Prehistoric agricultural decision making in the western Himalayas: ecological and social variables

The high-altitude landscape of western Tibet is one the most extreme environments in which humans have managed to introduce crop cultivation. To date, only sparse palaeoeconomic data been reported from this region. authors present archaeobotanical evidence five sites (dating late first millennium BC and early AD) located cold-arid Tibet. indicate that barley was widely grown region by c . 400 but probably fulfilled differing roles within local ecological constraints on Additionally, larger are characterised more diverse assemblages than smaller sites, suggesting a role for social diversity development agriculture.