Ancestral maneuvers

Ancient DNA confirms connection between Yangtze River basin and other ancient Southeast Asian cultures, Wang Qian reports.

The Ma'an site in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, has recently emerged as a pivotal archaeological site providing genomic insights into the ancient history of the Yangtze River Basin and the origin of its residents during the Neolithic period. The extracted ancient mitochondrial genomes also indicate a genetic link with the ancient populations of Southeast Asia.

The site's latest archaeological breakthrough has enabled the successful extraction of ancient human genome data from the Majiabang Culture period, dating back to approximately 6,000 years ago.