Scientists discovered remnants of an Old Stone Age culture, less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Beijing, where ancient hominins used a reddish pigment called ochre and crafted tiny, blade-like tools from stone.
This Stone Age sediment contained a treasure trove of artifacts and animal remains, including more than 430 mammal; a hearth; physical evidence of ochre use and processing; a tool made of bone; and more than 380 miniaturized lithics, or small tools and artifacts made of chipped or ground stone.
Yang, d'Errico, and their colleagues published a report about the site and artifacts on Wednesday in the journalThe evidence of ochre processing at Xiamabei includes two pieces of ochre with slightly different mineral compositions, as well as an elongated limestone slab with smoothed areas stained with the crimson pigment. The team found these artifacts in close proximity to one another, laying atop an area of reddened sediment.
An analysis led by d'Errico revealed that the different types of ochre had been pounded and scraped into powders of varying consistency. Traces of ochre did crop up on several stone tools at the site, and the nature of these tools hinted that the pigment may have been used as an additive used in hide processing and as an ingredient in a hafting adhesive – meaning a sticky substance used to affix handles to stone tools.
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