“International Conference on the Prehistory of the Tibetan Plateau” Held at Chengdu

Sponsored by Harvard-Yenching Institute, the international conference on the prehistory of the Tibetan Plateau was held in the Center for Tibetan Studies of Sichuan University from August 22th to 24th. This conference was organized by the Center for Tibetan Studies of Sichuan University, which is a “Key Research Center of Humanities and Social Science” of the Ministry of Education.

There were fourteen scholars from overseas academic organizations, including Harvard University, University of California, University of Virginia, Philipps-Universität Marburg, University of Leiden, Seoul University of Technology, Indian HNB Garwa University, Nepal Government Archaeological Department, The Kingdom of Bhutan, and etc. The 27 domestic scholars are from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University, Sichuan University, Lanzhou University, Nanjing Normal University, Qinghai Normal University, Taiwan University, and provincial archaeological institutions in Tibetan, Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai.

Totally 35 scholars presented their own results of research. This conference included several issues, including Paleo-environment and Paleo-anthropology of the Tibetan Plateau, Studies of Prehistorical Culture of the Tibetan Plateau, Relationship between the Tibetan Plateau and Its Adjacent Prehistorical Culture, Lithic-culture of the Tibetan Plateau, and etc. The scholars have elucidated new ideas and opinions differing in discipline in terms of transfer of the ancient people, occurrence of agriculture and husbandry, man-land relationship of prehistorical period of the Tibetan Plateau, interaction and communication between the prehistorical cultures of the Tibetan Plateau and its adjacent culture. In addition, current progress and discoveries of each field associated with the Plateau study were presented.

This conference attracted a group of top scholars both domestic and overseas, covering many fields of study, including Nature Geographical Environment, Genetic Anthropology, Prehistorical Archaeology, Laboratory Dating Techniques, Ecological Farming, and etc. The discussion especially upon the same topic fully reflected the specialized angle of multidiscipline and communication among different concepts. Much discussion has attracted the intense interests of audiences in the meeting. Consequently, the conference has provided a precious opportunity of communication among the scholars differing in discipline and nationality. Meanwhile, it has embodied the tendency of the frequent association between the humanities and natural science in present.      (Translator: Sang Li)