Y-chromosome evidence for a northward migration of modern humans into eastern Asia during the last Ice Age

Bing Su, Junhua Xiao, Peter Underhill, Ranjan Deka, Weiling Zhang, Joshua Akey, Wei Huang, Di Shen, Daru Lu, Jingchun Luo, Jiayou Chu, Jiazhen Tan, Peidong Shen, Ron Davis, Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Ranajit Chakraborty, Momiao Xiong, Ruofu Du, Peter Oefner, Zhu ChenLi Jin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

368 Scopus citations

Abstract

The timing and nature of the arrival and the subsequent expansion of modern humans into eastern Asia remains controversial. Using Y-chromosome biallelic markers, we investigated the ancient human-migration patterns in eastern Asia. Our data indicate that southern populations in eastern Asia are much more polymorphic than northern populations, which have only a subset of the southern haplotypes. This pattern indicates that the first settlement of modern humans in eastern Asia occurred in mainland Southeast Asia during the last Ice Age, coinciding with the absence of human fossils in eastern Asia, 50,000-100,000 years ago. After the initial peopling, a great northward migration extended into northern China and Siberia.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1718-1724
Number of pages7
JournalAmerican Journal of Human Genetics
Volume65
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1999
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Genetics(clinical)
  • Genetics

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