Footnote to Everest

Following the flurry of activity around Everest, terminated by the post at reference 1, I have been stirred again by activity on the other side of the fence, that is to say in Tibet, by an advertisement for the paper at reference 2. A paper which reports on a dig in a desolate looking place called Nwya Devu, Xainza County, Nagqu, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. With Wikipedia having heard of Nwya Devu and Gmaps having heard of the county in which it is to be found.

Lots of stone artefacts, some dated (rather dubiously I would have thought) by their depth, to around 40,000 years ago, towards the end of the era of ice ages. The work of the first wave of immigrants to the area – or at least seasonal visitors. Then there was another wave around 15,000 years ago, by which time the climate was a bit more accommodating. Did the first wave die out, move on – or did it survive to mix in with the second wave?

Some if the interest is in the genetic background of the present population of Tibet. How strong is the Han Chinese side of things?

It seems that something called endothelial PAS domain protein 1, otherwise EPAS1, otherwise the hypoxia-inducible factor 2α, otherwise HIF-2α, is a strong candidate for the gene which confers high altitude adaptation to the Tibetans, who get on better at 4,000 metres than we Europeans do. By way of comparison Mont Blanc is 5,000 metres, Mount Kilimanjaro is 6,000 metres – for which last Europeans certainly need to do high altitude training – and Mount Everest is 9,000 metres. Where did this gene come from? Do the peoples of Nepal or Bhutan have it? Or northern Kashmir for that matter?

Perusing the Tibet page in my Times atlas, snapped above, I find that the Tibetan plateau is indeed very big and very high up, with a lot of it in excess of 6,000 metres: most of the lower half of the snap. While the much smaller Nepal to the south is merely the climb up to that sort of height from sea level. Everest bottom middle, on the border between Nepal and China.

I was also reminded of a curious place called the Turpan Depression, a long way to the north, in western Sinkiang, one of the lowest places on the earth and famous, inter alia, for its grapes and air-dried fruit. The small green patch in the middle of the top half of the snap, where it is spelt with an ‘f’ instead of a ‘p’. See also reference 5. Perhaps a quest for some Turpan raisins is in order in the year to come; perhaps I could try asking in the various Chinese grocers in and around Gerrard Street?

PS: intriguingly, the Word spell checker has heard of places like Turpan.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2018/12/left-for-dead.html.

Reference 2: The earliest human occupation of the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau 40 thousand to 30 thousand years ago - X.L. Zhang et al – 2018. Both Bing and Google turn up collateral, but neither get around the paywall.

Reference 3: Prehistoric Colonization and Demographic History of Modern Humans on the Tibetan Plateau – Xuebin Qi,  Chaoying Cui,  Ouzhuluobu,  Tianyi Wu,  Bing Su – 2014. Both Bing and Google turn up collateral, but neither get around the paywall.

Reference 4: Genetic Evidence of Paleolithic  Colonization and Neolithic  Expansion of Modern Humans on the Tibetan Plateau - Xuebin Qi, Chaoying Cui, Yi Peng, Xiaoming Zhang, Zhaohui Yang, Hua Zhong, Hui Zhang, Kun Xiang, Xiangyu Cao, Yi Wang, Ouzhuluobu, Basang, Ciwangsangbu, Bianba, Gonggalanzi, Tianyi Wu, Hua Chen, Hong Shi, and Bing Su – 2013. Open access.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpan_Depression.

Reference 6: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2015/07/tibetan-marches.html. For a previous excursion to the Tibet side. The Koko Nor mentioned at the end of this post is some way to the southeast of the Turpan Depression mentioned above.