Repository logo
 

The prehistoric peopling of Southeast Asia.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

No Thumbnail Available

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Abstract

The human occupation history of Southeast Asia (SEA) remains heavily debated. Current evidence suggests that SEA was occupied by Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers until ~4000 years ago, when farming economies developed and expanded, restricting foraging groups to remote habitats. Some argue that agricultural development was indigenous; others favor the "two-layer" hypothesis that posits a southward expansion of farmers giving rise to present-day Southeast Asian genetic diversity. By sequencing 26 ancient human genomes (25 from SEA, 1 Japanese Jōmon), we show that neither interpretation fits the complexity of Southeast Asian history: Both Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers and East Asian farmers contributed to current Southeast Asian diversity, with further migrations affecting island SEA and Vietnam. Our results help resolve one of the long-standing controversies in Southeast Asian prehistory.

Description

Keywords

Asia, Southeastern, Asian People, DNA, Ancient, Genetic Variation, Genome, Human, History, Ancient, Human Migration, Humans, Population, Sequence Analysis, DNA

Journal Title

Science

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0036-8075
1095-9203

Volume Title

361

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Sponsorship
European Research Council (295907)
Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2016-235)
ERC, Lundbeck Foundation