Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Moving agriculture onto the Tibetan plateau: the archaeobotanical evidence

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Tibetan Plateau has one of the least hospitable environments for agriculture on the planet; however, its inhabitants have developed an economic system based on agriculture and pastoralism suited to it’s geoenvironmental stressors. Little is known about the timing of the spread of agriculture onto the plateau or how agricultural systems were adapted to this environment. In this article, we present palaeoethnobotanical data from two sites, Changdu Karuo (c. 2700–2300 cal B.C.) and Kyung-lung Mesa (A.D. 220–334 and A.D. 694–880). In addition, we synthesize previously reported data (much of which has never been published in peer-reviewed journals). We argue that the earliest agriculture was based on millets (broomcorn and foxtail) and was accompanied by a pig-based economic system. This early economy, which likely originated in western China, was later replaced by a better adapted system, similar to those identified in Central Asia. The later system was based on crops such as wheat, barley, peas, and millets, as well as sheep and goat pastoralism. Wild resources obtained through hunting, fishing, and foraging appear to have been complements to the diet on the Tibetan Plateau.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. In ecology, the concept of GDD (growing degree days) is used as a measure of heat accumulation to predict plant development rates. In order to calculate the summed measure of heat a crop requires to achieve maturity, a cumulative measure of GDD is used. GDD assumed that there is a base temperature at less than which an organism grows very slowly or not at all and that the growth rate increases with temperatures above the base temperature. Any temperature below T base is set to T base before calculating the average. Likewise, the maximum temperature is usually capped at 30 °C, because most plants and insects do not grow any faster above that temperature. This method uses the following formula degree days = [(max temp + base temp/2)] − base temp

  2. It was impossible to tell Fragaria and Potentilla sp. apart on the basis of morphology. As Potentilla is more prevalent in the region, we lean towards this identification.

  3. There is some controversy over the name “Silver Castle (or Palace)”. To some, the term should be reserved for a Buddhist-era archaeological site approximately 2 km from the modern village of Kyung-lung on the Sutlej River, and which is some 15 km downstream from the site described in this manuscript. This site was visited by Giuseppe Tucci in the 1930s and is known by the Tibetan name Kyung lung yul smad, the putative capital of the Zhangzhung polity is sometimes labeled “Silver Castle” as well. We prefer to use the term “Kyung-lung mesa” to describe this site, which also has the local Tibetan name of Kyung-lung Yulkhar.

  4. This includes the desiccated sample from Kyung-Lung Mesa.

References

  • Aldenderfer M (2007) Modeling the Neolithic on the Tibetan Plateau. In: Madsen DB, Chen F, Gao X (eds) Late Quaternary climate change and human adaptation in arid China. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 149–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldenderfer M (2011) The material correlates of religious practice in far western Tibet: 500 BCE-500 CE. In: Emerging Bon: The formation of Bon traditions in Tibet at the turn of the first millennium AD. Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Halle, pp 13–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldenderfer M, Moyes H (2005) In the valley of the eagle: Zhang-zhung, Kyung-lung, and the pre-Buddhist sites of far western Tibet. Expedition 47:28–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldenderfer M, Zhang Y (2004) The prehistory of the Tibetan Plateau to the 7th century AD: perspectives and research from China and the west since 1950. J World Prehist 18:1–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asouti E, Fuller D (2009) Archaeobotanical evidence. In: Evans C et al (eds) Grounding knowledge, walking land: archaeological research and ethnohistoric identity in Nepal. Macdonald Institute Monographs, London, pp 142–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Baltensperger DD (1996) Foxtail and proso millet. In: Janick J (ed) Progress in new crops. ASHS, Alexandria, pp 182–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton L, Newsome SD, Chen F-H, Wang H, Guilderson TP, Bettinger RL (2009) Agricultural origins and the isotopic identity of domestication in northern China. Proc Nat Acad Sci 106:5523–5528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blattner F, Mendez A (2001) RAPD data do not support a second center barley domestication. Genet Resour Crop Evol 48:13–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boivin N, Fuller D, Crowther A (2012) Old World globalization and the Columbian exchange: comparison and contrast. World Archaeol 44(3):452–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brink M (2006) Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv. Record from protabase. PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa/Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen

