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Columnist and Humans

How prehistoric people settled one of Earth’s most extreme places

Archaeologists previously believed the Tibetan plateau was one of the last places to be settled by humans or hominins – over the past couple of decades that notion has been slowly but comprehensively blown apart

By Michael Marshall

9 August 2023

BEAMBN Tibetan plateau scenery en route from Shegar to Tingri, Tibet

The Tibetan plateau is known as the “roof of the world”

J Marshall / Alamy Stock Photo

The following is an extract from Our Human Story, a newsletter about human evolution. Sign up to receive it for free in your inbox every month.

Earth has plenty of places that are difficult to live in. Hot and dry deserts like the Sahara and Atacama; cold and windy deserts like Antarctica; the constantly shifting ice packs of the Arctic. Nowadays humans live in pretty much all of them, venturing far outside the mosaic of grasses, trees and lakes…

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