Prehistoric human hand and footprints in Quesang on the central Tibetan Plateau from the Bølling-Allerød Interstadial

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2025) 17:71 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-025-02181-y RESEARCH Prehistoric human hand and footprints in Quesang on the central Tibetan Plateau from the Bølling-Allerød Interstadial Yuhai Gao1,2 · David D. Zhang1,2 · Haiwei Zhang3 · Shengda Zhang1,2 · Teng Li1,2 · Shimin Chen1,2 · Chengcai Luo1,2 · Hai Cheng3 Received: 2 July 2024 / Accepted: 2 February 2025 / Published online: 27 February 2025 © The Author(s) 2025 Abstract Multidisciplinary research has examined prehistoric human adaptation and survival in the Tibetan Plateau’s alpine and hypoxic environment. As an important prehistoric human hand and footprint site for studying prehistoric human activities, Quesang, on the central Tibetan Plateau, has witnessed prehistoric human arrivals at least twice: in the Middle Pleistocene and early-middle Holocene. Recent investigations along the gully incised by water flow of the active spring have discovered a series of prehistoric human footprints and repeated trampling marks on the residual travertine in the different locations of gully and their ichnological characteristics and ages are unknown. To determine whether and when the imprints were left by Hominin and explore their association with the surrounding environment and landform evolution, we conducted detailed stratigraphic and geomorphological analysis of travertine deposit, 3D modelling and morphological study of hand and footprints, as well as Uranium–Thorium and optically stimulated luminescence dating of hand and footprints and strata. Based on these analyses, we obtained the following results: The active hot springs formed after 17.37 ka BP, probably when the Bølling-Allerød Interstadial began. The newly discovered footprints and repeated trampling traces are ichnologically identified as Hominin traces, which were unintentionally impressed at ~ 8.5–9.2 ka BP and ~ 14.2 ka BP, respectively, and are related to the development of the gully. In the cold, dry, and anoxic environment of the Tibetan Plateau, the Quesang hot spring is undoubtedly a very attractive survival resource, attracting prehistoric humans to frequently patronise it for a long time. The discovery of these imprints provides new evidence of prehistoric human expansion and occupation on the Tibetan Plateau before and in the Holocene. Keywords Bølling-Allerød Interstadial · Hand and footprints · Travertine · Quesang spring · Prehistoric human activities Introduction Shengda Zhang, Teng Li, Shimin Chen, Chengcai Luo and Hai Cheng contributed equally to this work. * David D. Zhang * Haiwei Zhang Yuhai Gao 1 School of Geography and Remote Sensing, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510000, China 2 Huangpu Research School of Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510000, China 3 Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710054, China The adaptation of prehistoric humans to extreme environments is essential in investigating past human–environment interactions. The Tibetan Plateau, often referred to as the ‘roof of the world’ and ‘third pole’, is the youngest and highest plateau globally (Zheng et al. 2004; Yao et al. 2017). With an average altitude exceeding 4000 m and relatively scarce biological resources, the plateau presents a cold, anoxic environment, rendering it one of the most challenging regions for human habitation, particularly permanent settlement (Qiu 2008; Tang et al. 2023). Serving as a magnifying glass for climate change, the Tibetan Plateau stands out as the most sensitive low latitude area (Liu et al. 2000; He et al. 2003; Duan et al. 2006; Zhang et al. 2013). Since approximately 6 ka BP, advancements in agriculture and animal husbandry facilitated prehistoric human settlements Vol.:(0123456789) 71 Page 2 of 17 along the plateau’s northeastern edge (Chen et al. 2015). As research deepens and dating techniques improve, an increasing number of prehistoric human sites have been unveiled to scholars, thus enabling progress in studying prehistoric human activities on the Tibetan Plateau. In 2007, the discovery of stone tools in northern Tibet indicated that humans entered the plateau to live, at least in the late Pleistocene (Yuan et al. 2017; Zhang et al. 2018). In 2018, a team led by Prof. David D. Zhang discovered a set of hand and footprints (Fig. 1c, group4-G4) dating back to 169–226 ka BP on the travertine near the Quesang Hot Spring (4065 m a.s.l.) in the Duilongdêqên District, Lhasa (Fig. 1a, Zhang et al. 2021a). This discovery suggests that prehistoric humans may have begun exploring the hinterland of the plateau during the late Middle Pleistocene, providing new evidence for their adaptation to alpine and anoxic environments. In 2019, a Denisovan mandible dating to approximately 160 ka BP was unearthed in Baishiya Cave in Xiahe, Gansu Province (Chen et al. 2019), with Denisovan DNA found in the strata. This confirms Denisovan occupation of Baishiya Cave at least 60–100 ka BP (Zhang et al. 2020b), providing substantial evidence for prehistoric human habitation on the Tibetan Plateau. With continuous discovery of stone tools and development of environmental archaeology Fig. 1  Location and chronology of hand and footprints in the Quesang travertine reported in this study. a Location of Quesang Hot Spring on the Tibetan Plateau; b The distribution of the trace group G1, 2, 3, 8, and 13 and the travertine deposition from active hot spring; c Overview of the study area and the U-Th ages of different trace group Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2025) 17:71 on the Tibetan Plateau, mounting evidence indicates that prehistoric humans have long been extensively active in this region (Hou et al. 2016, 2017; Madsen et al. 2017; Zhang et al. 2020a; Wang et al. 2021, 2023b; Gu et al. 2023). As early as 1988, Prof. Zhang discovered traces of hand and footprints on the travertine near the Quesang active hot spring in Lhasa (Fig. 1c, group1-G1, 4260 m a.s.l). Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating indicates that these hand and footprints formed approximately 20 ka BP (Zhang and Li 2002). Meyer et al. (2017) resampled these hand and footprints, and uranium series unbalanced (U-Th) dating indicated that the formation of hand and footprints occurred at least 7.4 ka BP, while OSL dating indicates that the site formed approximately 12 ka BP, that is, during the early Holocene. Wang et al. (2023a) determined the U-Th age of 5 handprints and 17 footprints on the travertine from different groups at the same location (Fig. 1c, group1, 2, 3-G1-3), confirming that prehistoric humans arrived there before 7 ka BP. Chen et al. (2022) also found stone artefacts near Quesang, and the types of stone tools were similar to those discovered at Jiangjunfu No.1 (~ 90–120 ka, Cheng et al. 2021). The Nwya Devu site provides evidence for late marine isotope stage (MIS) 3 (40–30 ka BP) prehistoric human activities (Zhang et al. 2022b), and new dating evidence shows Arc (...truncated)