Ancient DNA unveils distinctive ancestries in the Bronze and Iron Ages of East Tianshan

Abstract

Genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals across 11 archaeological sites in the East Tianshan Mountains, a corridor linking Central and East Asia. The study documents a previously unknown Bronze Age admixture between groups related to Yellow River millet farmers and Chemurchek-associated steppe pastoralists, with very little input from contemporaneous Middle to Late Bronze Age steppe herders despite their eastward spread. In the Iron Age, local populations grew more heterogeneous, gaining additional eastern Eurasian, steppe-related and Central Asian ancestry while keeping substantial continuity with earlier Bronze Age groups.