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We examine the Holocene loess record in the Heye Catchment on the margins of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and China Loess Plateau (CLP) to determine: the region to which the Heye Catchment climate is more similar; temporal change in wind strength; and modification of the loess record by mass wasting and human activity. Luminescence and radiocarbon dating demonstrate loess deposited in two periods: >11– 8.6 ka and <5.1 ka. The 8.6–5.1 ka depositional hiatus, which coincides with the Mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum, is more similar to the loess deposition cessation in the TP than to the loess deposition deceleration in the CLP. Grain-size analysis suggests the Heye loess is a mixture of at least three different grain-size distributions and that it may derive from multiple sources. A greater proportion of coarse sediments in the older loess may indicate stronger winds compared with the more recent depositional period. Gravel incorporated into younger loess most likely comes from bedrock exposed in slump scarps. Human occupation of the catchment, for which the earliest evidence is 3.4 ka, postdates the onset of slumping; thus the slumps may have created a livable environment for humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau is generally hampered by the lack of established chronologies. The mountains of southwest China in particular are not very well explored. As a point of intersection of various culture-geographic regions and of long-distance exchange networks, the Liangshan region in southwest Sichuan deserves special attention. Unfortunately, this area is usually excluded from studies into the prehistory of southwest China, chiefly because the archaeological material is remarkably heterogeneous and the local prehistoric cultural sequence therefore has long remained obscure. Based on the results of excavations and survey work conducted during recent decades, this article represents a first attempt to suggest a chronological scheme for southwest China and neighboring parts of Yunnan from the earliest evidence of human occupation around 3000 B. C. to the onset of large-scale Han influence around A. D. 100. Additionally, the article reconstructs processes of early cultural developments and human occupation of the southeastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau that can serve as a point of departure for future research on the prehistory of western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report directly dated evidence from circa 1400 calibrated years (cal) B.C. for the early use of wheat, barley, and flax as staple crops on the borders of the Tibetan Plateau. During recent years, an increasing amount of data from the Tibetan Plateau and its margins shows that a transition from millets to wheat and barley agriculture took place during the second millennium B.C. Using thermal niche modeling, we refute previous assertions that the ecological characteristics of wheat and barley delayed their spread into East Asia. Rather, we demonstrate that the ability of these crops to tolerate frost and their low growing degree-day requirements facilitated their spread into the high-altitude margins of western China. Following their introduction to this region, these crops rapidly replaced Chinese millets and became the staple crops that still characterize agriculture in this area today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]