Neolithic Tibet refers to a prehistoric period in which

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

technology was present in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

. Tibet has been inhabited since the Late Paleolithic. Paleolithic inhabitants successfully overcome the extremely harsh climate and environments and made some genetic contribution to the contemporary inhabitants. Excavated microliths on the

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the ...

display mosaic features of both northern Chinese tool culture and the Tibetan Paleoliths Zhao M, Kong QP, Wang HW, Peng MS, Xie XD, Wang WZ, Jiayang, Duan JG, Cai MC, Zhao SN, Cidanpingcuo, Tu YQ, Wu SF, Yao YG, Bandelt HJ, Zhang YP. (2009). Mitochondrial genome evidence reveals successful Late Paleolithic settlement on the

. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 106: 21230–21235. During the mid-

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

immigrants from northern China mixed with the original inhabitants, although a degree of genetic continuity with the Paleolithic settlers still exists.

Migration

There is some genetic continuity between the initial Paleolithic inhabitants and the modern populations on the

. Genetic studies suggest that Epipaleolithic and

immigrants from northern China moved to Tibetan plateau during mid-Holocene. Various models for how and why the migrations occurred have been proposed, although additional research is necessary to verify the different models.Madsen, p. 159

Archaeological sites

Evidence of neolithic Tibetan inhabitants and settlements have been found mainly "in river valleys in the south and east of the country". Archaeological sites consist of those in

Nyingchi County Bayi or Chagyib District ( or ), formerly Nyingchi County, is a District of Nyingchi in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Bayi Town, the administrative capital of Nyingchi, is located within the district. Geography Bayi is located in the mi ...

, Medog County, and Qamdo County. Archaeologists have found pottery and stone tools, including stone axes, chisels, knives, spindle-whorls, discs, and arrowheads. Findings in Nyingchi culturally resemble the Neolithic

Qijia culture The Qijia culture (2200 BC – 1600 BC) was an early Bronze Age culture distributed around the upper Yellow River region of Gansu (centered in Lanzhou) and eastern Qinghai, China. It is regarded as one of the earliest bronze cultures in China. T ...

in Gansu and

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

, while findings in Qamdo resemble the Dadunzi site in

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

, although there may be some connections with the Neolithic culture of the Yellow River valley.Harmatta, pp. 164-165

References

Citations

Sources

* Harmatta, János. ''History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 1'' (2005) UNESCO. * Madsen, David B., Fa-Hu Chen, Xing Gao. ''Late quaternary climate change and human adaptation in arid China'' (2007) Elsevier. {{Prehistoric Asia *N .N T Archaeology of Central Asia T