    Google Scholar 

  • Cappers R, Neef R, Bekker R (2010) Digital atlas of economic plants. Barkhuis, Eelde

    Google Scholar 

  • Cappers RTJ, Bekker RM, Jans JEA (2006) Digitale zadenatlas van Nederland [in German]. Barkhuis Publishing and Groningen University Library, Groningen

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardenas A (1983) A pheno-climatological assesement of millets and other cereal grains in tropical cropping patterns. University of Nebraska, Lincoln

    Google Scholar 

  • Castillo C (2011) Rice in Thailand: the archaeobotanical contribution. Rice 4:114–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandra-Das S (1902) A journey to Lhasa and central Tibet. EP Dutton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang C, Tourtellotte P, Baipakov KM, Grigoriev FP (2002) The evolution of steppe communities from Bronze Age through Medieval periods in southeastern Kazakhstan (Zhetysu). Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang DHS (1981) The vegetation zonation of the Tibetan Plateau. Mt Res Dev 1:29–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang DHS (1983) The Tibetan Plateau in relation to the vegetation of China. Ann Mo Bot Gard 70:564–570

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang KC (1986) The archaeology of ancient China. Yale University, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Chengdu Shi Wenwu Kaogu Yanjiusuo, Aba Zangzu Qiangzu Zizhizhou Wenguansuo, and Maoxian Bowuguan (2002) Report on the site of Yingpanshan in Maoxian County, Sichuan [in Chinese]. Chengdu Kaogu Faxian 2000:1–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Constantini L (1987) Vegetable remains. In: Stacul G (ed) Prehistoric and protohistoric Swat, Pakistan (c. 3000–1400 B.C.). ISMEO, Rome, pp 155–165

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford G (1983) Paleoethnobotany of the Kameda Peninsula Jomon. Museum of Anthropology. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford G, Lee GA (2003) Agricultural origins in the Korean Peninsula. Antiquity 77:87–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford G, Underhill AP, Zhao Z, Lee GA, Feinman G, Nicholas L, Luan F, Yu H, Fang H, Cai F (2005) Late Neolithic plant remains from northern China: preliminary results from Liangchengzhen, Shandong. Curr Anthropol 46:309–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • d’Alpoim Guedes J (2011) Millets, rice, social complexity, and the spread of agriculture to the Chengdu Plain and southwest China. Rice 4:104–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • d’Alpoim Guedes J (2013) Adaptation and invention during the spread of agriculture to southwest China. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University

  • d’Andrea A, Catherine A (2008) T’ef (Eragrostis tef) in ancient agricultural systems of highland Ethiopia. Econ Bot 64:547–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai F et al (2012) Tibet is one of the centers of domestication of cultivated barley. Proc Nat Acad Sci. doi:10.1073/pnas.1215265109

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Cosmo N (1994) Ancient Inner Asian nomads: their economic basis and its significance in Chinese history. J Asian Stud 53:1092–1126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Editorial Board of Vegetation Atlas of China Chinese Academy of Sciences (EBVA) (2001) Vegetation atlas of China (1:1 000 000). Science Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwardson SE (1995) Using growing degree days to estimate optimum windrowing time in Buckwheat. Curr Adv Buckwheat Res 1995:509–514

    Google Scholar 

  • Flad R, Li S, Wu X, Zhao Z (2010) Early wheat in China: results from new studies at Donghuishan in the Hexi Corridor. Holocene 20:955–965

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frachetti M, Spengler RN, Fritz GJ, Mar’yashev AN (2010) Earliest evidence for broomcorn millet and wheat in the central Eurasian steppe region. Antiquity 84:993–1010

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz G (2005) Palaeoethnobotanical methodology and applications. In: Maschner HDG, Chippindale C (eds) Handbook of archaeological methods. AltaMira, Lanham, pp 773–834

