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

尽管经过了40多年的研究，人们对青藏高原上人类存在的历史知之甚少。青藏高原是世界上海拔最高、环境最复杂的地区之一。尽管一些考古学家认为人类的占领时间较早，可能开始于5万年前，但唯一确定年代的遗址是5000年前的。最近在西藏中部靠近拉萨的楚桑遗址的发现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，但直到最近才公布，据说在距今约21000年前的钙化泥矿床中发现了人类的手和脚印。如果这个日期是准确的，这个遗址将彻底改变我们对高原被占领的看法。然而，考古学家从未对该遗址进行过详细的研究，因此，科学界在接受这些发现之前，还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·阿尔登德弗博士和一个由美国、中国和西藏考古学家、地质学家、地貌学家和年代测定专家组成的多学科团队将研究楚桑，并试图证实这一早期人类的存在。他们的工作将包括绘制该遗址的完整地图，对其地质环境进行彻底的审查，目的是恢复与手和脚印直接相关的新数据材料样本，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，并通过制作模型来保存指纹。对楚桑遗址的评估和对其古代的确认将不仅仅对考古学具有重要意义。在20世纪的大部分时间里，地质学家认为整个青藏高原在冰河时期的大部分时间里都被厚厚的冰层覆盖着。如果楚山可以追溯到21000年前，这一发现将对越来越多认为高原没有被冰盖覆盖的学者有价值。这个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本质。确认楚桑的年代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部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.