@article{a9215ea4aa1d48b585c780ba29639546,
title = "The earliest microblade site 6800 years ago reveals broader social dimension than previous thought at the central high altitude Tibetan plateau",
abstract = "The Tibetan Plateau is the world's largest high-elevation ecosystem. Here, we present evidence of stone artefacts from an in-situ stratigraphic sequence with the accelerator mass spectrometry 14C and optically stimulated luminescence dates to show that the sophisticated microlithic technologies emerged on the central Tibetan Plateau (CTP) as early as 6800 years ago. The “high-valued” and rarely seen obsidian artefacts at the study site may have come from the perimeter Tibetan Plateau (PTP). We found that cultures exchanged frequently between the CTP and PTP populations and their social networks and information sharing systems were more organised than previously thought among early TP populations.",
author = "Yahui Qiu and Peixian Shu and Hong Ao and Yunxiang Zhang and Qi Wei and Xingwen Li and Honghai Chen and Hong Wang and Ambrose, {Stanley H.}",
note = "This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42102237 , No. 42102003 , No. 42172010 , No. 42072206 ), the Fund of Shandong Province (No. LSKJ202203300 ) and the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research program ( 2019QZKK0707 ). Mapping and surveying of the Siling Co lake paleo-shorelines coupled with OSL dates indicate that lake levels were 60 m higher than present during the early middle Holocene, e.g., >8 ka to 4 ka time interval (Shi et al. 2017). This early middle Holocene high-stand water level approximately coincides with a warm-humid period inferred from high-resolution isotopic composition (Gu et al. 1993), palynological and paleontological (Sun et al. 1993) records of lacustrine sediments from the Siling Co. The high-resolution stalagmite oxygen isotope record from Tianmen Cave in the same region (Cai et al. 2012) also reveals a warmer, more humid environment. Based on the AMS 14C dates from microblade sites in the Qinghai Basin on the PTP, the intensity of hunting large herbivore prey was common from the Early to the Middle Holocene (d'Alpoim and Aldenderfe, 2020). During the Middle Holocene, microblade technology expanded to the CTP ∼4600 masl in the Siling Co area, where it prevailed for thousands of years. Such expansion of the microblade coincided with the early-Middle Holocene climate amelioration, which supports a general proposition that early-Middle Holocene warming facilitated microblade culture expansion to ∼4600 m altitudes in the CTP from northern China. Northern Chinese hunters could disperse and migrate to the plateau or could exchange culture traditions through trading economy.This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42102237, No. 42102003, No. 42172010, No. 42072206), the Fund of Shandong Province (No. LSKJ202203300) and the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research program (2019QZKK0707).",
year = "2024",
month = mar,
day = "15",
doi = "10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108551",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "328",
journal = "Quaternary Science Reviews",
issn = "0277-3791",
publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",
}