The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia

Vagheesh M. Narasimhan, Nick J. Patterson, Priya Moorjani, Nadin Rohland, Rebecca L. Bernardos, Swapan Mallick, Iosif Lazaridis, Nathan J. Nakatsuka, Íñigo Olalde, Mark Lipson

97 more authors

Alexander M. Kim, Luca M. Olivieri, Alfredo Coppa, Massimo M. V. Vidale, J. P. Mallory, Vyacheslav G. Moiseyev, Egor Petrovich Kitov, Janet M. Monge, Nicole Adamski, Neel Alex, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Francesca Candilio, Kimberly A. Callan, Olivia Cheronet, Brendan J. Culleton, Matthew Ferry, Daniel Fernandes, Suzanne Freilich, Beatriz Gamarra, Daniel Gaudio, Mateja Hajdinjak, Éadaoin Harney, Thomas K. Harper, Denise Keating, Ann Marie Lawson, Matthew Mah, Kirsten Mandl, Megan Michel, Mario Novak, Jonas Oppenheimer, Niraj Rai, Kendra A. Sirak, Viviane Slon, Kristin Stewardson, Fatma Zalzala, Zhao Zhang, Ахатов Газиз Аманжолович, A.N. Bagashev, Alessandra Bagnera, Bauryzhan Baitanayev, Julio Bendezú-Sarmiento, Арман Ауганович Бисембаев, Gian Luca Bonora, Temirlan T. Chargynov, Т. А. Чикишева, Petr K. Dashkovskiy, Anatoly P. Derevianko, Miroslav Dobeš, Katerina Douka, Надежда Анатольевна Дубова, Мейрам Нурланович Дуйсенгали, Dmitry N. Enshin, Andrey Epimakhov, Alexey V. Fribus, Dorian Q. Fuller, Alexander Goryachev, Громов Андрей Викторович, С.П. Грушин, Bryan Kent Hanks, Margaret A. Judd, Ерлан Сатыбалдыевич Казизов, Aleksandr A. Khokhlov, Aleksander P. Krygin, Elena V. Kupriyanova, Pavel Kuznetsov, Donata Luiselli, Farhod Maksudov, Аслан Маликович Мамедов, Talgat B. Mamirov, Christopher Meiklejohn, Deborah C. Merrett, Roberto Micheli, Oleg Dmitrievich Mochalov, Samariddin Mustafokulov, Ayushi Nayak, Davide Pettener, Richard Potts, Dmitry I. Razhev, Marina P. Rykun, Stefania Sarno, Tatyana M. Savenkova, Kulyan Sikhymbaeva, Sergey Mikhailovich Slepchenko, Oroz A. Soltobaev, Надежда Фёдоровна Степанова, Svetlana Vladimirovna Svyatko, Kubatbek Sh. Tabaldiev, Maria Teschler‐Nicola, Alexey A. Tishkin, Vitaly V. Tkachev, Michael David Frachetti, Alisa Vladimirovna Zubova, Carles Lalueza‐Fox, Ron Pinhasi, Nicole L. Boivin, Petr Velemínský, Antonina Sergeevna Yermolayeva

2019

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DOI 10.1126/science.aat7487
Data confidence 85 high
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Abstract

By sequencing 523 ancient humans, we show that the primary source of ancestry in modern South Asians is a prehistoric genetic gradient between people related to early hunter-gatherers of Iran and Southeast Asia. After the Indus Valley Civilization's decline, its people mixed with individuals in the southeast to form one of the two main ancestral populations of South Asia, whose direct descendants live in southern India. Simultaneously, they mixed with descendants of Steppe pastoralists who, starting around 4000 years ago, spread via Central Asia to form the other main ancestral population. The Steppe ancestry in South Asia has the same profile as that in Bronze Age Eastern Europe, tracking a movement of people that affected both regions and that likely spread the distinctive features shared between Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages.