Before entering civilized society, Tibet had undergone several archaeological periods: Paleolithic culture, Neolithic culture, Bronze Age, and the early Iron Age. The time extended roughly from the 50th century BC to 6th century AD.

Man began to live in Tibet as early as fifty thousand years ago. During the early stages they lived on gathering and hunting, using stone tools. Archaeologists have found stone scrapers, pointed implements and choppers of Paleolithic age in the Northern Tibet plateau with an elevation of 4,100~4,800 meters. After entering the Holocene epoch, the neolithic culture with farming, pottery, as well as animal breeding and hunting developed in river valleys and low hills. A lot of fine stone cores and flakes, perforated stone balls and knives, stone knives with a concave trough, stone spades, stone adzes, stone axes, stone chisels of the early neolithic culture have been unearthed. Many stone arrowheads, bone awls, bone needles and various utensils of red pottery, grey pottery and black pottery of the late neolithic culture were also unearthed at the Karo and Xiao Enda archaeological sites in Chamdo of Eastern Tibet. They have been also unearthed at the Chugong archaeological site Lasa and Kunga Trango Gully archaeological site in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo. The bronze arrowheads unearthed at the Chugong archaeological site verifies that matured bronze ware was inenstence in Tibet by the first century BC. Iron tools appeared at a later time. Tibet's Bronze Age and early Iron Age had endedby the time before the Tubo dynasty which was established in the 7th century which was established in the 7th century. During this period, the forefathers of the present-day Tibetans left numerous rock paintings of hunting scenes in Rutog County in Ngari, rock paintings on warriors in Damshung County, carved rock paintings of leopard running after deer in Nagchu. A lot of brilliantly carved rock paintings of animals and human figures were found in Palkhor Kyido caves in Nagchu. A number of stone coffins and stone funeral chambers and metal ornaments were found. All this indicates the exchanges of primitive cultures between Tibet and the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the Western Sichuan plateau. By then, hunting, animals breeding and farming economy were on the rise, and Tibet began to enter civilized society.