Faunal remains data from Paleolithic-early Iron Age archaeological sites in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China

According to published archaeological sources, zooarchaeological data collection on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its marginal and transitional areas is inadequate, and relevant datasets have not been published. For this reason, we collected and collated relevant information. Our database provides the geographical location, elevation, cultural type and faunal assemblage of each site on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its periphery for which zooarchaeological data have been published from the Paleolithic to the Early Iron Age. The patterns of human faunal resource use, habitat patterns, and animal abundance and spatial distribution on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its surrounding areas during the Prehistoric-Early Iron Age are represented in this dataset. The data provide a reference for further understanding prehistoric-early Iron Age human behavior, subsistence patterns and material and cultural exchanges between East and West on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its environs.

Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its marginal and transitional areas with the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Hengduan Mountain and Loess Plateau (25.650-40.212N, 85.249-105.900E).These data provide a basis for archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and ecologists to study human migration and settlement, the exchange of civilizations, the use of resources, the domestication of animals and plants, and changes in the ecological environment.These data will play a positive role in enriching and exploring the evolution of civilization in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region, China and East Asia.

Methods
The site data used in this study are mainly based on the digitization of text data, which were obtained from archaeological excavations in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Based on published faunal data and excavation reports  , data were collected from 47 sites. NISP number of identified specimens) were collected from 40 sites, MNI (minimum number of individuals) from 31 sites and species identification data from 6 sites without specific data.The location of the site was calibrated with satellite imagery from the location description in the written records and then the archaeological excavation report was read carefully.Based on spatial location calibration, taking 30 m digital elevation in China as geographical background data, a location distribution map of archaeological sites was created with ArcGis10.8(Fig. 1).The site date range is 15,000-1100 BP.There are two types of dates: radiocarbon dates and archaeological culture types.
Faunal identification in current zooarchaeological studies is mainly based on authoritative animal skeletal atlases [59][60][61] and specimens in the collections of various laboratories.According to the identification report, we have divided the excavated faunal remains into three types: domestic animals, wild animals and domestic/wild animals.In addition to the bird ecological group "Wader", 2 phyla, 7 classes, 17 orders and suborders, 40 families and subfamilies, 66 genera and 71 species were included, and they are presented in supplementary material Text S1.
The number and distribution of NISP and MNI for each of the five common livestock species -pigs, dogs, cattle, sheep/goat and horses -were determined (Figs.2-6).In addition, domestic animals and wild animals were distinguished and the NISP and MNI were mapped to scale (Fig. 7).These figures can be helpful for the study of the origin, domestication process and transmission route of domestic animals.

Data Records
The raw data of this research have been released in Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/).https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10025339 62.The website is https://zenodo.org/records/10351442.The database is stored in the CSV and XLSX format in Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/).Eight basic pieces of information were collected for each site:  the name of the site, based on the archaeological name of the site when it was discovered.The "Latitude" and "Longitude" are the longitude and latitude of the locations of cultural sites, which are recorded in decimal format."Altitude (m)" refers to the altitude of the site or the region where the site is located.The altitudes and latitudes of some sites are recorded in archaeological excavation reports, while some sites were confirmed by satellite images, so they are approximate values."Culture type" indicates the type of archaeological culture of a site."Age (a, BP)" represents the age of a cultural site; the unit is a (year), BP is Before Present.There are no radiocarbon dates for the 9 sites at Yangqushierdang, Xiangranggou, Haxiu, Zhangjiazui, Zongzan, Qinweijia, Dalijiaping, Xishan, Jijiachuan and Huangniangniangtai.Radiocarbon dates were available for the remaining 38  obtained from academic articles by archaeologists published in professional journals.For the extraction of geographical information, we used the highly recognizable geographical background data released by current official scientific research institutions.There is no problem with scientific and normative background data.However, the way in which the data were recorded varies between different eras, authors and institutions, and the lack of uniform standards for data recording inevitably leaves us open to the potential impact of these issues when collecting data information.Due to the lack of detailed records of in-site excavations, the cultural information recorded in the data is limited, and the spatial and temporal accuracy could be further improved.Most of the sites excavated earlier have only been preliminarily analyzed for faunal remains, which can bias judgments on numbers, species and domestication/wild.Due to these shortcomings, we are still collecting data and validating them as much as possible and constantly updating them and improving their quality.However, from the point of view of data application, these data are more used for macro analysis on large spatial scales than for discussion of micro site information, which requires highly precise location information.From this point of view, the spatial errors of the sites are understandable.The use of faunal remains data is also discussed more through the analysis of changes in faunal assemblages across time and space, and the impact of a few errors on the overall results is limited.

Usage Notes
From what we have observed thus far, the application of these data is mainly in the following areas: (1) Location; (2) Name; (3) Longitude; (4) Latitude; (5) Altitude (m); (6) Culture type; (7) Age (a; BP); and (8) NISP and MNI.The "Location" is the administrative region where the site is located, and the "Name" represents

Fig. 1
Fig. 1 Archaeological site locations in China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau referred to in this study.