We report an investigation of forty-two prehistoric sites in the upper Yellow River valley located in
Guide, Jianzha, Hualong, Xunha and Minhe, Qinghai Province, China, including forty-four new radiocarbon
dates from twenty-four sites, review published archaeological surveys and radiocarbon dates,
analyze landform features and discuss the reasons for spatial and temporal variety of regional prehistoric
human settlement.
Our results suggest that people occupied the upper Yellow River valley during the
early Holocene, but a continuous archaeological record begins only after about 5500 Cal yr BP.