Abstract
Xianbei was one of the most powerful nomadic groups in Eastern Eurasia since the collapse of the Xiongnu empire. However, owing to a lack of first-hand written records, the origins of Xianbei and their relationships with surrounding populations remain enigmatic. Here, we produce genomic data of nine Xianbei individuals (ca. 200 CE to 300 CE) from northern China. By combining the available genomes in the literature, we assemble a database that covers almost the entire period of Xianbei as well as samples pre- and post-dating them, allowing us to set the Xianbei in a temporal context. Our study decisively addresses a longstanding hypothesis and supports that the Xianbei was originated from the Amur River region, more specifically from far northeastern China around the Great Khingan Mountain ranges. We also provide direct genetic evidence that during their initial process of moving southward toward the Central Plains of China, Xianbei only received limited exogenous genetic contribution from the local population they encountered, but after settling in northern China, Xianbei not only transformed from nomadic tribes to sedentary agriculturalists but also genetically admixed into the local residents there. In sum, our study represents the inaugural genomic exploration into the origins of the Xianbei, affirms the profound historical connection between the Xianbei and ancient Han Chinese communities, and elucidates the dynamic population history of northern China.
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Data availability
The basemap used in Fig. 1 is in the public domain and accessible through the Natural Earth website (https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/10m-raster-data/). The raw data for the newly sequenced individuals had been deposited to the Genome Sequence Archive (GSA) database (project no. PRJCA018315) and will be publicly available upon the publication of the manuscript.
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Funding
This work was supported by the Major Projects of Key Research Bases of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 22JJD780009), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2020YFC1521606), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2022CXTD17), and the Special Major Foundation for Philosophy Social Science (2022JZDZ022); Chao Ning was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. T2192953) and Start-up Fund for Talent Introduction of School of History & Culture (Tourism) of Sichuan University (Grant No. 1082204112280).
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Dawei Cai, Fan Zhang and Chao Ning wrote the main manuscript text. Ying Zheng performed the experiment and data analysis. Qingchuan Bao, Xiaonong Hu, Wenhu Chen, and Jianen Cao provided the archaeological samples and information.
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Cai, D., Zheng, Y., Bao, Q. et al. Ancient DNA sheds light on the origin and migration patterns of the Xianbei confederation. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 15, 194 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01899-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01899-x