Archaeologists have recovered thousands of artifacts from a cave in Xinjiang (an autonomous region of northern China) including stone tools, bronze and iron artifacts and animal fossils. Some date as far back as the Paleolithic Age, making them roughly 45,000 years old, according to the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
     Around 2,000 artifacts were unearthed at the excavation site Tongtiandong Cave. About one-third of the artifacts were stone tools, with another third comprising fossilized animal skeletons. They showed clear signs of cutting, burning and otherwise having been manipulated for human use, according to the academy.
     Archaeologists conducted a preliminary excavation in early 2016 before returning for several months in 2017 to make more thorough and detailed recordings. Previous research conducted in the cave had revealed stone tools and other archaeological artifacts that suggested human activity dating back to around 10,000 years ago.
     The archaeologists behind the most recent project discovered that the cave provided "continuous stratigraphic cultural-layer sections," according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Meaning, it provided a layer-by-layer view of the Early Iron Age, the Bronze Age, the Chalcolithic Age and finally the Paleolithic Age. The findings could help map how the region's inhabitants evolved over the course of tens of thousands of years.
     Among the artifacts dated to the comparatively younger Iron and Bronze ages were, as one might guess, iron and bronze wares, but also pottery and millstones. The researchers were even able to carbon date leftover wheat grain, which they found to be between 5,000 and 3,500 years old, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. They speculated that this region was one of the earliest to cultivate wheat, and that it might have been the point of origin from which the grain spread, via trade, out into other populations.

Edited from Newsweek (3 January 2018)