The Tibetan Plateau(TP),often called“Earth's Third Pole”,is a critical area for studying human adaptation to high altitude environments.During the past 200000 yr,various hominin and human populations have occupi...The Tibetan Plateau(TP),often called“Earth's Third Pole”,is a critical area for studying human adaptation to high altitude environments.During the past 200000 yr,various hominin and human populations have occupied the TP.Among them,the occupation of microblade technology populations represented the first large-scale human activity in this region.Microblade technology,appeared on the western Chinese Loess Plateau(CLP)during the Last Glacial Maximum(~22 ka)and then spread to the marginal areas of the Tengger Desert and Qinghai Lake Basin by the Last Deglaciation(~15 cal ka BP),indicating the diffusion of microblade technology from the CLP to the TP.However,given the significant environmental contrasts between the TP and CLP,questions arise regarding how and why microblade technology populations dispersed.Here,we report a newly discovered archaeological site with microblade technology,Jiangjunbu02(JJB02),located between the CLP and TP.We excavated a small area at the site and conducted systematic analyses of the chronology,lithic technology,and in-situ sedimentary biomarkers.Our results show the following:By 15.8 cal ka BP,hunter-gather populations using both simple core-flake technology and microblade technology had arrived at the JJB02 site during a period of favorable environmental conditions,including a warm climate and increased terrestrial vegetation.From~14.9 to 13.4 cal ka BP,despite cooling temperatures,a stable grasslandwoodland environment continued to support human occupations.Populations employing microblade technology intensively occupied the site during~13.6–13.4 cal ka BP.However,by~13.4 cal ka BP,persistent low temperatures and a rapid decrease in plant resources led to the abandonment of the site.Lithic technology and raw material analyses indicate connections between the JJB02 site and contemporaneous sites in the Qinghai Lake Basin on the northeastern TP,reflecting the beginning of a dispersal process of microblade technology populations from low to high altitudes during the Last Deglaciation.Variations in plant resources,influenced by hydrological differences between the western CLP and northeastern TP,likely played a key role in this migration.Furthermore,temperature changes on the northeastern TP likely facilitated the migration of these populations from lower-to higher-altitude regions.This study examines the dispersal process of microblade technology populations from the western CLP to the northeastern TP,and analyzes the potential impacts of environmental changes during this process,aiming to enhance our understanding of prehistoric human expansion onto the TP.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.42325103 and 42130502)the Science and Technology Leading Talent Project of Gansu Province(Grant No.24RCKB007)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant No.lzujbky-2024-it34)。
文摘The Tibetan Plateau(TP),often called“Earth's Third Pole”,is a critical area for studying human adaptation to high altitude environments.During the past 200000 yr,various hominin and human populations have occupied the TP.Among them,the occupation of microblade technology populations represented the first large-scale human activity in this region.Microblade technology,appeared on the western Chinese Loess Plateau(CLP)during the Last Glacial Maximum(~22 ka)and then spread to the marginal areas of the Tengger Desert and Qinghai Lake Basin by the Last Deglaciation(~15 cal ka BP),indicating the diffusion of microblade technology from the CLP to the TP.However,given the significant environmental contrasts between the TP and CLP,questions arise regarding how and why microblade technology populations dispersed.Here,we report a newly discovered archaeological site with microblade technology,Jiangjunbu02(JJB02),located between the CLP and TP.We excavated a small area at the site and conducted systematic analyses of the chronology,lithic technology,and in-situ sedimentary biomarkers.Our results show the following:By 15.8 cal ka BP,hunter-gather populations using both simple core-flake technology and microblade technology had arrived at the JJB02 site during a period of favorable environmental conditions,including a warm climate and increased terrestrial vegetation.From~14.9 to 13.4 cal ka BP,despite cooling temperatures,a stable grasslandwoodland environment continued to support human occupations.Populations employing microblade technology intensively occupied the site during~13.6–13.4 cal ka BP.However,by~13.4 cal ka BP,persistent low temperatures and a rapid decrease in plant resources led to the abandonment of the site.Lithic technology and raw material analyses indicate connections between the JJB02 site and contemporaneous sites in the Qinghai Lake Basin on the northeastern TP,reflecting the beginning of a dispersal process of microblade technology populations from low to high altitudes during the Last Deglaciation.Variations in plant resources,influenced by hydrological differences between the western CLP and northeastern TP,likely played a key role in this migration.Furthermore,temperature changes on the northeastern TP likely facilitated the migration of these populations from lower-to higher-altitude regions.This study examines the dispersal process of microblade technology populations from the western CLP to the northeastern TP,and analyzes the potential impacts of environmental changes during this process,aiming to enhance our understanding of prehistoric human expansion onto the TP.
