Ancient DNA unveils distinctive ancestries in the Bronze and Iron Ages of East Tianshan

The East Tianshan Mountains occupy a key corridor between Central and East Asia, but their population history remains poorly understood. Here we report genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals from 11 archaeological sites. We identify a previously unrecognized Bronze Age admixture between populations related to Yellow River millet farmers and steppe pastoralists associated with the Chemurchek culture. In contrast, we find little genetic contribution from contemporaneous middle-to-late Bronze Age steppe pastoralists, despite their eastward expansion across the Eurasian Steppe. By the Iron Age, regional populations had become more heterogeneous, incorporating additional eastern and steppe-related sources while retaining variable contributions from Early Bronze Age groups. These results reveal sustained demographic interactions in eastern Central Asia nearly 1800 years preceding the establishment of the historic Silk Road.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science
Published
2026-09-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adv1295
Primary Topic
Forensic and Genetic Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Ancient DNA unveils distinctive ancestries in the Bronze and Iron Ages of East Tianshan

Wenying Li, Shizhu Gao, Qingyan Dai, Tongyuan Xi et al.
Science
Forensic and Genetic Research
article

Ancient DNA unveils distinctive ancestries in the Bronze and Iron Ages of East Tianshan

Wenying Li, Shizhu Gao, Qingyan Dai, Tongyuan Xi, Chao Ning, Qiaomei Fu, Ruowei Yang, Wanglin Hu, Yunpeng Tang, Vikas Kumar, Xiaolin Wang, E. Andrew Bennett, Jiangsong Zhu, Xiaotian Feng, Wanjing Ping, Yongqiang Wang, Ke Wang, Tianyi Wang, Fan Zhang, Jianxin Wang, Xue Zhao, Xue Zhang, Yinqiu Cui, Zhongzhi Nie, Peng Cao, Jian Ma, Zhihao Dang, Xiyan Wu, Dong Wei, Bo Wang, Chunxiang Li, Feng Liu, Meng Ren
article en

Abstract

The East Tianshan Mountains occupy a key corridor between Central and East Asia, but their population history remains poorly understood. Here we report genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals from 11 archaeological sites. We identify a previously unrecognized Bronze Age admixture between populations related to Yellow River millet farmers and steppe pastoralists associated with the Chemurchek culture. In contrast, we find little genetic contribution from contemporaneous middle-to-late Bronze Age steppe pastoralists, despite their eastward expansion across the Eurasian Steppe. By the Iron Age, regional populations had become more heterogeneous, incorporating additional eastern and steppe-related sources while retaining variable contributions from Early Bronze Age groups. These results reveal sustained demographic interactions in eastern Central Asia nearly 1800 years preceding the establishment of the historic Silk Road.

ScienceVol. 393(6817)
Jilin University (CN), United Arab Emirates University (AE), Peking University (CN), Fudan University (CN), State Administration of Cultural Heritage (CN), Northwest University (CN), Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CN), Department of Cultural Heritage (LT), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Forensic and Genetic Research
DOISourceOpenAlex
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