Xiaochangliang () is the site of some of the earliest paleolithic remains in East Asia, located in the Nihewan Basin in Yangyuan County, Hebei, China, most famous for the stone tools discovered there.

Stone Tools

The tool forms discovered include side and end scrapers, notches, burins, and disc cores. Although it is generally more difficult to date Asian sites than African sites because Asian sites typically lack volcanic materials that can be dated isotropically, the age of the tools has been magnetostratigraphically dated as 1.36 million years. This method is more accurate than carbon dating since it uses the data of changes caused by earth's magnetic field.

Research

The site was first discovered by the French scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in 1935 who found only one stone tool, and at that time many scientists debated as to whether this tool was naturally formed or manufactured by early man. From 1972-1978, more than 2000 pieces of stone tools were discovered, together with some bone tools, which confirmed its status as a paleolithic site.