Ancient DNA Laboratory, Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China.
BMC Biol. 2010 Feb 17;8:15. doi: 10.1186/1741-7007-8-15.
The Tarim Basin, located on the ancient Silk Road, played a very important role in the history of human migration and cultural communications between the West and the East. However, both the exact period at which the relevant events occurred and the origins of the people in the area remain very obscure. In this paper, we present data from the analyses of both Y chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) derived from human remains excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery, the oldest archeological site with human remains discovered in the Tarim Basin thus far.
Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the Xiaohe people carried both the East Eurasian haplogroup (C) and the West Eurasian haplogroups (H and K), whereas Y chromosomal DNA analysis revealed only the West Eurasian haplogroup R1a1a in the male individuals.
Our results demonstrated that the Xiaohe people were an admixture from populations originating from both the West and the East, implying that the Tarim Basin had been occupied by an admixed population since the early Bronze Age. To our knowledge, this is the earliest genetic evidence of an admixed population settled in the Tarim Basin.
塔里木盆地位于古丝绸之路上，在人类迁徙和东西文化交流史上发挥了非常重要的作用。然而，相关事件发生的确切时期以及该地区居民的起源仍然非常模糊。本文介绍了从小河墓地出土的人类遗骸中提取的 Y 染色体和线粒体 DNA（mtDNA）分析结果，该墓地是迄今为止在塔里木盆地发现的最古老的有人类遗骸的考古遗址。
线粒体 DNA 分析表明，小河人携带东亚单倍群（C）和 西 欧 单 倍 群（H 和 K），而 Y 染色体 DNA 分析仅显示男性个体中存在西 欧 单 倍 群 R1a1a。
我们的结果表明，小河人是来自东西方人群的混合群体，这意味着塔里木盆地自青铜时代早期以来就一直被混合人群占据。据我们所知，这是塔里木盆地混合人群定居的最早遗传证据。
