Population expansion from central plain to northern coastal China inferred from ancient human genomes

Baitong Wang; Daohua Hao; Yu Xu; Kongyang Zhu; Rui Wang; Xiaomin Yang; Qu Shen; Mengting Xu; Tianyou Bai; Hao Ma; Jiajing Zheng; Xinyi Wang; Xinyue Zou; Hongming Zhou; Xiaolu Mao; Jiaxin Tang; Yanying Peng; Le Tao; Haifeng He; Haodong Chen; Jianxin Guo; Zhi Ji; Yilan Liu; Shaoqing Wen; Li Jin; Qun Zhang; Chuan-Chao Wang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.111405

Population expansion from central plain to northern coastal China inferred from ancient human genomes

iScience. 2024 Nov 18;27(12):111405. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.111405. eCollection 2024 Dec 20.

Authors

Baitong Wang¹, Daohua Hao², Yu Xu³, Kongyang Zhu³, Rui Wang³, Xiaomin Yang¹, Qu Shen¹, Mengting Xu³, Tianyou Bai³, Hao Ma³, Jiajing Zheng³, Xinyi Wang¹, Xinyue Zou¹, Hongming Zhou¹, Xiaolu Mao¹, Jiaxin Tang¹, Yanying Peng¹, Le Tao³, Haifeng He³, Haodong Chen³, Jianxin Guo⁴, Zhi Ji¹, Yilan Liu³, Shaoqing Wen⁵, Li Jin^{6

7}, Qun Zhang⁸, Chuan-Chao Wang^{1

3

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology and Ethnology, Institute of Anthropology, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Sciences in Bioanthropology, School of Sociology and Anthropology, Xiamen University Xiamen 361005, China.
² Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Jinan 250012, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China.
⁵ Institute of Archaeological Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences and Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁷ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁸ Department of Archaeology, School of History, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

The population history of the northern coastal Chinese is largely unknown due to the lack of ancient human genomes from the Neolithic to historical periods. In this study, we reported 14 newly generated ancient genomes from Linzi, one of China's densely populated and economically prosperous cities from the Zhou to Han Dynasties. The ancient samples in this study were dated to the Warring States period to the Eastern Han Dynasty (∼2,000 BP). We found the samples derived all their ancestry from Late Bronze Age to Iron Age Middle Yellow River farmers rather than local Neolithic populations. They were genetically homogeneous with present-day Han Chinese of Shandong, suggesting 2,000 years of genetic stability. Our results highlight the role of the eastward migration of Yellow River farmers in the Central Plain to northern coastal China in forming the present-day genetic structure of Han Chinese.

Keywords: Evolutionary history; Genomics; Human geography; Paleogenetics.