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The Tibetan Plateau, at an altitude of some 3,000 meters above sea level, is often called the "roof of the world."
青藏高原海拔約3000米，被譽為世界屋脊。
Some prehistoric people tried living there starting about 20,000 years ago.
大約2萬年前起史前人就試圖在這片土地上居住。
Remains of cooked animals and small-scale hearths show that a few hardy souls did give the harsh region a go, at least temporarily.
而遺留在那里烹煮過的動物遺骸及小型灶臺表明極少數(shù)強壯勇敢之人能夠在這樣惡劣的環(huán)境中存活，或者說至少是暫時定居。
But they did not stick around.
但他們并未長期定居。
Permanent human settlements in the area began about 5,200 years ago.
真正在此永久定居的人類是從大約5200年前開始。
So scientists wanted to know. What changed?
因此科學家想搞清楚。到底是什么發(fā)生了改變?
Researchers collected artifacts, animal bones and plant remains from 53 sites.
研究者們從53個居住地收集了史前古器物及動植物殘骸。
The oldest camps only reached altitudes of about 2,500 meters.
最古老的營地海拔達到了2500米。
And at these sites, millet makes up 98 percent of dietary grain.
而且在這些居住地中，小米在人們的飲食中占98%的比例。
But about 3,600 years a new kind of barley arrived in the region, after being domesticated in the Fertile Crescent that spread from the Persian Gulf to the Nile.
但在從波斯灣傳播到尼羅河新月沃土后約3600年前一種新品種的青稞被帶到此地。
The new barley tolerated frost and had a longer growing season.
這個種新品能夠忍受 嚴寒天氣并且有著更長的生長季。
Which means it grew above the 3000 meter mark—and that people could settle there.
這就表示它能在海拔3000米以上生長，因此人們可以在那里生活。
Diets at those heights became dominated by the new, hardy barley.
因此這樣的青稞成為了人們賴以生存的食物。
The findings are in the journal Science.
這一發(fā)現(xiàn)已經(jīng)在《科學》雜志上發(fā)表。
The researchers say that the cross-cultural grain exchange from the Fertile Crescent thus appears to be what allowed humans to finally reach the roof of the world.
研究人員表示這種來自新月沃土的跨文化谷物看了使得人類最終能在世界屋脊存活。
