High Risk Exploratory Research: Confirming an Upper Paleolithic Occupation of the Central Tibetan Plateau

尽管经过40多年的研究，人们对青藏高原上人类存在的古老性知之甚少，青藏高原是世界上最高和最复杂的环境之一。尽管一些考古学家认为，人类可能在5万年前就被占领了，但唯一能确定年代的遗址只有5,000年。最近在西藏中部拉萨附近发现的楚桑遗址可能会给这个问题带来新的见解。该遗址于1995年首次被发现，但最近才被公布，据说该遗址在一个钙化泥存款中有人类的手和脚印，可追溯到大约21，000年前。如果这个日期是准确的，这个网站将从根本上改变我们对高原占领的想法。然而，该遗址从未被考古学家详细研究过，因此，科学界在接受这些发现之前正在等待对该遗址进行更全面的研究。应中国学者的邀请，马克·阿尔登德费尔博士和由美国、中国和西藏考古学家、地质学家、地貌学家和测年专家组成的多学科团队将研究楚桑，并试图验证这种早期人类的存在。他们的工作将包括对该遗址进行完整的测绘，彻底审查其地质背景，目的是恢复与手和脚印直接相关的可确定年代的材料的新样本，检查遗址周围地区，看看是否可以找到早期人类存在的其他痕迹，对楚桑遗址的评估和确认其古老性，将不仅仅是考古学上的重要意义。在世纪的大部分时间里，地质学家认为整个青藏高原在冰川时代的大部分时间里都覆盖着厚厚的冰层。如果Chusang可以追溯到21，000年前，这一发现将对越来越多的学者有价值，他们认为高原没有被冰盖覆盖。该项目可能有助于深入了解的另一个问题是人类适应高海拔环境的性质。体质人类学家曾指出，西藏人和安第斯高地人在对高海拔地区严酷生活的生理反应方面存在显著差异。为什么会出现这种情况尚不清楚，有些人认为，这种差异只是因为安第斯土著人民没有像西藏人那样长期生活在高海拔地区，而其他人则认为这些差异不是时间依赖性的，而是反映了解决同一问题的两种不同的进化途径。弄清楚桑的年龄将有助于评估这些论点。该项目的一个主要好处是，它将为美国、中国和西藏的研究生提供一个理想的多民族、多学科的学习环境。作为第一位获准在中央高原工作的西方考古学家，Aldenderfer博士相信，该项目将鼓励在西藏开展类似的合作项目。

Despite more than 40 years of research, very little is known of the antiquity of the human presence on the Tibetan plateau, one of the world's highest and most complex environments. Although some archaeologists have argued for an early occupation, one that perhaps began 50,000 years ago, the only securely dated sites are 5,000 years old. The recent discovery of the Chusang site in central Tibet near Lhasa may bring new insights to this problem. First discovered in 1995, but only recently published, the site is said to have human hand and footprints in a calcified mud deposit that dates to approximately 21,000 years ago. Should this date be accurate, this site would radically change our thinking about the occupation of the plateau. However, the site has never been examined in detail by archaeologists, and consequently, the scientific community is awaiting a more comprehensive study of the site before accepting these findings. At the invitation of Chinese scholars, Dr. Mark Aldenderfer and a multidisciplinary team of American, Chinese, and Tibetan archaeologists, geologists, geomorphologists, and dating specialists will study Chusang and attempt to verify this early human presence. Their work will involve a complete mapping of the site, a thorough review of its geological context with the goal of recovering new samples of datable materials in direct association with the hand and footprints, the examination of the region around the site to see if other traces of an early human presence can be located, and the preservation of the prints by making casts.The evaluation of the Chusang site and the confirmation of its antiquity will be of importance to more than just archaeology. For much of the 20th century, geologists thought that the entire Tibetan plateau was covered with a thick sheet of ice throughout much of the glacial epoch. Should Chusang date to 21,000 years ago, this finding would be of value to the growing body of scholars that believe the plateau was not covered with this ice sheet. Another question that this project may help to provide insight into is the nature of human adaptations to high-elevation environments. Physical anthropologists have remarked on the striking differences between Tibetans and Andean highlanders in the ways in which they have developed physiological responses to the rigors of life at high elevations. Why this is the case is unknown, with some arguing that the difference is simply that indigenous Andean peoples have not lived at high elevation as long as have Tibetans, while others suggest that these differences are not time dependent, but instead reflect two distinct evolutionary pathways that solve the same problem. Confirming the age of Chusang will help to evaluate these arguments.One major benefit of the project is that it will provide an ideal multi-national, multi-disciplinary learning environment for American, Chinese, and Tibetan graduate students. As the first western archaeologist permitted to work on the central plateau, Dr. Aldenderfer believes that the project will encourage similar collaborative projects in Tibet.