The paleolithic artifacts unearthed in Europe now held by the IHP were first collected by the renowned French father and son pair of anthropologists Gabriel de Mortillet (1821–1898) and Adrien de Mortillet (1853–1931). In his later years, Adrien de Mortillet expanded his research interests to include Chinese bronzes and thus sold their collection of paleolithic artifacts to the IHP to establish connections with the academic community in China.
According to early periodic IHP work reports, Research Fellow Chi Li (1896–1979) organized, verified, and catalogued these artifacts, preparations in 1943 which were likely for the “Ancient Stone Implements” exhibition to be held by the Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum on October 10 of the same year. The artifacts on exhibit were mostlyborrowed from the IHP in part owing to the fact that Chi Li served as director of the Preparatory Office at that time, but also included other collections from different institutions in China. In addition, he wrote the article “An Introduction to Ancient Stone Implements” (in Chinese), which was later edited by IHP research assistant Daw-hwan Wang and published in Disquisitions on the Past & Present, to introduce the exhibition. Interested parties are invited to view the full text.