The prehistoric peopling of Southeast Asia

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Takashi Gakuhari
  • George van Driem
  • Uffe Gram Wilken
  • Andaine Seguin-Orlando
  • Constanza Pilar de la Fuente Castro
  • Sally Wasef
  • Rasmi Shoocongdej
  • Viengkeo Souksavatdy
  • Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy
  • Mohd Mokhtar Saidin
  • Takehiro Sato
  • Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas
  • Farhang A Aghakhanian
  • Peter de Barros Damgaard
  • Supannee Kaewsutthi
  • Patcharee Lertrit
  • Thi Mai Huong Nguyen
  • Hsiao-Chun Hung
  • Thi Minh Tran
  • Huu Nghia Truong
  • Giang Hai Nguyen
  • Shaiful Shahidan
  • Ketut Wiradnyana
  • Hiromi Matsumae
  • Nobuo Shigehara
  • Minoru Yoneda
  • Hajime Ishida
  • Tadayuki Masuyama
  • Yasuhiro Yamada
  • Atsushi Tajima
  • Hiroki Shibata
  • Atsushi Toyoda
  • Tsunehiko Hanihara
  • Shigeki Nakagome
  • Thibaut Deviese
  • Anne-Marie Bacon
  • Philippe Duringer
  • Jean-Luc Ponche
  • Laura Shackelford
  • Elise Patole-Edoumba
  • Anh Tuan Nguyen
  • Bérénice Bellina-Pryce
  • Jean-Christophe Galipaud
  • Rebecca Kinaston
  • Hallie Buckley
  • Christophe Pottier
  • Tom Higham
  • Robert A Foley
  • Marta Mirazón Lahr
  • Ludovic Orlando
  • Maude E Phipps
  • Hiroki Oota
  • Charles Higham
  • David M Lambert

The 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.

Original languageEnglish
JournalScience (New York, N.Y.)
Volume361
Issue number6397
Pages (from-to)88-92
Number of pages5
ISSN0036-8075
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Jul 2018

    Research areas

  • Asia, Southeastern, Asian Continental Ancestry Group/genetics, DNA, Ancient, Genetic Variation, Genome, Human, History, Ancient, Human Migration/history, Humans, Population/genetics, Sequence Analysis, DNA

ID: 201610265