Surprise! People Lived on the 'Roof of the World' 50,000 Years Ago 🏔️

Think living in high-altitude is tough? Try imagining our ancestors chilling on the world's highest plateau 50,000 years ago! 😮

Archaeologists have made a jaw-dropping discovery in the heart of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, also known as the \"roof of the world\" and the world's third pole. Turns out, humans were calling this place home way earlier than we thought—like, 10,000 years earlier! 🕰️

A team from the Xizang Regional Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (that's a mouthful!) have been digging into the Melong Tagphug cave in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region for six years. What did they find? Over 10,000 artifacts, including stone tools, pottery, bronze items, and even ancient plant remains! 🌿🗿

Zhang Xiaoling from the research team shared that the oldest stuff they found dates back more than 53,000 years, and maybe even up to 80,000 years ago. Mind-blowing, right? 🤯 The cave, perched 4,700 meters above sea level (that's higher than many mountains!), was home to ancient humans who braved the extreme high-altitude environment.

And get this—they even left behind some cool rock paintings with human figures and red stripes. Talk about ancient street art! 🎨

But the cave wasn't always occupied. Due to climate changes or cave-ins, people left and came back multiple times. These findings give us a sneak peek into how our ancestors adapted to harsh environments, migrated, and organized their societies. Pretty epic, huh? 🌍

So next time you're out of breath climbing stairs, remember that humans were conquering the \"roof of the world\" tens of thousands of years ago! 🏃‍♂️💨

Reference(s):

'Roof of the world' inhabited since 50,000 years ago: archaeologists

cgtn.com