Preliminary Report of The Stone Age Survey at Chiritso in Ngari Prefecture of Tibet
In October 2021,some researchers from Sichuan University and China University of Geosciences dis-covered dozens of stone artifacts on the southwest shore of Chiritso Lake during their scientific survey in Gegye County,Ngari Prefecture,Tibet.They are mainly chipped stone tools including cores,flakes and tools,which are all knapped or retouched by hand hammers.The raw materials used are black-gray siliceous rocks.The technolo-gy employed at this site is simple with a relatively short flaking sequence,chipped mainly unifacially,and there is no sign of prefabrication or other complicated techniques.The stone artifacts were modified marginally and re-touched with scrapers and denticulates.Among them,there are several larger tools like picks and bifaces.The characteristics of the stone artifacts discovered at Chiritso site are different from those of most stone artifacts found at other prehistoric sites on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.There is no blade or microblade and Mousterian-like tools,instead,those discovered at the Chiritso site can commonly be seen in East Asia.Based on prelimi-nary observations,the stone artifacts found at Chiritso Lake provide representative insights into the prehistoric activity in western Tibet.They also suggest that further archaeological exploration in this region holds the poten-tial to unveil new evidence that can contribute to our understanding of how ancient human adapted to live on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Ngari Prefecture of Tibetprehistorystone artifactsancient humanChiritso Lake
万方数据
维普
