Neolithic Tibet refers to a
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
period in which
Neolithic technology was present in
Tibet.
Tibet has been inhabited since the Late
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
. 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 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 Tibetan Plateau. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 106: 21230–21235. ] During the mid-
Holocene,
Neolithic 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
Tibetan Plateau. Genetic studies suggest that Epipaleolithic and
Neolithic 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, ]Medog County Medog (in Tibetan) or Motuo (in Chinese) may refer to:
* Mêdog County
Mêdog, or Metok, or Motuo County (; ), also known as Pemako ( meaning "Lotus Array", ), is a county as well as a traditional region of the prefecture-level city of Nyingch ...
, and Qamdo County
Karuo District (other spellings: Karub District, Kharro District (after THL transliteration of Tibetan)) is a district in Qamdo, the district is synonymous referred to as Chamdo, Qamdo, or Chengguan in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and ...
. Archaeologists have found pottery and stone tools, including stone axes, chisels, knives, spindle-whorl
A spindle whorl is a disc or spherical object fitted onto the spindle to increase and maintain the speed of the spin. Historically, whorls have been made of materials like amber, antler, bone, ceramic, coral, glass, stone, metal (iron, lead, lead ...
s, discs, and arrowheads.[ Findings in Nyingchi culturally resemble the Neolithic Qijia culture in ]Gansu
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
and Qinghai, while findings in Qamdo resemble the Dadunzi site in Yunnan, 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.
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