The Archaeology of the Tibetan Plateau

This book offers a comprehensive survey of past and recent research on the prehistory of the Tibetan plateau.

Jade D'Alpoim Guedes (Author), Mark Aldenderfer (Author)

9781108481878, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 April 2026

404 pages
25.4 x 17.8 x 2.4 cm, 0.916 kg

The Archaeology of the Tibetan Plateau offers a comprehensive survey of past and recent research on the prehistory of the plateau, from its early peopling to the eve of the foundation of the Tibetan Empire in the 7th C. The first English language book-length study of the Tibetan past, it is organized around eight chapters that describe modern and ancient environments, historical speculations about ancient Tibet by mystics, fascists, and contemporary scholars, evidence of the first peoples to live and thrive on the plateau, the arrival of the domesticated plants and animals that transformed the subsistence economy, and the emergence of early forms of status and prestige. The book concludes with a discussion of how the past informs environmental conservation and heritage preservation and explores how archaeological data are used by the Chinese state to create an alternative vision of the Tibetan past is at odds with indigenous Tibetan perspectives.

1. The plateau and its peoples
2. History of research
3. Peopling the plateau
4. Early Agricultural Incursions into Higher Elevation: spread of Millet agriculture and Eastern Tibet (pre-1700 BCE)
5. Economic, demographic, and subsistence transformations on the plateau (2000 BCE- CE)
6. Status, violence and burials on the eastern Tibetan plateau during the pre-imperial period
7. The Tibetan plateau on the eve of empire
8. The future of the past on the Tibetan plateau
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Archaeology by period / region [HDD]