Colonization of the Tibetan Plateau, permanent settlement, and the spread of agriculture: Reflection on current debates on the prehistoric archeology of the Tibetan Plateau

The current debate focuses on three main questions: “When did humans begin to colonize the Tibetan Plateau?”, “When did humans come to live in permanent settlements on the Tibetan Plateau?”, and “What is the earliest evidence for local agriculture”? This paper attempts to evaluate and comment on recent debating, further study should clarify the definition of the Tibet plateau with consideration of the ecological and cultural diversity, and should start from excavated sites with reliable context not only the profile samples or the prediction model.