The East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) plays a major role in the global climate 63 system (Wang, 2009). In mid-latitude and southern Asia, ecosystems, rain-fed agriculture and 64 economic prosperity critically depend on the amount and distribution of monsoonal 65 precipitation (Yasuda and Shinde, 2004). Therefore, detailed knowledge of the monsoon 66 system variability is essential for understanding global climate processes and is of societal and 67 economic interest, particularly with regard to existing uncertainties in future rainfall 68 projections (Stocker et al., 2013). 69A large number of palaeoenvironmental records have already been generated to better 70 understand the spatio-temporal variability and control mechanisms of the Asian monsoon (e.g. 71 Wang et al., 2010;Cao et al., 2013;Ran and Feng, 2013;An, 2014;Yang et al., 2014). In 72 general, these studies primarily invoke local or regional moisture changes as most indicative 73 of variations in monsoon strength and large-scale circulation patterns. Particularly, oxygen 74 isotope records from speleothems in S/E China have substantially influenced palaeo-monsoon 75 research as they are well dated and widely considered to be high-resolution summer monsoon 76 proxies (e.g., Wang et al., 2005; Liu et al., 2014 suggesting a similar moisture evolution across the monsoon-influenced regions of China 82 (Zhao et al., 2009a; Zhang et al., 2011;Ran and Feng, 2013). 83However, other studies point to much more variability of the summer monsoon in space 84 and time. In particular, towards its northern margin, proxy records reveal region-specific 85 palaeoenvironmental changes, suggesting a complex interplay between the Indian summer 86 monsoon (ISM), the EASM and other major climatic factors, including topography and 87 vegetation (Hu et al., 2003; Maher and Hu, 2006;An et al., 2006;Zhao and Yu, 2012; Ran 88 and Feng, 2013). 89To reveal coherent spatio-temporal patterns of climate evolution in monsoonal Asia and 90 adjacent regions, available proxy data were used for summarizing compilations, over-regional 91 correlations, for constructing 'monsoon/moisture indices' and data-model comparisons (An, 92 2000;Ren and Beug, 2002; Morrill et al., 2003;An et al., 2006;Herzschuh, 2006; Chen et al., 93 2008; Zhao et al., 2009a,b;Cai et al., 2010;Wang et al., 2010; Kleinen et al., 2011; Zhao and 94 Yu, 2012;Cao et al., 2013, Dallmayer et al., 2013 Leipe et al., 2014;Yang et al., 2014). 95However, the regional behaviour of the summer monsoon and its over-regional linkages is far 96 from being well understood. This is reflected in ongoing debates regarding (i) the regional 97 impact of the major atmospheric circulation systems controlling moisture distribution patterns 98 in China (e.g. Clemens et al., 2010;Ran and Feng, 2013), (ii) the phase 99 relationships between these systems (e.g. He et al., 2004;Zhao et al., 2009a; Wang et al., 100 2010;Cai et al., 2010; Clemens et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2011; Ran and 101 Feng, 2013; Li et al., 2014;Yang et al., 2014),...

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Current models of the peopling of the higher-elevation zones of the Tibetan Plateau postulate that permanent occupation could only have been facilitated by an agricultural lifeway at ~3.6 thousand calibrated carbon-14 years before present. Here we report a reanalysis of the chronology of the Chusang site, located on the central Tibetan Plateau at an elevation of ~4270 meters above sea level. The minimum age of the site is fixed at ~7.4 thousand years (thorium-230/uranium dating), with a maximum age between ~8.20 and 12.67 thousand calibrated carbon-14 years before present (carbon-14 assays). Travel cost modeling and archaeological data suggest that the site was part of an annual, permanent, preagricultural occupation of the central plateau. These findings challenge current models of the occupation of the Tibetan Plateau.

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