Ancient East Asia

The history of East Asia covers the people inhabiting the eastern subregion of the Asian continent known as East Asia from prehistoric times to the present. The best known ancient civilization of prehistoric East Asia was China, which flourished in the central plain region and continued until present day.

In prehistory, homo erectus lived in East and Southeast Asia from 1.8 million to 40,000 years ago. Recorded civilization dates to approximately 2000 BC in China.

Other sub-regions include Japan and Taiwan,Korea, as well as the Russian Far East.

Homo erectus ("upright man") is believed to have lived in East and Southeast Asia from 1.8 million to 40,000 years ago

Fossils representing 40 Homo erectus individuals, known as Peking Man, were found near Beijing at Zhoukoudian that date to about 400,000 years ago. The species was believed to have lived for at least several hundred thousand years in China, and possibly until 200,000 years ago in Indonesia. They may have been the first to use fire and cook food.

Homo sapiens migrated into inland Asia, likely by following herds of bison and mammoth and arrived in southern Siberia by about 43,000 years ago and some people moved south or east from there.

The earliest sites of neolithic culture include Nanzhuangtou culture around 9500 BC to 9000 BC,Pengtoushan culture around 7500 BC to 6100 BC, Peiligang culture around 7000 BC to 5000 BC.

The Jeulmun pottery period is sometimes labeled the "Korean Neolithic", but since intensive agriculture and evidence of European-style 'Neolithic' lifestyle is sparse at best, such terminology is misleading. The Jeulmun was a period of hunting, gathering, and small-scale cultivation of plants. Archaeologists sometimes refer to this life-style pattern as 'broad-spectrum hunting-and-gathering'.

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