Bose Basin handaxe

Handaxe and Tektites from Bose, China
Date of Discovery: 1996
Discovered by: A team led by Hou Yamei and Rick Potts
Age: About 803,000 years old
Location of Discovery: Bose, China

Smithsonian scientists and their Chinese colleagues found this and other handaxes in the same sediment layer with tektites, small rocks that formed during a meteor impact 803,000 years ago.

Since the handaxes and tektites were in the same layer, both are the same age. Early humans must have moved into the area right after the impact. They may have made the handaxes from rocks that were exposed when forests burned.