近日，德国科隆大学Georg Miehe等人合作发现了中石器时代的采集者居住在埃塞俄比亚冰川化贝尔山脉高海拔地区的证据。该研究于2019年8月9日发表于国际学术期刊《科学》上。

研究人员报道了史前高海拔居住点的最早证据。位于非洲最大的高山生态系统中，人类对Fincha Habera岩石庇护所的重复占领可追溯到4万7千至3万1千年前。寒冷和冰川环境中可用资源包括对作为主要食物来源地方性啮齿动物的开发，这在促进晚更新世狩猎采集者占领该地点方面发挥了关键作用。

研究人员介绍，对高山环境中早期人类定居的研究提供了对人类生理、遗传和文化适应潜力的见解。 尽管最近报道了晚更新世甚至中更新世时期人类在青藏高原的出现，但对于高海拔地区早期人类持续定居的性质和背景知之甚少。

附：英文原文

Title: Middle Stone Age foragers resided in high elevations of the glaciated Bale Mountains, Ethiopia

Author: Gtz Ossendorf, Alexander R. Groos, Tobias Bromm, Minassie Girma Tekelemariam, Bruno Glaser, Joséphine Lesur, Joachim Schmidt, Naki Akar, Tamrat Bekele, Alemseged Beldados, Sebsebe Demissew, Trhas Hadush Kahsay, Barbara P. Nash, Thomas Nauss, Agazi Negash, Sileshi Nemomissa, Heinz Veit, Ralf Vogelsang, Zerihun Woldu, Wolfgang Zech, Lars Opgenoorth, Georg Miehe

Issue&Volume: Vol. 365, Issue 6453, pp. 583-587

Abstract: Studies of early human settlement in alpine environments provide insights into human physiological, genetic, and cultural adaptation potentials. Although Late and even Middle Pleistocene human presence has been recently documented on the Tibetan Plateau, little is known regarding the nature and context of early persistent human settlement in high elevations. Here, we report the earliest evidence of a prehistoric high-altitude residential site. Located in Africa’s largest alpine ecosystem, the repeated occupation of Fincha Habera rock shelter is dated to 47 to 31 thousand years ago. The available resources in cold and glaciated environments included the exploitation of an endemic rodent as a key food source, and this played a pivotal role in facilitating the occupation of this site by Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw8942

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6453/583