Ancient genomes provide insight into the Paleolithic-to-Neolithic transition in northern East Asia

AI interpretationAI-generated

11,000-year-old Beijing genomes reveal a deep northern East Asian lineage.

This study reports ancient DNA from the Donghulin site in western Beijing, dating to about 11,000–9,000 years ago, right at the Paleolithic-to-Neolithic transition. The authors recovered three mitochondrial genomes and two whole genomes. They found a previously unknown deep northern East Asian lineage represented by an ~11,000-year-old individual, and they detected genetic shifts at the site over roughly 2,000 years of post-glacial warming. These results show that northern East Asia had its own complex, diverse path into the Neolithic.

• A new deep northern East Asian (nEA) lineage, represented by the ~11,000-year-old DHL_M1, diverged early in the Late Pleistocene.
• The Donghulin site shows genetic changes across about 2,000 years during the post-glacial warming period.
• This is the earliest genetic evidence, alongside archaeological context, for Neolithization in northern East Asia.

Sample interpretation

The site sample includes four individuals from Donghulin. Mitochondrial haplogroups are D4h (2 individuals), G4 (1), and one unresolved. Only one Y-chromosome haplogroup was resolved: N-Y3059. These small numbers mean the sample is limited, but it still captures both mitochondrial and Y-chromosome diversity at this key transitional site.

For genealogy enthusiasts

For ancestry fans, this adds an early northern East Asian branch to the human family tree. It suggests the Neolithic transition in northern East Asia was not a simple spread from one source, but a local, complex process worth watching in future ancient DNA work.