The linguistic (pre)history on the eastern Tibetan Plateau
A multidisciplinary approach of archaeology, palaeoclimate and linguistics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19228726 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bingcong Deng (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, corresponding author), J D''Alpoim Guedes (0000-0002-2627-7863, University of Washington, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 100100-100100 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Quaternary Environments and Humans (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2950-2365 • E-ISSN: 2950-2365 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.qeh.2026.100100 |
| OpenAlex | W7133345658 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 57 |
The early dispersal of Sino-Tibetan language family has been proposed to be promoted by millet domestication and cultivation, and ultimately agricultural development in the Yellow River Valley. However, the spread of Sino-Tibetan onto the Tibetan Plateau was a more complex picture showing interactions between the agriculturalists from the Yellow River region and the local hunter-gatherers. This article investigates exchange and contact dynamics of different populations in prehistoric eastern Tibetan Plateau, combining data from archaeology and linguistics in the setting of climatic environment of the Holocene. We observe diversification in both archaeological and linguistic evidence following the 4.2 kya event, suggesting a potential human response to the climate change. Our results also illustrate acceptance and resistance of the populations on the Tibetan Plateau to different degrees in terms of agriculturalist economy and diversification of subsistence strategies in order to avoid risks
Biological dispersal · Diversification (marketing strategy) · Domestication · Historical linguistics · Multidisciplinary approach · Prehistory · Subsistence agriculture · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Linguistics and Cultural Studies
Altitude adaptation in Tibetans caused by introgression of Denisovan-like DNA
Early evidence for the use of wheat and barley as staple crops on the margins of the Tibetan Plateau
Dated language phylogenies shed light on the ancestry of Sino-Tibetan
Asynchronous Holocene optimum of the East Asian monsoon
Phylogenetic evidence for Sino-Tibetan origin in northern China in the Late Neolithic
Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family
Possessive prefixes in Proto-Kusunda
Bayesian phylogenetics illuminate shallower relationships among Trans-Himalayan languages in the Tibet-Arunachal area
Morphological structure can escape reduction effects from mass admixture of second language speakers
The spread of agriculture in eastern Asia
Phylogenies based on lexical innovations refute the Rung hypothesis
Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages
Tangut as a West Gyalrongic language
Early Cultural Developments on the Eastern Rim of the Tibetan Plateau
Chronology and subsistence strategy of Nuomuhong Culture in the Tibetan Plateau
Linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence suggests multiple agriculture-driven migrations of Sino-Tibetan speakers from Northern China to the Indian subcontinent
The Austronesian Homeland and Dispersal
The Archaeology of the Early Tibetan Plateau
Rethinking the spread of agriculture to the Tibetan Plateau
Linguistic evidence supports a long antiquity of cultivation of barley and buckwheat over that of millet and rice in Eastern Bhutan
Landscapes of Prehistoric Northwestern Sichuan
The importance of localized hunting of diverse animals to early inhabitants of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau at the Neolithic site of Xiaoenda
Reconstructing subsistence at the Yingpanshan and Gaoshan sites in Sichuan province, China
Old Tibetan verb morphology and semantics
Prehistoric agricultural decision making in the western Himalayas
Foraging and farming
Water management and labour in the origins and dispersal of Asian rice
Mountain linguistics
Tibet's Minority Languages
Site of Baodun yields earliest evidence for the spread of rice and foxtail millet agriculture to south-west China
Ethnic flows in the Tibetan-Yi corridor throughout history
Modeling Ancient Population Structures and Movement in Linguistics
Seeing like Borders
A 5,500-Year Model of Changing Crop Niches on the Tibetan Plateau
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |