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Exploitation of lydite and jasper by Epipaleolithic foragers in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions

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Abstract

Lithic raw material analysis is the key to understanding prehistoric foragers’ resource exploitation strategies, mobility patterns, cultural interactions and exchange networks. Previous geochemical study of obsidian artifacts from Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic sites on the Tibetan Plateau revealed possible human interactions in the Chang Tang and southern Tibet. However, obsidian is rare in sites on the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) and adjacent low elevation regions. To understand the lithic raw material economy and related human interactions on the NETP and the surrounding regions, here we analyze lithic raw materials from these regions through macroscopic rock type identification, Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis. We found that at least four varieties of lydite (a type of basaltic rock, Lydite A, B, C, and D) and three varieties of red jasper (Jasper A, B, and C) were used in these sites. The Northern Tibet volcanic belt in the central Tibetan Plateau and Alashan Gobi Desert may be the sources of the two most dominant materials, Lydite A and Jasper A. The maximum, “as the crow flies,” transportation distances are more than 900 km for Lydite A and 580 km for Jasper A among archaeological sites, indicating Epipaleolithic foragers in NETP and adjacent low elevation regions were either highly mobile or formed vast exchange networks. Long distance exploitation of lydite resources might have encouraged human occupation of the high central Tibetan Plateau in the early Holocene. In addition, the spatial distribution of Epipaleolithic sites sharing the same varieties of lydite and red jasper in the study area suggests that the river valleys connecting the Qilian Mountains, the Hexi Corridor and the Tengger Desert oases were important channels for human movements during Epipaleolithic period. Therefore, lithic raw material analysis here provides important information for resource exploitation and mobility strategies of Epipaleolithic foragers in NETP and surrounding regions.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate Huan Zhang from Lanzhou University for her help in experiments. We also thank Qianqian Wang from Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, David B. Madsen from Texas State University, David Rhode from Desert Research Institute for providing some of the studied samples.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42130502, 41771225), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0606402), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (lzujbky-2021-ct03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Xuke Shen, Huan Xia, Juanting Yao, Yishou Liu, Dongju Zhang & Fahu Chen

  2. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA

    Charles Perreault

  3. Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA

    Charles Perreault

  4. Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology (LAE), CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences and Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Dongju Zhang & Fahu Chen

Authors
  1. Xuke Shen
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  2. Charles Perreault
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  3. Huan Xia
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  4. Juanting Yao
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  5. Yishou Liu
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  6. Dongju Zhang
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  7. Fahu Chen
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Contributions

D.J.Z, F.H.C, and X.K.S designed the research. X.K.S collected the data. X.K.S, H.X, J.T.Y, and Y.S.L performed the ICP-MS and ICP-OES analysis. X.K.S analyzed the data. X.K.S, D.J.Z, and C. P wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dongju Zhang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Shen, X., Perreault, C., Xia, H. et al. Exploitation of lydite and jasper by Epipaleolithic foragers in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 123 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01592-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01592-5

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