Journal article
The prehistoric peopling of Southeast Asia
University of Copenhagen1
Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism2
Universiti Sains Malaysia3
University of Lausanne4
Monash University5
University of Cambridge6
National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia7
Mahidol University8
Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences9
Australian National University10
Balai Archeology11
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle12
Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties13
The University of Tokyo14
University of the Ryukyus15
Educational Committee of Tahara City16
National Institutes for the Humanities, National Museum of Japanese History17
Kyushu University18
Research Organization of Information and Systems, National Institute of Genetics Mishima19
Trinity College Dublin20
University of Oxford21
Université Paris 522
Kanazawa University23
Université de Strasbourg24
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign25
Natural History Museum of La Rochelle26
CNRS27
University of Otago28
Administrative Headquarters of the Max Planck Society29
École Française d’Extrême-Orient30
Department of Bio and Health Informatics, Technical University of Denmark31
Metagenomics, Department of Bio and Health Informatics, Technical University of Denmark32
Kitasato University33
University of Bern34
University of New England35
Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III36
Griffith University Queensland37
Silpakorn University38
...and 28 moreThe human occupation history of Southeast Asia (SEA) remains heavily debated. Current evidence suggests that SEA was occupied by Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers until ~4000 years ago, when farming economies developed and expanded, restricting foraging groups to remote habitats. Some argue that agricultural development was indigenous; others favor the “two-layer” hypothesis that posits a southward expansion of farmers giving rise to present-day Southeast Asian genetic diversity.
By sequencing 26 ancient human genomes (25 from SEA, 1 Japanese Jōmon), we show that neither interpretation fits the complexity of Southeast Asian history: Both Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers and East Asian farmers contributed to current Southeast Asian diversity, with further migrations affecting island SEA and Vietnam.
Our results help resolve one of the long-standing controversies in Southeast Asian prehistory.
