Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age

Chunxiang Li,Idelisi Abuduresule,Dawei Cai,Chengzhi Xie,Victor H Mair,Li Jin,Hui Zhou,Yinqiu Cui,Hong Zhu,Quanchao Zhang,Wenying Li,Hongjie Li,Zhi Xu

doi:10.1186/1741-7007-8-15

Chunxiang Li, Idelisi Abuduresule + Show 11 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-8-15

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Abstract

BackgroundThe Tarim Basin, located on the ancient Silk Road, played a very important role in the history of human migration and cultural communications between the West and the East. However, both the exact period at which the relevant events occurred and the origins of the people in the area remain very obscure. In this paper, we present data from the analyses of both Y chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) derived from human remains excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery, the oldest archeological site with human remains discovered in the Tarim Basin thus far.ResultsMitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the Xiaohe people carried both the East Eurasian haplogroup (C) and the West Eurasian haplogroups (H and K), whereas Y chromosomal DNA analysis revealed only the West Eurasian haplogroup R1a1a in the male individuals.ConclusionOur results demonstrated that the Xiaohe people were an admixture from populations originating from both the West and the East, implying that the Tarim Basin had been occupied by an admixed population since the early Bronze Age. To our knowledge, this is the earliest genetic evidence of an admixed population settled in the Tarim Basin.

Highlights

The Tarim Basin, located on the ancient Silk Road, played a very important role in the history of human migration and cultural communications between the West and the East
We examined the DNA profiles on both the maternal and the paternal aspects for all the morphologically well-preserved human remains from the lowest layer of the Xiaohe cemetery
A few positions were different from direct sequencing of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products, which could be due to random Taq misincorporation or DNA damage, the consensus sequence from cloning was consistent

Summary

Introduction

The Tarim Basin, located on the ancient Silk Road, played a very important role in the history of human migration and cultural communications between the West and the East. Both the exact period at which the relevant events occurred and the origins of the people in the area remain very obscure. The Xiaohe cemetery (40°20’11"N, 88°40’20.3"E) is located in the Taklamakan Desert of northwest China, about 60 km south of the Peacock River and 175 km west of the ancient city of Kroraina ( Loulan; Figure 1). Many enigmatic features of these graves, such as the pervasive use of sexual symbolism represented by tremendous numbers of huge phallusposts and vulvae-posts, exaggerated wooden sculptures of human figures and masks, well-preserved boat coffins and mummies, a large number of textiles, ornaments and other artifacts, show that the civilization revealed at Xiaohe is different from any other archaeological site of the same period anywhere in the world [3]

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