https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2418029122

http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/earth/202504/t20250401_909137.shtml

A multidisciplinary study led by researchers from the CAS Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research  has uncovered the first definitive evidence of Middle Paleolithic Quina technology in East Asia. The findings are based on artifacts excavated from the Longtan site in Heqing County, Yunnan, on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and raise questions about potential Neanderthal dispersal into Southwest China.

The Middle Paleolithic (~300,000–40,000 years ago) was a critical period in human evolution, marked by the coexistence of early modern humans, Denisovans, and Neanderthals. Stone tools at the Longtan site exhibiting key features of Quina technology—a lithic tradition previously associated with Neanderthals in cold, arid European environments (~70,000–40,000 years ago) raises the possibility of a Neanderthal presence in Southwest China.