Abstract: In this paper, the data of archaeological sites, age and regional DEM were used to comprehensively analyze the human migration and diffusion in northeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau since the Late Glacial Period based on GIS. The results showed that the remains of human activities spread all over the northeastern margin of the plateau in the late Paleolithic period of 16-6 kaBP, when there were no the fixed human settlements, and human activities were highly migratory with long distance. In the late deglaciation, human who lived in the west Loess Plateau with low elevation migrated to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau along the Yellow River valley, arrived in the Gonghe Basin with an elevation of 2 600 m a. s. l., came into the Qinghai Lake basin with an elevation over 3 000 m a. s. l. northward at 14 kaBP, then migrated to the main part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an elevation about 4 000 m a. s. l. at 11 kaBP southward, came into the Qaidam Basin westward in the early Holocene, crossed the Golmud River, climbed over the Kunlun Mountains, and came into the Hoh Xil and Chang Tang Plateau finally. At 6-2 kaBP, the northeastern margin was stepped into the Neolithic Age-Bronze Age, where the settlements were fixed, and 2 significant cultural diffusions occurred; at 5-4 kaBP, Majiayao culture was spread in the Yellow River-Huang River valleys; at 3 kaBP, animal husbandry was developed, human spread again to the hinterland of the plateau and occupied the plateau over 4 000 m a. s. l.

Key words: human, migration, diffusion, Late Glacial Period, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau