Recently published findings, based on discoveries made in Hebei province, paint a deeper and wider picture of the evolution of ancient craftsmanship and aesthetics, Wang Kaihao reports.

Yang Shixia (middle), a leading researcher at the Xiamabei site, discusses with fellow archaeologists during a research mission in Nihewan Basin. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

When speaking of Yuxian county, Hebei province, which is about 200 kilometers to the west of Beijing, an enthusiast of Chinese fine art will probably first think of its famous traditional paper-cutting. In centuries past, those red creations portraying auspicious patterns showed the locals' love for life in an artistic way.

But people nowadays looking to refresh their knowledge about this folk art, by expanding their horizon to a much more distant past, may better understand human aesthetics and craftsmanship, thanks to recent archaeological findings, also steeped in red.

Around 40,000 years ago, people lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Nevertheless, in the area that is present-day Yuxian, someone with an eye for beauty might demonstrate craftsmanship by pounding colorful ocher chunks into powder, possibly to use as pigment with which to paint.

In the past few years, a research team, involving archaeologists and scientists from institutions in China, Germany, France and Spain, has concentrated on decoding unearthed findings from the Xiamabei site in Yuxian. The artifacts, which were excavated by the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology over 2013-14, are now believed to be evidence that indicates the earliest known ocher-processing workshop in not only China but also East Asia.

A part of the excavation site of the Xiamabei archaeology project. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

News of the discovery and its initial findings was released last week through an article published in Nature magazine.

"This colorful material can be used for symbolic purposes, such as decorating bodies, or for pragmatic uses," says Yang Shixia, a leading researcher in the program, who publicly briefed a conference of the National Cultural Heritage Administration in Beijing on March 3.

Ocher is a variety of a naturally forming clay pigment that was widely used in ancient artworks around the world, ranging from the brilliantly painted pottery of cultures that bloomed across what is present-day western and Central China around 5,000 years ago, to the murals of ancient Rome.

Nevertheless, Yang, also an associate professor with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, keeps a cautious attitude while explaining the cultural indication of the ocher. She says the use of ocher for symbolism has so far been unable to be solidly proven, but it could be processed for a more pragmatic purpose.

"Microscopic work shows that the material was used as an adhesive for hafting stone tools and as an additive to efficiently process hide," she adds.

Stone tools unearthed from the Xiamabei site. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Still, Wang Fagang, an archaeologist at the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology who led the excavation at Xiamabei, says the processed ocher unveils a "cultural genome" that will inspire study about how modern human behaviors have evolved and how consciousness has developed.

"Our understanding of archaic people's aesthetics in the East can then be largely expanded," he says.

The excavated area of around 12 square meters is like a time capsule, as hundreds of stone relics were sealed and buried at 3 meters below the current ground surface. The well-preserved remains were thought to be in their original places after the site was abandoned by the residents.

The unearthed bladelike stone tools further help to render an image of the community. Wear patterns indicate that the hafted stone pieces were used for a variety of purposes, including scraping against hard matter (like wood), whittling soft plant and probably cutting soft animal tissue.

Most of the used stone pieces were associated with the hearth, which is located in the center of the excavated area. Radiocarbon dating results show that the area was a hub of activity from between 39,000 to 41,000 years ago.

"Here we see a vivid picture of what life was like," Yang says. "People were living in a cool, steppe-like environment."

She continues: "At Xiamabei, they gathered and conducted activities around a warm campfire, grinding ocher powder for economic purposes, hafting bladelike stone tools to conduct a variety of tasks that included hide and plant processing, and most likely, sharing food, including the meat that they hunted."

Ocher samples unearthed from the Xiamabei site. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Deng Tao, director of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, explains that processed ocher is an important marker of modern human behavior. For example, remains of Shandingdong Man, which date back about 30,000 years, found in a cave in Beijing, show that red pigments made from ocher were once used to paint bodies, a key feature of burial customs.

"And 40,000 years ago was also when Homo sapiens were thought to have first appeared," Deng says. "So the new findings can be significantly referential for our exploration of the origin of Homo sapiens in East Asia."

Although Yang says it remains uncertain whether Homo sapiens occupied Xiamabei, owing to the lack of human fossils on site, this is the closest hypothesis, considering the presence of contemporary fossils of modern humans at another site around 110 kilometers away.

Yang points out that it is possible that other closely related human ancestors were no longer present in the vast landscapes of northern Asia although earlier groups of Homo sapiens were mixing with Neanderthals and Denisovans (extinct species of archaic human).

The Xiamabei site is in Nihewan Basin, a geographic area that is considered a center for Chinese archaeology of the Paleolithic period. Since 1965, over 500 Paleolithic sites, dating back 1.7 million to 10,000 years, were found all over the basin, which spread across northern Hebei and Shanxi provinces.

"For China, significance of this basin in terms of archaeology is what East Africa is to the world," Zhu Rixiang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the National Cultural Heritage Administration conference.

He says: "Studies here will greatly improve the understanding of our ancestors: The archaic residents in East Asia may own equally advanced technology for processing raw materials as their counterparts in the western part of the Old World."

Zhu also points out that the archaeological project on Xiamabei, which involves scholars from both China and Europe, also demonstrates that archaeology can be a bridge between different cultures.

Contact the writer at wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn