Subsistence strategies of prehistoric hunter-gatherers on the Tibetan Plateau during the Last Deglaciation

The study of prehistoric hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies on the Tibetan Plateau is important for understanding the mechanisms and processes of human adaption to high altitude environments. But to date, only a few Paleolithic sites have been found on the Tibetan Plateau with clear stratigraphy and reliable dating. These sites are mainly distributed in the Qinghai Lake Basin on the northeastern part of the plateau, and the sporadic fauna and flora remains excavated provide limited information about the subsistence strategies of hunter-gatherers. In 2014, relatively abundant animal remains were unearthed in the Lower Cultural Layer (LCL, 15400–13100 cal yr BP) of the “151 site” located in the Qinghai Lake Basin, providing important information about human subsistence strategies on the Tibetan Plateau during the Last Deglaciation. Zooarchaeological analysis of these faunal remains indicates that hunter-gatherers at the “151 site” mainly targeted large ungulates of Bos and wild horse/ass, and only brought back the most nutritious parts of animal carcasses including upper and intermediate limb bones, heads, and trunks (ribs and vertebrae). People then processed and consumed the carcasses around single hearths. Our comprehensive analyses of contemporaneous sites in the Qinghai Lake Basin show that a subsistence strategy involving opportunistic hunting of ungulates, high mobility, and short occupation of campsites was used by terminal Pleistocene hunter-gatherers to adapt to the high-altitude environment on the Tibetan Plateau. This subsistence strategy may have been a first step of gradual hunter-gatherer adaptation to the extreme conditions on the Tibetan Plateau after the Last Glacial Maximum, and laid the foundation for the widespread distribution of hunter-gatherers on the plateau during the Holocene.