Abstract ID: 3.9548 | Accepted as Talk | Talk | TBA | TBA

The question of which human species was the first to enter the high-altitude areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and to occupy the plateau landscape on a permanent basis is probably not the same question, and we need to separate them. We are increasingly confident that one or more members of the human species entered the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by at least the Upper Pleistocene, based on recent newly discovered archaeological records. But apart from the Denisovans in the northeast of the plateau, there are still too many gaps to fill. Thus, the earliest evidence may continue to set new records. Many recent studies have focused on when humans permanently occupied the plateau. However, it is difficult to answer the question of how permanent each site really was. But it is worthwhile to pay more attention to the sites that have been repeatedly occupied, and especially to their settlement landscape. Finally, I would also like to emphasize that the pressures of high altitude may not have been as difficult as we think.