近日，中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所付巧妹研究团队提出了古代DNA揭示了东天山青铜和铁器时代的独特祖先。相关论文于2026年9月17日发表在《科学》杂志上。

东天山是连接中亚与东亚的关键廊道，但该区域人群历史仍缺乏深入认识。本文报道来自 11 处考古遗址的 135 例古代个体全基因组数据。研究识别出一类此前未被发现的青铜时代人群混合事件：与黄河流域粟作农业人群相关的群体，和切木尔切克文化相关的草原游牧人群发生融合。与之不同，尽管同期的青铜时代中晚期草原游牧人群曾沿欧亚草原向东扩张，但他们对东天山人群的遗传贡献却十分有限。进入铁器时代后，区域人群遗传结构变得更加多元化，在保留不同比例的早期青铜时代人群祖源成分的同时，融入更多东亚及草原相关的祖源。该结果表明，早在历史上丝绸之路开通前近 1800 年，中亚东部区域就已存在持续的人群交流。

附：英文原文

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

Author: Chao Ning, Ke Wang, Tianyi Wang, Jian Ma, Xue Zhao, Tongyuan Xi, Yongqiang Wang, Peng Cao, Shizhu Gao, Xiaotian Feng, Wanglin Hu, Xiaolin Wang, Fan Zhang, Meng Ren, Xiyan Wu, Feng Liu, Xue Zhang, Jiangsong Zhu, Chunxiang Li, Qingyan Dai, Zhihao Dang, Ruowei Yang, Yunpeng Tang, Wanjing Ping, Vikas Kumar, Wenying Li, Bo Wang, Jianxin Wang, Dong Wei, Zhongzhi Nie, E. Andrew Bennett, Yinqiu Cui, Qiaomei Fu

Issue&Volume: 2026-09-17

Abstract: The East Tianshan Mountains occupy a key corridor between Central and East Asia, but their population history remains poorly understood. Here we report genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals from 11 archaeological sites. We identify a previously unrecognized Bronze Age admixture between populations related to Yellow River millet farmers and steppe pastoralists associated with the Chemurchek culture. In contrast, we find little genetic contribution from contemporaneous middle-to-late Bronze Age steppe pastoralists, despite their eastward expansion across the Eurasian Steppe. By the Iron Age, regional populations had become more heterogeneous, incorporating additional eastern and steppe-related sources while retaining variable contributions from Early Bronze Age groups. These results reveal sustained demographic interactions in eastern Central Asia nearly 1800 years preceding the establishment of the historic Silk Road.

DOI: 10.1126/science.adv1295

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv1295