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Robbeets M, Bouckaert R, Conte M, Savelyev A, Li T, An DI, Shinoda KI, Cui Y, Kawashima T, Kim G, Uchiyama J, Dolińska J, Oskolskaya S, Yamano KY, Seguchi N, Tomita H, Takamiya H, Kanzawa-Kiriyama H, Oota H, Ishida H, Kimura R, Sato T, Kim JH, Deng B, Bjørn R, Rhee S, Ahn KD, Gruntov I, Mazo O, Bentley JR, Fernandes R, Roberts P, Bausch IR, Gilaizeau L, Yoneda M, Kugai M, Bianco RA, Zhang F, Himmel M, Hudson MJ, Ning C. Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages. Nature 2021; 599:616-621. [PMID: 34759322 PMCID: PMC8612925 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 10/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The origin and early dispersal of speakers of Transeurasian languages-that is, Japanese, Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic-is among the most disputed issues of Eurasian population history1-3. A key problem is the relationship between linguistic dispersals, agricultural expansions and population movements4,5. Here we address this question by 'triangulating' genetics, archaeology and linguistics in a unified perspective. We report wide-ranging datasets from these disciplines, including a comprehensive Transeurasian agropastoral and basic vocabulary; an archaeological database of 255 Neolithic-Bronze Age sites from Northeast Asia; and a collection of ancient genomes from Korea, the Ryukyu islands and early cereal farmers in Japan, complementing previously published genomes from East Asia. Challenging the traditional 'pastoralist hypothesis'6-8, we show that the common ancestry and primary dispersals of Transeurasian languages can be traced back to the first farmers moving across Northeast Asia from the Early Neolithic onwards, but that this shared heritage has been masked by extensive cultural interaction since the Bronze Age. As well as marking considerable progress in the three individual disciplines, by combining their converging evidence we show that the early spread of Transeurasian speakers was driven by agriculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martine Robbeets
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Remco Bouckaert
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Centre of Computational Evolution, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Matthew Conte
- Department of Archaeology and Art History, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Alexander Savelyev
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Tao Li
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
- Archaeological Institute for Yangtze Civilization (AIYC), Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - Deog-Im An
- Department of Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Hanseo University, Seosan, Korea
| | - Ken-Ichi Shinoda
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Yinqiu Cui
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
- Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology of Jilin University, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | | | - Geonyoung Kim
- Department of Archaeology and Art History, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Junzo Uchiyama
- Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich, UK
- Center for Cultural Resource Studies, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Joanna Dolińska
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Sofia Oskolskaya
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Ken-Yōjiro Yamano
- Research Center for Buried Cultural Properties, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
| | - Noriko Seguchi
- Department of Environmental Changes, Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA
| | - Hirotaka Tomita
- Hokkaido Government Board of Education, Sapporo, Japan
- Graduate School of Integrated Sciences of Global Society, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Hiroto Takamiya
- Research Center for the Pacific Islands, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan
| | | | - Hiroki Oota
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hajime Ishida
- Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Japan
| | - Ryosuke Kimura
- Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Japan
| | - Takehiro Sato
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Jae-Hyun Kim
- Department of Archaeology and Art History, Donga University, Busan, South Korea
| | - Bingcong Deng
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Rasmus Bjørn
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Seongha Rhee
- Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Kyou-Dong Ahn
- Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Ilya Gruntov
- Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
| | - Olga Mazo
- Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
| | - John R Bentley
- Department of World Languages and Cultures, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
| | - Ricardo Fernandes
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
- School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Ilona R Bausch
- Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich, UK
- Leiden University Institute of Area Studies, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Kokugakuin University Museum, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Linda Gilaizeau
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Minoru Yoneda
- University Museum, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Mitsugu Kugai
- Miyakojima City Board of Education, Miyakojima, Japan
| | - Raffaela A Bianco
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Fan Zhang
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Marie Himmel
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Mark J Hudson
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
- Institut d'Asie Orientale, ENS de Lyon, Lyon, France.
| | - Chao Ning
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing, China.
