Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Convenor:
Amy Mosig Way, University of Sydney, Australia, amy.way@sydney.edu.au
High-altitude mountain landscapes present unique challenges and opportunities for human populations. This session invites papers exploring recent archaeological research on human adaptation to upper mountain environments across diverse geographic and temporal contexts. We particularly encourage submissions that:
- Showcase innovative archaeological methods developed for, or applied to, high-altitude research, such as remote sensing, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and cultural material analyses.
- Highlight community-based and collaborative research projects with local communities, emphasising the integration of traditional knowledge and archaeological practice.
- Explore diverse themes related to human-environment interactions in high-altitude zones, including subsistence strategies, technological innovations, mobility patterns, ritual practices, and resilience in the face of environmental change.
This session aims to foster a dynamic exchange of knowledge and perspectives on high-altitude archaeology.
Papers:
Ghost Populations and the Peoplings of the Tibetan Plateau: Consilience or Confusion Between Genetics and Material Culture?
Mark Aldenderfer, Dept of Anthropology and Heritage Studies, University of California, Merced, Merced, USA
Since the beginning of the 21st century, remarkable progress has been made in our understanding of the peopling processes onto the Tibetan plateau. From the perspective of genetics, a Denisovan contribution to the modern Tibetan gene pool has been identified via the postulation of ghost populations, identified by the genomic analysis of non-plateau, East and North Asian peoples, who interbred with the ancestors of modern Tibetans. Where and how many times this interaction took place remains open to question. From an archaeological perspective, new sites with distinctive reduction strategies have been found both on the plateau margins as well as in its deep and high-altitude interior, but aside from a single site—Baishyia Karst Cave—no human remains and lithic materials have been found together in a secure archaeological context, thus making it difficult to assess the relationships, if any, between them. In this paper I describe our current knowledge about these ghost populations and explore how they relate to lithic traditions on the plateau over the past 100 kya.
Dargan Shelter, Blue Mountains: The Oldest Highlands Site so Far Identified in Australia
Amy Mosig Way, The University of Sydney; Australian Museum, Australia
Wayne Brennan, Blue Mountains Aboriginal Community; University of Sydney
Emily Nutman, The Australian National University, Australia
Australia’s Eastern Highlands have traditionally been viewed as a cold-climate barrier to Late Pleistocene (~35,000 – 11,700 years ago) mobility, with older evidence restricted to elevations below the periglacial zone. However, this model has not been adequately tested with regionally specific, high-resolution archaeological data. Here we report excavation results from a high-altitude (1,073m) cave, Dargan Shelter, in the upper Blue Mountains, which indicate that occupation first occurred ~ 20,000 years ago, during the last glacial maximum (LGM), making this the highest elevation Pleistocene site so far identified in Australia. Findings include multiple in situ hearths and 693 stone artefacts, several of which were sourced from sites along the mountain range providing evidence for previously undetected interactions to the north and south and the repeated use of this cold-climate landscape during the Late Pleistocene. Our results align the Australian continent for the first time with global sequences, which indicate that cold climates were not necessarily natural barriers to human mobility and occupation.
The Central Highlands of Kenya: Geodiversity and Hominin Evolution in Tropical Mountains Systems in the Quaternary
Veronica Waweru, Yale University, USA
Aryeh Grossman, MidWestern University, USA
Francis Kirera, Mercer University, USA
Rahab Kinyanjui, National Museums of Kenya, Kenya
The significance of the interplay between geodiversity and biodiversity on evolution has been demonstrated in geoecological studies but has not been applied to hominin evolution enquiry. Eastern Africa is also integral to the formulation of models of hominin bio-cultural evolution, yet the bulk of data is sourced from sites within Gregory Rift of the East African Rift System. This work presents a new non-rift human origins research region- the Central Highlands of Kenya (CHK) using a geodiversity lens. The CHK comprises of Mt. Kenya, Aberdare, Kirisia, Mathews and Nyambene Ranges, with heights ranging from 5199 to 2500 m. Mountain formation produces high geodiversity, which correlates positively with high biodiversity, and potentially impacted hominin radiation and behavioural adaptations in Eastern Africa.
High geodiversity is characterised by variation in soils, precipitation, temperature, elevation, hydrology and geology. The CHK, has high geodiversity, altitude modulated precipitation, and environmental mosaics. These would have provided resources to hominins during adverse climatic regimes. The CHK is also fossil rich, has stone tools spanning the Pleistocene to the Holocene, and fossil hominins dating to 600 ka. We argue that the biodiversity produced by CHK tropical mountains contributed to the evolution of the genus Homo in region.
High Altitude Archaeology and the Anthropology of Sacred Mountains: A Match Made in Heaven
Constanza Ceruti, UCASAL – CONICET – ANCBA
Over a decade of fieldwork in Andean high-altitude archaeology—including surveys of over one hundred peaks above 5000 meters and the excavation of the world’s highest archaeological site—led me to expand my anthropological focus on sacred mountains to a global scale. Applying conceptual and methodological approaches developed from Inca mountaintop shrines, I have examined pilgrimage, offerings, sacrifices, and the role of ritual experts across diverse landscapes in the Pyrenees, Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, Central America, Polynesia, Thailand, and Australia. This comparative framework has revealed shared patterns of human interaction with mountains perceived as sacred.
Despite the emergence of glacial archaeology in Scandinavia and high-altitude research in the Alps, early interpretations prioritised hunting, warfare, and trade, neglecting the religious significance of mountain landscapes. My work has challenged this bias. By incorporating pilgrimage, myth, ritual, and cultural tourism, I will discuss the centrality of sacred mountains in shaping regional identities. Furthermore, European alpine traditions have provided unexpected insights into Andean religious practices, underscoring the cross-cultural significance of sacred landscapes in human history and contemporary heritage management.