Ancient genomes from northern China suggest links between subsistence changes and human migration

Abstract

China is one of the earliest independent centers in the world for the domestication of cereal crops, second only to the Near East, with the rainfed rice agriculture in the Yangtze River Basin in southern China1,2, and dryland millet agriculture in northern China2,3,4,5,6. Northern China represents a large geographic region that encompasses the Central Plain in the middle-to-lower Yellow River (YR) basin, the birthplace of the well-known YR civilization since the Neolithic period. However, northern China extends far beyond the Central Plain and includes several other major river systems in distinct ecoregions (Fig. 1). Especially, it is now well received that the West Liao River (WLR) region in northeast China (Fig. 1) played a critical role distinct from the YR region in the adoption and spread of millet farming3,6. Both foxtail (Setaria italica) and broomcorn millets (Panicum miliaceum) were first cultivated in the WLR and lower reaches of the YR basins since at least 6000 BCE3,6. In the ensuing five millennia, millets domesticated in northern China spread across east Eurasia and beyond. Millets had served as one of the main staple foods in northeast Asia, particularly until the introduction of maize and sweet potato in the 16–17th centuries