A colorful view of history

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."

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.