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu D (2001) The discovery, identification and research on archaeobotanical remains from the Neolithic Site of Changguogou. Kaogu, Tibet, pp 66–74 [in Chinese]

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu D (2008) Report on the cultivated crops from the samples taken at the habitation site of Dingdong in Ali Prefecture, Tibet. [in Chinese] In: Jiaoyubu RenwenShehui Kexue Zhongdian Yanjiu Jidi, Sichuan Daxue Zangyansuo, Sichuan Daxue Lishi Wehuaxueyuan Kaoguxi and Xizang Zizhiqu Wenwu Shiye Guanliju, (eds) Report on the Site of Piyang Donggar. Sichuan Renmin Chubanshe, Chengdu

  • Fu D, Xu T, Feng Z (2000) The ancient carbonized barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. nudum) kernel discovered in the middle of Yalu Tsanypo River basin in Tibet. Southwest China J Agricultural Sci 13:38–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller D (2006) A millet atlas—some identification guidance. Institute of Archaeology. University College London. http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~tcrndfu/Abot/Millet%20Handout06.pdf

  • Fuller, D. Q. and H. Zhang (2007) A Preliminary Report of the Survey Archaeobotany of the Upper Ying Valley. In Archaeological Discovery and Research at the Wangchenggang Site in Dengfeng (2002–2005),edited by School of Archaeology and Museology Peking University and Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, pp. 916–958. (In Chinese) Great Elephant Publisher, Zhengzhou.

  • Gansu Sheng Wenwu Kaogu Yanjiusuo (2006)Qin’an Dadiwan: Excavation report on the Neolithic site. [in Chinese] Wenwu Chubanshe, Beijing

  • Harlan J, Zohary D (1966) Distribution of wild wheat and barley. Science 153:1074–1080

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris D (2010) Origins of agriculture in western Central Asia: an environmental–archaeological study. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and. Anthropology, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • He K, Jiang C, Chen J (2009) A brief discussion of two methods of calculating the contribution of meat in zooarchaeology—an example from the site of Yingpanshan. [in Chinese] Kaogu yu Wenwu 2005:95–99

  • Ho P (1975) The cradle of the East: an inquiry into the indigenous origins of techniques and ideas of Neolithic and early historic China: 5000–1000 B.C. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Honeychurch W, Amartushin C (2007) Hinterlands, urban centers, and mobile settings: the “New” Old World archaeology from the Eurasian steppe. Asian Perspect 46:36–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hong L, Cui J, Wang H, Cheng J (2011) A provenance study of the Majiayao painted pottery found in Sichuan Province. [in Chinese] Nanfang Minzu Kaogu 7:1–58

  • Hu SY (2005) Food plants of China. Chinese University, Hong Kong

    Google Scholar 

  • Isley D (1947) Investigations in seed classification by family characteristics. Iowa Agric Exp Station Res Bull 351

  • Jacomet S (2006) Identification of cereal remains from archaeological sites. Archaeobotany Laboratory, IPAS Basel University

