Tracing footsteps in volcanic stone

A distant view of Changbai Mountain in Jilin province from the Fenglin site. Excavations at the site have yielded rich collections of stone tools and animal fossils. [Photo provided to China Daily]

After decades of uncertainty, a major archaeological program in Northeast China's Changbai Mountain area in Jilin province has finally pieced together a coherent account of human life centered on a volcanic glass called obsidian.

Since the 1990s, researchers have identified numerous Paleolithic sites across eastern Jilin, many yielding tools made from this volcanic glass. However, without coordinated excavation and analysis, they struggled to determine how the sites related to one another, their chronology and cultural nature.

That picture is now changing.

In 2021, under a major academic program named "Changbai Mountain Paleolithic site group in east Jilin province", archaeologists began conducting systematic studies on the sites. Their efforts have greatly enhanced understanding of this area's role in the Paleolithic era, unveiling a long tale of how early humans lived in this demanding environment and used local resources to survive and adapt.

The scale is significant. Covering more than 100,000 square kilometers, the program has surveyed over 6,500 sq km in just five years, identifying more than 1,000 locations containing chipped stone tools, most of which are believed to be related to Paleolithic human activities, says Xu Ting, an archaeology professor at Liaoning University and secretary of the program.

The density of discoveries has overturned earlier assumptions that only small groups passed through the region with limited activity. Instead, the evidence points to sustained and widespread human presence.