Ancient DNA insights into Neolithic bone-tool use on the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Bone tools are an important component of human material culture and contain rich information about ancient cultures and technologies. The selection strategies of prehistoric humans for bone-tool materials in ultra-high-elevation regions represent a cultural adaptation to extreme environments characterized by cold and hypoxia. Current research on bone tools predominantly emphasizes artifact description, typological analysis, and processing methods, while study on the source of the bone-tool materials is less due to the method limited. The Mabu Co site (4420–4465 m a.s.l.) is the world's highest site with sedentary lifestyle supported by fishing and hunting in the high-elevation interior of the Tibetan Plateau more than 4000 years ago. Commonly excavated bone tools at this site include bipoints, ornaments, bone awls, needles. This study selected several fragmented bone tools from the site and used ancient DNA technology to identify the species to learn the humans' selection strategies for materials. The results show that the long bones of argali (Ovis ammon) and blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) were used to make bone awls. The limb bones of animals with thin-walled bones such as Himalayan musk deer (Moschus leucogaster) were used to make bone needles. For bone bipoints, which were likely used for fishing and bird hunting and were in high daily demand at this lakeside village, species of water birds, including the abundant cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and the occasional crane (Grus sp.), were used. Our study reveals that the ancient people living on the Tibetan Plateau 4000 years ago strategically selected bone-tool material from local animal resources, demonstrating a preference and consideration of different types of bone to suit the tool. By using ancient DNA technology to analyze the source material of the bone tools excavated from archaeological sites, our understanding of the organic artifacts is enhanced.