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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."
青藏高原海拔约3000米，被誉为世界屋脊。
Some prehistoric people tried living there starting about 20,000 years ago.
大约2万年前起史前人就试图在这片土地上居住。
Remains of cooked animals and small-scale hearths show that a few hardy souls did give the harsh region a go, at least temporarily.
而遗留在那里烹煮过的动物遗骸及小型灶台表明极少数强壮勇敢之人能够在这样恶劣的环境中存活，或者说至少是暂时定居。
But they did not stick around.
但他们并未长期定居。
Permanent human settlements in the area began about 5,200 years ago.
真正在此永久定居的人类是从大约5200年前开始。
So scientists wanted to know. What changed?
因此科学家想搞清楚。到底是什么发生了改变?
Researchers collected artifacts, animal bones and plant remains from 53 sites.
研究者们从53个居住地收集了史前古器物及动植物残骸。
The oldest camps only reached altitudes of about 2,500 meters.
最古老的营地海拔达到了2500米。
And at these sites, millet makes up 98 percent of dietary grain.
而且在这些居住地中，小米在人们的饮食中占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.
但在从波斯湾传播到尼罗河新月沃土后约3600年前一种新品种的青稞被带到此地。
The new barley tolerated frost and had a longer growing season.
这个种新品能够忍受 严寒天气并且有着更长的生长季。
Which means it grew above the 3000 meter mark—and that people could settle there.
这就表示它能在海拔3000米以上生长，因此人们可以在那里生活。
Diets at those heights became dominated by the new, hardy barley.
因此这样的青稞成为了人们赖以生存的食物。
The findings are in the journal Science.
这一发现已经在《科学》杂志上发表。
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.
研究人员表示这种来自新月沃土的跨文化谷物看了使得人类最终能在世界屋脊存活。
