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Deng Yueling started work at the Wanshouyan Cultural Heritage Museum in Sanming, Fujian province, in April. Initially, though, the Stone Age artifacts on display did not interest her.

Since then, the 24-year-old tour guide has delved deeper into the history of the Paleolithic (about 2 million to 10,000 years ago) stone tools and animal bones discovered in a cave on nearby Wanshouyan Hill.

The artifacts suggest that humans lived in the area about 185,000 years ago, the oldest evidence of such activity in coastal China.

"The more I learn, the prouder I feel about the archaeological discoveries in my hometown," said Deng, who is from Yanqian, a village about 800 meters from the spot where the relics were found.