Aborigines of Russian Far East were independent branch of East Asian civilization

Original inhabitants of the modern Russian Far East had been developing their own culture for thousands of years, gradually adopting new technologies from their neighbors and not being affected by strong migration inflows. These ancient people are genetically similar to the indigenous Japanese, Taiwanese, and Native Americans. A related article with conclusions of an international scientific group that included specialists from Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) appears in Nature.

Archaeologists of the FEFU School of Arts and Humanities teamed up with foreign colleagues to run a genetic investigation of the remains of 166 people who have lived in East Asia over the past eight thousand years. The findings have been matched with genetic information gained from 383 modern Chinese, Nepalese and with previously published scientific data available for the region. The outcome helps to understand how the original population of East Asia and, in particular, of the territory related to the present-day Russian Far East, was formed.

"The genetic landscape of East Asia is rather complex, but in some regions, it has always been secured. For example, in the south of the Russian Far East, it's possible to trace the genetic line of the aboriginals down the past six-seven thousand years, from the New Stone Age (Neolithic) to the modern Amur-Primorye indigenous people. Based on genetic data, population replacement did not happen here. Most likely, a major share of cultural and historical changes in the region naturally came from the independent development of the local population. These people perceived technological, adaptation, and other external innovations with an insignificant migration inflow. Actually, the appearance of these inhabitants along the Pacific coast of Russia can be associated with an earlier period—about 40-15 thousand years ago," says Alexander Popov, research participant, Director of the Educational and Scientific Museum of the FEFU School of Arts and Humanities.

Genetic materials of ancient people from the territory of modern Russian Primorye were provided by the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of the FEFU Educational and Scientific Museum. The remains were obtained during the university excavations at the sites of Boisman-2 (Neolithic, 6—5 thousand years ago) and Pospelovo-1 (Early Iron Age, 2.8—2.3 thousand years ago). The Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of the Institute of History, Archeology, and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences provided samples obtained over excavations at the Roshchino-4 site (Early Middle Ages, 1.5—1.2 thousand years). It turns out; all these samples are united by a common genetic line leading to one of the modern Far Eastern natives—the Ulchi people. To a certain extent, these results are following some archaeological materials.

"The hunter-gatherers who lived on the territory of modern Russian Primorye formed the part of the East Asian civilization. They were not Chinese, Koreans, or Japanese of different periods. The genetic line of the Neolithic people of the South of the Far East (Boisman and Rudninskaya archaeological cultures) continues in the gene code of people who lived in this territory four thousand years after them, in the Early Iron Age (Yankovskaya culture). Yet thousand years later, this line continues in the Heishui Mohe culture, but with an admixture of Han Chinese, which is associated with the medieval migration. After another thousand and a half years, we see the same Boisman code among the modern Amur nationality Ulchi, the original population of the region, which has secured its identity," says Alexander Popov.

According to the research, the genetic identity of the ancient people of the southern Far East has more similarities with the ancient people of Japan, Taiwan, and Native Americans. This branch was very different from the population of the central Chinese plains, the West Mongolian and Sino-Tibetan genetic cluster. Their genetic resemblance is associated resulted from a much later time, almost the Late Middle Ages. Most likely, the population of East Asia had been forming alike one of the West Eurasia, where several genetic groups later constituted the general picture.

"The East Asian world is very diverse and so is the humankind which has always been survived thanks to the variety of the population in different territories, including the "peripheral" ones. Although now we tend to perceive the past through a crystal of artificial globalism, be it Greco-Roman or Eastern. Thus, archeology and molecular biology teach us the genetic and cultural diversity is a very positive factor for humanity as a whole," sums up Alexander Popov.

Next, scientists plan to comprehend the obtained genetic material in the existing archaeological context. Thus, they hope to shed light on some archeological mysteries. For example, remains contain a part of the genetic code left from some very ancient migration of people who had been started to inhabit the Pacific coast from the South, Late Pleistocene (40,000—15,000 years ago). It is still hard to establish the exact origin since no remains older than seven thousand years have been found.

More information:
Chuan-Chao Wang et al. Genomic insights into the formation of human populations in East Asia, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03336-2

Provided by Far Eastern Federal University