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posted by cmn32480 on Sunday September 04 2016, @03:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the how'd-we-end-up-here? dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The Tibetan Plateau, as the Earth's third pole, has long been of interest to science, especially in relation to its human history. Over the last few decades, our understanding of the history of human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau has significantly improved as a result of progress made in archaeological, genetic and earth science studies. However, arguments remain about major discrepancies that exist between the findings of studies based on different materials and using different approaches. A recent study did a comprehensive review of previous studies of the human history of the Tibetan Plateau and the nature of human adaptation to the high elevation environment.

The study is published in the latest issue of Science China: Earth Sciences, and is titled "History and possible mechanisms of prehistoric human migration to the Tibetan Plateau". The research is led by Lanzhou University, the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeological Research, the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeological Research and the Tibetan Cultural Relic Conservation Institute.

Prehistoric human history on the Tibetan Plateau is a hotly debated topic. Recent studies have not only yielded a large amount of archaeological material and genetic information about the Tibetan people, but they have also proposed divergent hypotheses. A comprehensive analysis of this diverse material, and of the resulting conclusions, is urgently required.


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 04 2016, @08:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 04 2016, @08:29PM (#397495)

    I hadn't encountered a BP (Before Present) date before, so I had to look it up [about.com].

    However, a major disadvantage with using BP is--the Present year, of course, changes every twelve months. Since the BP designation was originally associated with radiocarbon dating, archaeologists chose the year 1950 as a reference point for the 'the present'. The date was chosen because radiocarbon dating was invented in the late 1940s. At the same time, atmospheric nuclear testing, which throws huge amounts of carbon into our atmosphere, was begun in the 1940s. Radiocarbon dates after 1950 will likely be virtually useless, unless we can figure out a way to calibrate for that.

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