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Zhang F, Ning C, Scott A, Fu Q, Bjørn R, Li W, Wei D, Wang W, Fan L, Abuduresule I, Hu X, Ruan Q, Niyazi A, Dong G, Cao P, Liu F, Dai Q, Feng X, Yang R, Tang Z, Ma P, Li C, Gao S, Xu Y, Wu S, Wen S, Zhu H, Zhou H, Robbeets M, Kumar V, Krause J, Warinner C, Jeong C, Cui Y. The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies. Nature 2021; 599:256-261. [PMID: 34707286 PMCID: PMC8580821 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04052-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2020] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The identity of the earliest inhabitants of Xinjiang, in the heart of Inner Asia, and the languages that they spoke have long been debated and remain contentious1. Here we present genomic data from 5 individuals dating to around 3000-2800 BC from the Dzungarian Basin and 13 individuals dating to around 2100-1700 BC from the Tarim Basin, representing the earliest yet discovered human remains from North and South Xinjiang, respectively. We find that the Early Bronze Age Dzungarian individuals exhibit a predominantly Afanasievo ancestry with an additional local contribution, and the Early-Middle Bronze Age Tarim individuals contain only a local ancestry. The Tarim individuals from the site of Xiaohe further exhibit strong evidence of milk proteins in their dental calculus, indicating a reliance on dairy pastoralism at the site since its founding. Our results do not support previous hypotheses for the origin of the Tarim mummies, who were argued to be Proto-Tocharian-speaking pastoralists descended from the Afanasievo1,2 or to have originated among the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex3 or Inner Asian Mountain Corridor cultures4. Instead, although Tocharian may have been plausibly introduced to the Dzungarian Basin by Afanasievo migrants during the Early Bronze Age, we find that the earliest Tarim Basin cultures appear to have arisen from a genetically isolated local population that adopted neighbouring pastoralist and agriculturalist practices, which allowed them to settle and thrive along the shifting riverine oases of the Taklamakan Desert.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fan Zhang
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Chao Ning
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Ashley Scott
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Qiaomei Fu
- 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, China
| | - Rasmus Bjørn
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Wenying Li
- Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Ürümqi, China
| | - Dong Wei
- School of Archaeology, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Wenjun Wang
- 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, China
| | - Linyuan Fan
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | | | - Xingjun Hu
- Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Ürümqi, China
| | - Qiurong Ruan
- Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Ürümqi, China
| | - Alipujiang Niyazi
- Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Ürümqi, China
| | - Guanghui Dong
- MOE Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, College of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Peng Cao
- 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, China
| | - Feng Liu
- 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, China
| | - Qingyan Dai
- 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, China
| | - Xiaotian Feng
- 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, China
| | - Ruowei Yang
- 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, China
| | - Zihua Tang
- Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Pengcheng Ma
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Chunxiang Li
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Shizhu Gao
- College of Pharmacia Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Yang Xu
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Sihao Wu
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Shaoqing Wen
- Institute of Archaeological Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Hong Zhu
- School of Archaeology, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Hui Zhou
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Martine Robbeets
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Vikas Kumar
- 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, China
| | - Johannes Krause
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany. .,Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Christina Warinner
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany. .,Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Choongwon Jeong
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | - Yinqiu Cui
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China. .,Key Laboratory for Evolution of Past Life and Environment in Northeast Asia, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, China. .,Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology of Jilin University, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
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3
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Spengler RN, Stark S, Zhou X, Fuks D, Tang L, Mir-Makhamad B, Bjørn R, Jiang H, Olivieri LM, Begmatov A, Boivin N. A Journey to the West: The Ancient Dispersal of Rice Out of East Asia. Rice (N Y) 2021; 14:83. [PMID: 34564763 PMCID: PMC8464642 DOI: 10.1186/s12284-021-00518-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/05/2021] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Rice is one of the most culturally valued and widely grown crops in the world today, and extensive research over the past decade has clarified much of the narrative of its domestication and early spread across East and South Asia. However, the timing and routes of its dispersal into West Asia and Europe, through which rice eventually became an important ingredient in global cuisines, has remained less clear. In this article, we discuss the piecemeal, but growing, archaeobotanical data for rice in West Asia. We also integrate written sources, linguistic data, and ethnohistoric analogies, in order to better understand the adoption of rice outside its regions of origin. The human-mediated westward spread of rice proceeded gradually, while its social standing and culinary uses repeatedly changing over time and place. Rice was present in West Asia and Europe by the tail end of the first millennium BC, but did not become a significant crop in West Asia until the past few centuries. Complementary historical, linguistic, and archaeobotanical data illustrate two separate and roughly contemporaneous routes of westward dispersal, one along the South Asian coast and the other through Silk Road trade. By better understanding the adoption of this water-demanding crop in the arid regions of West Asia, we explore an important chapter in human adaptation and agricultural decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert N Spengler
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Thuringia, Germany.
| | - Sören Stark
- Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Xinying Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Daniel Fuks
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Department of Archaeology, Cambridge, UK
- Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Li Tang
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
| | - Basira Mir-Makhamad
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
| | - Rasmus Bjørn
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
| | - Hongen Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Luca M Olivieri
- Dipartimento di Studi sull'Asia e sull'Africa Mediterranea, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Venice, Italy
- ISMEO - International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies, Rome, Italy
| | - Alisher Begmatov
- Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Turfanforschung, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
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