Archaeologists in China’s Yunnan province unearthed stone tools crafted in a style associated with Neanderthals that hasn’t previously been found in East Asia, study says.

Tools were once thought to have arisen out of Africa and Europe, then spread eastward. New findings challenge that assumption.

The tools, crafted using Quina method – a technique used by Neanderthals – have been found an archaeological site in southwestern China.