  • Jamieson RW, Sayre MB (2010) Barley and identity in the Spanish colonial Audiencia of Quito: archaeobotany of the 18th century San Blas neighborhood in Riobamba. J Anthropol Archaeol 29:208–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janik L (2002) Wandering weed: the journey of buckwheat (Fagopyrum sp.) as an indicator of human movement in Eurasia. In: Boyle K, Renfrew C, Levine M (eds) Ancient interactions: East and West in Eurasia. McDonald, London, pp 299–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones H, Leigh F, Mackay I, Bower M, Smith L, Charles M, Jones G, Jones M, Brown T, Powell W (2008) Population based resequencing reveals that the flowering time adaptation of cultivated barley originated east of the Fertile Crescent. Mol Biol Evol 25:2211–2219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones G, Jones H, Charles MP, Jones MK, Colledge S, Leigh FJ, Lister DA, Smith LMJ, Powell W, Brown TA (2012) Phylogeographic analysis of barley DNA as evidence for the spread of Neolithic agriculture through Europe. J Arch Sci 39(10):3230–3238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamkar B, Koocheki A, Nassiri Mahallati M, Rezvani Moghaddam P (2006) Cardinal temperatures for germination in three millet species (Panicum miliaceum, Pennisetum glaucum and Setaria italica). Asian J Plant Sci 5:316–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khazanov AM (1984) Nomads and the outside world. Cambridge University, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Klepper B, Rickman RW, Waldman S, Chevalier P (1998) The physiological life cycle of wheat: its use in breeding and crop management. Euphytica 100:341–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knörzer K-H (2000) 3000 years of agriculture in a valley of the high Himalayas. Vegetation Hist Archaeobotany 9:219–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreft S, Kreft M (2000) Localization and morphology of the buckwheat embryo. Fagopyrum 17:15–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuz’mina E (2000) The Eurasian steppes the transition from early urbanism to nomadism. In: Davis-Kimball J, Murphy EM, Koryakova L, Yablonsky LT (eds) Kurgans, ritual sites and settlements Eurasian Bronze and Iron Age. BAR International Series, Oxford, pp 118–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Li A, Hong S-p (2003) Fagopyrum. In: Raven P, Wu Z, Missouri Botanical Garden (eds) Flora of China. Missouri Botanical Gardens, St Louis, pp 320–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Dodson J, Zhou X, Zhang H, Masutomoto R (2007) Early cultivated wheat and broadening of agriculture in Neolithic China. Holocene 15:555–560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Xu C, Zhang Q (2004) Ribosomal DNA spacer-length polymorphisms in three samples of wild and cultivated barleys and their relevance to the origin of cultivated barley. Plant Breeding 123:30–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y (2007) Animal bones and economy at the site of Karuo: A opinion on prehistoric agriculture in the Hengduan Mountain Chain. [in Chinese] Sichuan Wenwu 2007:50–56

  • Li Y, Huo W (2005) The Kyung-lung Silver Castle site in the Zunggar region, Ali Prefecture. Important Archaeological Discoveries in China 2004, Tibet [in Chinese]

    Google Scholar 

  • Lister DL, Thaw S, Bower MA, Jones H, Charles MP, Jones G, Smith LMJ, Howe CJ, Brown TA, Jones MK (2009) Latitudinal variation in a photoperiod response gene in European barley: insight into the dynamics of agricultural spread from ‘historic’ specimens. J Archaeol Sci 36(2009):1092–1098

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu C, Kong Z, Lang S (2004) An in-depth discussion on the botanical remains unearthed at the site of Dadiwan and their significance for the environment of the occupants of the site. [in Chinese] Zhongyuan Wenwu 4:26–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Lone FA, Khan M, Buth GM (1993) Paleoethnobotany: plants and ancient man in Kashmir. Oxford and IBH, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu H, Zhang J, Liu K-b WN, Li Y, Zhou K, Ye M, Zhang T, Zhang H, Yang X, Shen L, Xu D, Li Q (2009) Earliest domestication of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in East Asia extended to 10,000 years ago. Proc Nat Acad Sci 106:7367–7372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma D, Xu T, Gu M, Wu B, Kang Y (1987) The classification and distribution of wild barley in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Sci Agric Sin 20:1–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Märkle T, Rösch M (2008) Experiments on the effects of carbonization on some cultivated plant seeds. Veg Hist Archaeobotany 17:257–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLeod CC (1982) Effect of rates of seeding on barley grown for grain. New Zealand J Agric 10:133–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer MC, Hofman CH, Gemmel AMD, Haslinger E, Hausler H, Wangda D (2009) Holocene glacier fluctuations and migration of Neolithic yak pastoralists into the high valleys of northwest Bhutan. Quat Sci Rev 28:1217–1237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller NF (1999) Agricultural development in western Central Asia in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages. Veg Hist Archaeobotany 8:13–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molina-Cano JL, Igartua E, Casas A-M, Moralejo M (2002) New views on the origin of cultivated barley. In: Slafer G, Molina-Cano JL, Savin R, Aruas J, Romagosa I (eds) Barley science: recent advances from molecular biology to agronomy of yield and quality. Food Products, New York, pp 15–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Molina-Cano J, Moralejo M, Igartua E, Romagosa I (1999) Further evidence supporting Morocco as a center of origin of barley. Theor Appl Genet 98:913–918

