New achievements and related issues of Paleolithic archaeology in western China

The new archaeological discoveries in the three western regions have filled the gap in the distribution of early human remains and revealed the unique features of Paleolithic culture in the transitional zone between the East and West of the Old World. Unlike the long prevailing history of simple core and flake technology in the East Asian monsoon region, the transitional zone is characterized by alternating appearance of simple Core-flake, Acheulean, Mousterian, Blade and Micro-blade technologies. The new findings also exhibit various modes connecting early humans and cultures of the East and West in the transitional zone: the arid area in Northwest China presents a "fast and intermittently opened route" mode with the changes of Pleistocene climate; the southwest transitional zone, affected by geomorphology and ecological environment, demonstrates contact diffusion with decreasing slow speed and influence. New archaeological evidences in the plateau region show that the history of early human conquest of high-altitude extreme environment began in the late Middle Pleistocene. Early humans around the plateau, of different Paleolithic traditions, spread to the roof of the world from various directions, writing a brilliant chapter in the history of human evolution.