title: The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies
organism: Homo sapiens
description: Here we present genomic data from 5 individuals dating to ca. 3000-2800 BCE from the Dzungarian Basin and 13 individuals dating to ca. 2100-1700 BCE from the Tarim Basin, representing the earliest yet discovered human remains from north and south Xinjiang, respectively. We find that the Early Bronze Age Dzungarian individuals exhibit a predominantly Afanasievo ancestry with an additional local contribution, while the Early-Middle Bronze Age Tarim individuals only harbor a local ancestry. Our results do not support previous hypotheses for the origin of the Tarim mummies, who were argued to be Proto-Tocharian speaking pastoralists descended from the Afanasievo or to have originated among the BMAC or IAMC cultures. Instead, although Tocharian may have been plausibly introduced to the Dzungarian Basin by Afanasievo migrants during the Early Bronze Age, we find that the earliest Tarim Basin cultures appear to have arisen from a genetically isolated local population that adopted neighboring pastoralist and agriculturalist practices, which allowed them to settle and thrive along the shifting riverine oases of the Taklamakan Desert.
attributes.tag: ENA-FIRST-PUBLIC
attributes.value: 2023-12-31T01:25:35Z
attributes.tag: ENA-LAST-UPDATE
attributes.value: 2023-12-31T01:25:35Z
attributes.tag: External Id
attributes.value: SAMEA9458504
attributes.tag: INSDC center name
attributes.value: School of Life Sciences, Jilin University
attributes.tag: INSDC first public
attributes.value: 2023-12-31T01:25:35Z
attributes.tag: INSDC last update
attributes.value: 2023-12-31T01:25:35Z
attributes.tag: INSDC status
attributes.value: public
attributes.tag: Submitter Id
attributes.value: AYIM22BY
attributes.tag: collection date
attributes.value: 2017
attributes.tag: common name
attributes.value: human
attributes.tag: environment (biome)
attributes.value: terrestrial
attributes.tag: environment (feature)
attributes.value: basin
attributes.tag: environment (material)
attributes.value: soil
attributes.tag: geographic location (country and/or sea)
attributes.value: China
attributes.tag: geographic location (latitude)
attributes.value: 75
attributes.tag: geographic location (longitude)
attributes.value: 42
attributes.tag: human-associated environmental package
attributes.value: human-associated
attributes.tag: investigation type
attributes.value: eukaryote
attributes.tag: project name
attributes.value: PRJEB46798
attributes.tag: sample name
attributes.value: AYIM22BY
attributes.tag: scientific_name
attributes.value: Homo sapiens
attributes.tag: sequencing method
attributes.value: Illumina