The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies

2021/10/27 by Fan Zhang, Chao Ning, Ashley Scott +31 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Forensic and Genetic Research #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pastoralism #Bronze Age #Tarim basin #Structural basin #Archaeology #Geography #Population #Bronze #Ancient history #Geology #Paleontology #History #Demography #Livestock

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04052-7

openalex publication_date 2021/10/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

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 contentious 1 . 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 Afanasievo 1,2 or to have originated among the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex 3 or Inner Asian Mountain Corridor cultures 4 . 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.

Citations

• An early modern human from Romania with a recent Neanderthal ancestor
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• Ancient Genomes Reveal Yamnaya-Related Ancestry and a Potential Source of Indo-European Speakers in Iron Age Tianshan
• The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia
• The deviant typological profile of the Tocharian branch of Indo-European may be due to Uralic substrate influence
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Cited by

• History of Xinjiang [wikipedia]