal of Human Evolution, 114, 76–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.10.004). These researchers found similarities between the tools found at Jintai and those from Altai (3,000 km or nearly 1870 mi. west). This could imply that there was a cultural bond between people living in both locations, or that they were the same group. The tools themselves resembled the Mousterian technology used by Neanderthals in Western Eurasia. Were they made by Neanderthals? They could have also been made by Denisovans or even modern humans.
No definite Neanderthal remains have been found in Eastern Asia, but the tools found at Jinsitai are Mousterian-like. They were dated to around 45,000 years ago (47-42 ky) which is relatively recent. At that time modern humans had already left Africa and had spread across Eurasia. The Neanderthals used an older Middle Paleolithic stone knapping technique while modern humans had newer, Upper Paleolithic industries.
They lived there until around 39,000 years ago (40-37 ky) and moved on, or were replaced by others.
The cave itself is located in northern China, close to the border with Mongolia. (35°14'23.4" N, 115°28'32.7" E), see it in Google Maps.
First excavated in 2000-2001 and described by Wang et al. 2010, who found 5,000 tools, but dug up almost the whole cave, disturbing most of its sediments. Wang reported that there were different layers showing distinct stone tools: "Three cultural layers come down in one continuous line. The Lower cultural stratum is dominated by the Small Tool Industry. A lot of cobble tools and Levallois tools are found in the Middle cultural stratum. The Microblade Industry in Upper cultural stratum is superior to the Small Tool Industry, according to the tool types, retouched technique and selected raw materials." Howver Feng Li says that the information was limited, and the dig used poor methods. So they went back to reassess the site. Some of the tools that were unearthed are shown below.
Another paper, by Wang et al., 2023 mentions that "the upper layers contained a Late Upper Palaeolithic assemblage of microblades and bifacially thinned points, alongside the traditional core-and-flake (small flakes) industry which is typical in contemporaneous sites in northern China. The lower layers were dominated by core-and-flake industry, while some distinctive Levallois flakes were described as Mousterian-like artefacts. Some researchers regard the presence of this Mousterian-like industry at Jinsitai as evidence of a population dispersal or technological diffusion from the west."
This study focused on dating animal bones and confirmed that the bone collagen and radiocarbon show that humans occupied the site starting around 47,000 to 44,000 years ago, and continued there until the Holocene. They found camel bones, dated to 37-20 ky BP an unusual species, showing that humans not only hunted larger prey like mammoths, but also mid-sized animals.
Recent research by Khatsenovich et al., 2023 describes a site where Middle Paleolithic tools were found, located in in southern Mongolia. It is the Tsagaan Agui Cave in the Gobi Altai Mountains (44°42'53.3" N, 101°10'13.4" E, see it in Google Maps). The authors report that "Preliminary technological and typological analyses reveal the non-Levallois Mousterian character of the Middle Paleolithic industry at Tsagaan Agui Cave" this is a lithic industry that is characteristic of Neanderthals, who created it 300 ky ago. The Tsagaan Agui cave is ~1000 km west (660 mi) from Jinsitai, and roughly the same distance from Denisova Cave, which is further west, in the Altai (1200 km - 740 mi)
This, together with other findings published in 2025 (see my post Neanderthals in China 55 ky ago) show that the human landscape in Eastern Asia was dynamic at the time that the first people reached America. 40,000 years ago, modern humans were walking across Siberia and we have the Tianyuan remains (40 ky) and Ust'Ishim man (45 ky) date from this period. It is concievable that Neanderthals had been living in China for hundreds of thousands of years, and that they could have advanced northeast to Beringia and into America.
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