Broad-spectrum subsistence facilitated early sedentism in the southern Mongolian Plateau revealed by sedimentary ancient DNA

The Mongolian Plateau is characterized by an arid, highly seasonal, and low-productivity environment, conditions long assumed to sustain nomadic pastoralism as the predominant lifeway. However, recent archaeological discoveries in the southern plateau reveal early sedentism during the early Holocene that predate agro-pastoralism, prompting the fundamental question of how these societies achieved sedentism under these ecological constraints, particularly what subsistence strategies supported them. The Yumin Culture represents the early sedentary community in the region, signaling the transition into the Neolithic on the southern Mongolian Plateau. In this study, we reconstructed the subsistence resources exploited by the inhabitants of the Yumin site (dated back to 8600–7400 cal BP) using sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) metagenomics from the archaeological deposits. Our data reveal a broad-spectrum economy comprising diverse wild ungulates (e.g., Cervus , Bos , Equus ), omnivores (e.g., Sus ); small and fast-reproducing animals such as hares ( Lepus ), and a wide variety of wild plants potentially as food resources, including edible fruits, nuts, grass seeds, and underground storage organs, complemented by a small fraction of millet ( Setaria italica ). Further integrated with paleoclimatic, past natural vegetation and hydrological reconstructions, our data reveal the human–environment interactions underlying early sedentism on the southern Mongolian Plateau, showing that early Holocene climatic amelioration created resource-rich ecotones that were strategically exploited through diversified foraging and resource intensification, thereby stabilizing food supplies and enabling permanent settlement without reliance on agriculture.