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molina-Cano J, Russell J, Moralejo M, Escacena J, Arias G, Powell W (2005) Chloroplast DNA microsatellite analysis supports a polyphyletic origin for barley. Theor Appl Genet 110(4):613–619

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore K, Miller NF, Hiebert FT, Meadow RH (1994) Agriculture and herding in early oasis settlements of the Oxus civilization. Antiquity 68:418–427

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohnishi O (1998) Search for the wild ancestor of buckwheat III. The wild ancestor of cultivated common buckwheat, and of tatary buckwheat. Econ Botany 52:123–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearsall DM (2000) Paleoethnobotany: a handbook of procedures. Academic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Poehlman JM (1985) Adaptation and distribution. In: Rasmusson DC (ed) Barley. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA, Madison, pp 2–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Pourkheirandish M, Komatsuda T (2007) The importance of barley genetics and domestication in a global perspective. Ann Bot 100(5):999–1008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rockhill WW (1894) Diary of a journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Salzman PC (1971) Movement and resource extraction among pastoral nomads: the case of the Shah Nawazi Baluch. Anthropol Quart 44:185–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Saseendran SA, Nielsen DC, Lyon DJ, Ma L, Felter DG, Baltensperger DD, Hoogenboom G, Ahuja LR (2009) Modeling responses of dryland spring triticale, proso millet and foxtail millet to initial soil water in the High Plains. Field Crops Res 113:48–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma AK (2000) Early man in Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh. Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Simoons FJ (1991) Food in China: a cultural and historical inquiry. CRC, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Spengler RN, Chang C, Tourtellotte PA (2013) Agricultural production in the Central Asian mountains at the dawn of the Silk Road: Tuzusai, Kazakhstan (410–150 BC). J Field Archaeol 38(1):68–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spengler RN, Willcox G (2013) Archaeobotanical results from Sarazm, Tajikistan, an Early Bronze Age village on the edge: agriculture and exchange. J Environ Archaeology. In press

  • Stoskopf NC (1985) Cereal grain crops. Reston Publishing, Reston

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi R, Hayashi S, Yasuda S, Hiura U (1963) Characteristics of the wild and cultivated barleys from Afghanistan and its neighbouring regions. Bericht des Ohara Instituts für Landwirtschaftliche Biologie, Okayama 1:1–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi R, Hayashi S, Hiura U, Yasuda S (1968) A study of cultivated barleys from Nepal, Himalaya and North India with special reference to their phylogenetic differentiation. Bericht des Ohara Instituts für Landwirtschaftliche Biologie 14:85–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanno K, Takeda K (2004) On the origin of six-rowed barley with brittle rachis, agriocrithon [Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare f. agriocrithon (Aberg) Bowd.], based on a DNA marker closely linked to the vrs1 (six-row gene) locus. Theor Appl Genet 110(1):145–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tashi N (2005) Food preparation from hull less barley in Tibet. In: Grando S, Macpherson HG (eds) Food barley: importance, uses and local knowledge. ICARDA, Aleppo

    Google Scholar 

  • Thargyal R (2007) Nomads of eastern Tibet: social organization and economy of a pastoral estate in the Kingdom of Dege. Brill, Leiden

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vainshtein S (1980) Nomads of south Siberia the pastoral economies of Tuva. Cambridge University, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • von Bothmer R, van Hintum T, Knupfer H, Sato K (2003) Diversity in barley. Developments in plant genetics and breeding 7. Elsevier, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner M, Xinhua W, Pavel T, Ailijiang A, Bronk Ramsey C, Schultz M, Schmidt-Schultz T, Gresky J (2011) Radiocarbon-dated archaeological record of early first millennium B.C. mounted pastoralists in the Kunlun Mountains, China. Proc Nat Acad Sci 108:15733–15738

