Distinguished Lecture Series Lunch Talk | Two Modes of Sedentism on the Tibetan Plateau

Each quarter, the Stanford Archaeology Center invites prominent archaeologists from around the globe to be in residence for a week as a Distinguished Lecturer. During their residency, the Distinguished Lecturer gives two lectures and interacts with faculty, postdoctoral scholars and students. Stanford Archaeology Center will host Prof. Xiaoyan Yang Lanzhou University over two days (Oct 7 and Oct 8 for the Fall Quarter of this academic year. Abstract: Sedentism is one of the milestone events in the development of human society. Settlement in ultra-high-altitude regions reflects human physiological and cultural adaptation to extreme environments. Through morphological identification, isotopic analysis, and ancient DNA analysis of faunal and floral remains from the Lapo site (2800 m a.s.l., 4800 BP) and the Mabu Co site (4420–4460 m a.s.l., 4400 BP) on the Tibetan Plateau, we discovered that the process of sedentism on the plateau followed at least two distinct modes. In relatively low-altitude river valleys, intensive millet pig agriculture supported early settlement, whereas in high-altitude regions where crop cultivation is not possible, a fishing hunting economy centered on lake resources initiated the sedentism process.