Abstract
The paper deals with interactions of the Late Neolithic (ca 3rd millennium BCE) and Early Bronze Age (ca the first half of the 2nd millenium BCE) cultures in the Northwestern China, i. e. in the region encompassing modern provinces of Gansu and Qinghai. It is pointed out that these interactions were not restricted only to the contacts to the East and West, to which scholars traditionally paid most attention.
Drawing on my analysis of the large cemetery of Liuwan located in the Qinghai Province on the northeastern fringes of the Tibetan Plateau, I argue that interactions of the local communities with the foraging groups on the Tibetan Plateau should be also taken into account and that some of the imported luxurious materials uncovered from the Liuwan graves, such as turquise and cowrie seashells, were probably obtained through these contacts.