VIENNA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Archaeologists from the University of Innsbruck and the University of Vienna of Austria said on Wednesday that they have found witnesses of human habitation in the late Neolithic period some 5,300 years ago in the East Himalayan region.
Geologist Michael Meyer from the University of Innsbruck told media on Wednesday that according to the research carried out by groups led by him and Professor Hermann Haeusler from the University of Vienna in the northern part of the Kingdom of Bhutan, evidence of human migration and settlement in that region, the oldest traces of human habitation so far, were found through sediment analysis, determination of pollen, radioisotope and fluorescence spectroscopy.
They estimated that as early as the Neolithic period some 6,700years ago, there was already human activity, while human settlement can be traced to at least 4,700 years ago.
Meyer also pointed out that data showed that people led a nomadic life at that time, and "their migration routes were closely related to the extension of Himalayan glaciers and the changes in monsoon intensity in that region."
The growth and shrinkage of Himalayan glaciers are directly affected by Indian summer monsoon, as large precipitation would lead to the expansion of the glaciers. However 4,500 to 5,000 years ago, with the weakening monsoon activity, the glaciers in the valley area of the Himalayan Mountains shrank, so people began to graze yaks there, and later also grew highland barley.
Christa Hofmann, specialized in researching the history of migration through determination of pollen, believed that "the herdsmen needed pasture to graze and firewood for heating and cooking." Such activities turned the originally shrub-covered mountains into "the present mountain pasture."
The field study in Bhutan-Himalaya was jointly carried out by Austria and Bhutan, under the financial support from Austrian Foreign Ministry, focusing on the glaciers, glacial lakes and the geological risks in north-west Bhutan.
