The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, geographically located in the confluence zone of eastern and Western cultures, was once part of the Great Silk Road, as well as a major crossroads for trans-Eurasian genetic and cultural exchange, including languages and agricultural crops.
Xinjiang, which stretches on both sides of the Tien Shan Mountains, can be divided into two subregions, called Northern Xinjiang, which includes Dzungaria, and Southern with the Tarim Basin and the Taklamakan Desert. Although the Tarim basin, for the most part, is uninhabitable, there are also small oases and river flows from the melting snow caps of the mountains. Within and around the Dzungarian basin, early Bronze Age cattle breeders of the Afanasiev (3000-2600 BC) and Chemurchek (2500-1700 BC cultures, were plausibly related to the cattle breeders of the Afanasiev culture from the Altai-Sayan region in southern Siberia (3150-2750 BC), which, in turn, were genetically closely related to the Yamnaya culture from the Pontic-Caspian steppe (3500-2500 BC), located almost 3000 km to the west.
Linguists have hypothesized that the migrations of the Athanasians brought the now extinct Tocharian branch of the Indo-European family of languages to the east, separating it from other Indo-European languages by the third or fourth millennium BC. However, although the pedigree associated with representatives of the Afanasian culture was found in the populations of the Iron Age of Dzungaria (about 200-400 BC), and the Tocharian language is recorded in Buddhist texts from the Tarim basin, dating from 500-1000 BC. However, little is known about the earlier populations of Xinjiang and their possible genetic links with the Afanasievites or other groups.
Back in the early 20th century, European researchers reported the discovery of mummified human remains in Central Asia and since then, many other mummies dating from about 2000 BC - 200 AD have been found and analyzed in the Tarim basin. The finds attracted international attention with their so-called Western or Caucasoid appearance, felt and woven woolen clothing, as well as their agro-livestock farming, which included cattle, sheep, goats, wheat, barley, millet and even cheese. To date, mummies have been found throughout the Tarim basin, among which the earliest are those found in the lower layers of burial grounds: Gumugou (2135-1939 BC), Xiaohe (1884-1736 BC) and Beifang (1785-1664 BC). These and other related Bronze Age monuments are grouped in the Xiaohe Archaeological Horizon based on their common material culture.
In the course of the new work, the researchers obtained genetic data of 5 people of the early Bronze Age from Dzungaria associated with the Afanasiev culture (3000-2800 BC) and 13 people from the Tarim basin of the early-middle Bronze Age (2100-1700 BC) belonging to the Xiaohe horizon. The data were supplemented by the analysis of the proteins of the tartar of the 7 most ancient people from the Xiaohe site.
#history #science #paleogenetics #dna #archaeology #anthropology #China
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Source:
Zhang, F., Ning, C., Scott, A. et al. The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies. Nature 599, 256-261 (2021). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04...
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Auxiliary materials:
Li J-F, Abuduresule I, Hueber FM, Li W-Y, Hu X-J, Li Y-Z, et al. (2013) Buried in Sands: Environmental Analysis at the Archaeological Site of Xiaohe Cemetery, Xinjiang, China. PLoS ONE 8(7): e68957. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068957
Zhou, X., Yu, J., Spengler, R.N. et al. 5,200-year-old cereal grains from the eastern Altai Mountains redate the trans-Eurasian crop exchange. Nat. Plants 6, 78-87 (2020). doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0581-y
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Content:
00:00 Introduction
06:24 Genetic diversity of Bronze Age Xinjiang populations
09:02 Genetic heritage of the Afanasiev culture in Dzungaria
11:31 Genetic isolation of the Tarim basin population
13:32 Dairy cattle breeding in the Tarim basin
15:22 Conclusions
15 июн 2024
