Genetic population structure of Xiongnu Empire at imperial and local scales
The Xiongnu Empire, which arose during the late 3rd century BCE, was Eurasia's first nomadic imperial power with extreme levels of genetic diversity. However, it has not been possible to understand whether this diversity emerged from a heterogeneous patchwork of locally homogenous communities or whether local communities themselves were also genetically diverse. Moreover, questions regarding the genetic makeup of Xiongnu imperial elites compared to local elites have remained unanswered. To address this, we investigated in detail the imperial elite cemetery Takhiltyn Khotgor (TAK) and a local elite cemetery, Shombuuzyn Belchir (SBB), both located at the western frontier of the empire. We show that members of these frontier communities harbored a very high level of genetic diversity comparable to that of the Xiongnu Empire as a whole. We also find that higher status individuals tend to be less genetically diverse with high levels of eastern Eurasian ancestry, suggesting that elite status and power was concentrated within specific subsets of the broader Xiongnu population.