Foraging and farming: archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological evidence for Neolithic exchange on the Tibetan Plateau
Lele Ren, Guanghui Dong, Fengwen Liu, Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, Rowan K. Flad, Minmin Ma, Haiming Li, Yishi Yang, Yujia Liu, Dongju Zhang, Guolin Li, Jiyuan Li, Fahu Chen
Abstract
Archaeological research has documented the migration of Neolithic farmers onto the Tibetan Plateau by 4000 BC. How these incoming groups interacted, if at all, with local indigenous foragers, however, remains unclear. New archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data from the Zongri site in the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau suggest that local foragers continued to hunt but supplemented their diet with agricultural products in the form of millet. The authors propose that, rather than being grown locally, this millet was acquired via exchange with farmers. This article highlights how indigenous foragers engaged in complex patterns of material and cultural exchange through encounters with newly arrived farmers.