Human population history at the crossroads of East and Southeast Asia since 11,000 years ago.

Cell

Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China; Shanghai Qi Zhi Institute, Shanghai 200232, China; University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address:

Published: July 2021

Past human genetic diversity and migration between southern China and Southeast Asia have not been well characterized, in part due to poor preservation of ancient DNA in hot and humid regions. We sequenced 31 ancient genomes from southern China (Guangxi and Fujian), including two ∼12,000- to 10,000-year-old individuals representing the oldest humans sequenced from southern China. We discovered a deeply diverged East Asian ancestry in the Guangxi region that persisted until at least 6,000 years ago. We found that ∼9,000- to 6,000-year-old Guangxi populations were a mixture of local ancestry, southern ancestry previously sampled in Fujian, and deep Asian ancestry related to Southeast Asian Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers, showing broad admixture in the region predating the appearance of farming. Historical Guangxi populations dating to ∼1,500 to 500 years ago are closely related to Tai-Kadai and Hmong-Mien speakers. Our results show heavy interactions among three distinct ancestries at the crossroads of East and Southeast Asia.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.05.018DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

southeast asia
12
years ago
12
southern china
12
crossroads east
8
east southeast
8
asian ancestry
8
guangxi populations
8
human population
4
population history
4
history crossroads
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!