Millet agriculture dispersed from Northeast China to the Russian Far East: Integrating archaeology, genetics, and linguistics

Li, Tao; Ning, Chao; Zhushchikhovskaya, Irina S.; Hudson, Mark; Robbeets, Martine

doi:10.1016/j.ara.2020.100177

Cited by 27 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Neolithic millet cultivation in Northeast Asia probably spread through extensive, low-intensity land use (Stevens & Fuller, 2017;Qin & Fuller, 2019), an ecological expectation consistent with archaeological evidence from the Primorye (Li et al, 2020). Previous research in Korea has noted an 'explosive' increase in the number and size of Middle Neolithic settlements (Shin et al, 2012, pp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…However, the farming/language dispersal hypothesis does not require that farming form the only component of a subsistence economy. As discussed in the next section, even small-scale cultivation of millet might have been associated with language dispersal and shift, a conclusion which also appears warranted for the Primorye province of the Russian Far East (Li et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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Archaeolinguistic evidence for the farming/language dispersal of Koreanic

Hudson

Robbeets

2020

Evolut. Hum. Sci.

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While earlier research often saw Altaic as an exception to the farming/language dispersal hypothesis, recent work on millet cultivation in northeast China has led to the proposal that the West Liao basin was the Neolithic homeland of a Transeurasian language family. Here, we examine the archaeolinguistic evidence used to associate millet farming dispersals with Proto-Macro-Koreanic, analysing the identification of population movements in the archaeological record, the role of small-scale cultivation in language dispersals, and Middle-Late Neolithic demography. We conclude that the archaeological evidence is consistent with the arrival and spread of Proto-Macro-Koreanic on the peninsula in association with millet cultivation in the Middle Neolithic. This dispersal of Proto-Macro-Koreanic occurred before an apparent population crash after 3000 BC, which can probably be linked with a Late Neolithic decline affecting many regions across northern Eurasia. We suggest plague (Yersinia pestis) as one possible cause of an apparently simultaneous population decline in Korea and Japan.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Archaeolinguistic evidence for the farming/language dispersal of Koreanic

Hudson

Robbeets

2020

Evolut. Hum. Sci.

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“…Second, for some crop names such as 'barley' and 'broomcorn millet', we can argue that the word refers to the domesticated crop rather than to the wild variety of the plant because both crops are not native to the region and have been imported as domesticated crops. It is commonly assumed that broomcorn millet has been imported from the West Liao River region by the people who introduced the Zaisanovska culture (3200-1300 BCE) to the area around Lake Khanka (Sergusheva and Vostretsov 2009;Leipe et al 2019;Li et al 2020). That the origins of the agricultural vocabulary in Proto-Tungusic go back as early as the fourth millennium BC in the southern part of the Primorye is further supported by the external etymologies of some words.…”

Section: Archaeolinguistic Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The homeland of Proto-Tungusic inferred from contemporary words and ancient genomes

Wang

Robbeets

2020

Evolut. Hum. Sci.

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The Tungusic languages form a language family spoken in Xinjiang, Siberia, Manchuria and the Russian Far East. There is a general consensus that these languages are genealogically related and descend from a common ancestral language, conventionally called 'Proto-Tungusic'. However, the exact geographical location where the ancestral speakers of Proto-Tungusic originated from is subject to debate. Here we take an unprecedented approach to this problem, by integrating linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence in a single study. Our analysis of ancient DNA suggests genetic continuity between an ancient Amur genetic lineage and the contemporary speakers of the Tungusic languages. Adding an archaeolinguistic perspective, we infer that the most plausible homeland for the speakers of Proto-Tungusic is the region around Lake Khanka in the Russian Far East. Our study pushes the field forward in answering the tantalizing question about the location of the Tungusic homeland and in illustrating how these three disciplines can converge into a holistic approach to the human past.Media summary: The Tungusic languages form a language family spoken in Xinjiang, Siberia, Manchuria and the Russian Far East. There is a general consensus that these languages descend from a common ancestral language, conventionally called 'Proto-Tungusic'. However, the exact geographical location where the ancestral speakers of Proto-Tungusic originated from is subject to debate. Integrating linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence in a single study, we here show that the most plausible homeland for the speakers of Proto-Tungusic is the region around Lake Khanka in the Russian Far East. Our study pushes the field forward in answering the tantalizing question about the location of the Tungusic homeland and in illustrating how these three disciplines can converge into a holistic approach on the human past.

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“…Both the genetic and linguistic structures of populations provide insights into the historical contacts of populations. Hence, integrating genetic and linguistic data have become one of the approaches in tracing the human populations’ divergence and admixture histories (Duda and Zrzavý 2019; Kusuma et al 2016; Li et al 2020; Thouzeau et al 2017). However, the linguistic and genetic relationship may not follow a similar pattern since the former is inherited, while the latter is a learned constituent of humans(Duda and Zrzavý 2019; Kusuma et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetic and linguistic structures of Abyssinians and their neighbor reveal the historical demographic dynamics and environmental adaptation in the African Horn region

Sertse

2020

Preprint

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The African Horn region that includes the Abyssinian is one of the areas in the world that harbor high human genetic diversity manifesting past intermingling of people of different origins attributed to its geographic immediacy to the middle east and being historical trade and religio-cultural hub. Here, we performed a genetic structure analysis of linguistically differentiated populations of Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Somali. To get insight into the genetic landscape of the horn of Africa vs the rest of the world, we leverage HapMap SNPs data from Utah residents with Northern and Western European ancestry (CEU), Maasai (MKK), and Yoruba (YRI) and analyzed for genetic admixture and diversity. The genetic and linguistic affiliations mismatch for most Cushitic and Semitic language speakers. The gradients of genetic variations among the different sub-populations within the region show gene-flow directions and past mass population movements. Ethiopians that predominately inhabited the central and northern Ethiopia harbored ~10-15% of CEU admixture. The total African horn ancestral line contributed ~20%, 5%, and 2% to MKK, YRI, and CEU, respectively. MKK showed a high genetic diversity comparable to the Ethiopian Cushitic, Semitic, and North Omotic language speakers. Allelic distribution frequencies among the populations at some outlier loci may also provide insight into the adaptations to critical environmental factors such as Malaria. Key words: Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, ancestry, genetic structure, linguistic variation, haplotype, adaptive loci, geneflow

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Millet agriculture dispersed from Northeast China to the Russian Far East: Integrating archaeology, genetics, and linguistics

Cited by 27 publications

References 58 publications

Archaeolinguistic evidence for the farming/language dispersal of Koreanic

Archaeolinguistic evidence for the farming/language dispersal of Koreanic

The homeland of Proto-Tungusic inferred from contemporary words and ancient genomes

The genetic and linguistic structures of Abyssinians and their neighbor reveal the historical demographic dynamics and environmental adaptation in the African Horn region

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