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson PJ (1976) In pursuit of prehistoric subsistence: a comparative account of some contemporary flotation techniques. Mid-Continental J Archaeol 1:77–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber S (2008) A report on the archaebotanical remains from the Buddhist grotto at Piyang in Tibet. [in Chinese] In: Jiaoyubu Renwen Shehui Kexue Zhongdian Yanjiu Jidi, Sichuan Daxue Zangyansuo, Sichuan Daxue Lishi Wehuaxueyuan Kaoguxi and Xizang Zizhiqu Wenwu Shiye Guanliju , (ed) Report on the Site of Piyang Donggar Sichuan Renmin Chubanshe, Chengdu, pp 289–290

  • Weber S, Lehman H, Barela T, Hawks S, Harriman D (2010) Rice or millets: early farming strategies in prehistoric Central Thailand. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 2:79–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber SA, Fuller DQ (2008) Millets and their role in early agriculture. Pradghara 18:69–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Willcox G (1991) Carbonized plant remains from Shortughai, Afghanistan. In: Renfrew JM (ed) New light on early farming: recent developments in palaeoethnobotany. Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, pp 139–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright J, Honeychurch W, Amartuvshin C (2009) The Xiongnu settlements of Egiin Gol, Mongolia. Antiquity 83:372–387

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu Z, Ravens P, Gardens MB (2006) Flora of China. Missouri Botanical Gardens, St. Louis

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu Z, Ravens P, Missouri Botanical Gardens (1999) Pinus. In: Wu Z, Ravens P, Missouri Botanical Gardens (eds) Flora of China. Missouri Botanical Gardens, St. Louis, pp 11–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Xizang W (1985) The Neolithic site of Karuo in Chamdo. Wenwu Chubanshe, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu T (1982) Origin and evolution of cultivated barley in China. Acta Genetica Sinica 9:440–446

    Google Scholar 

  • Xue Y (2010) A preliminary investigation on the archaeobotanical material from the site of Haimenkou in Jianchuan County. Peking University, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Z, Chen J (2011) Results of the flotation carried out at the site of Yingpanshan in Maoxian County, Sichuan. Nanfang Wenwu 2011:60–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Zohary D, Hopf M (2000) Domestication of plants in the Old World: the origin and spread of cultivated plants in West Asia, Europe and the Nile Valley. Oxford University, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Generous support for this research was given by the National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration (Grant 7468–03) to Aldenderfer, by the Wenner Gren (gr. 8183) and ACLS and Henry Luce Foundation to d’Alpoim Guedes, and by the State Ministry of Sciences in China (Grant 2010BAK67B01) to Wu. The authors would like to thank Richard Meadow and Rowan Flad for their comments on drafts of this article as well as John Mac Marston, Gary Crawford, and Dorian Fuller for their advice and help with identifications. We are also grateful to Zhang Qian for her help in the laboratory at Sichuan University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, 02138, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Jade d’Alpoim Guedes

  2. Department of Archaeology, Sichuan University, Wangjiang Road 29, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610064, People’s Republic of China

    Hongliang Lu & Yongxian Li

  3. Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis CB1114, One Brookings Dr, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Robert N. Spengler

  4. School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Xiaohong Wu

  5. School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced, 5200 North Lake Rd, Merced, CA, USA

    Mark S. Aldenderfer

Authors
  1. Jade d’Alpoim Guedes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hongliang Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yongxian Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Robert N. Spengler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Xiaohong Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Mark S. Aldenderfer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jade d’Alpoim Guedes.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOC 306 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

d’Alpoim Guedes, J., Lu, H., Li, Y. et al. Moving agriculture onto the Tibetan plateau: the archaeobotanical evidence. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 6, 255–269 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-013-0153-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-013-0153-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation