Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages

Martine Robbeets (), Remco Bouckaert, Matthew Conte, Alexander Savelyev, Tao Li, Deog-Im An, Ken-ichi Shinoda, Yinqiu Cui, Takamune Kawashima, Geonyoung Kim, Junzo Uchiyama, Joanna Dolińska, Sofia Oskolskaya, Ken-Yōjiro Yamano, Noriko Seguchi, Hirotaka Tomita, Hiroto Takamiya, Hideaki Kanzawa-Kiriyama, Hiroki Oota, Hajime Ishida, Ryosuke Kimura, Takehiro Sato, Jae-Hyun Kim, Bingcong Deng, Rasmus Bjørn, Seongha Rhee, Kyou-Dong Ahn, Ilya Gruntov, Olga Mazo, John R. Bentley, Ricardo Fernandes, Patrick Roberts, Ilona R. Bausch, Linda Gilaizeau, Minoru Yoneda, Mitsugu Kugai, Raffaela A. Bianco, Fan Zhang, Marie Himmel, Mark J. Hudson () and Chao Ning ()
Additional contact information
Martine Robbeets: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Remco Bouckaert: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Matthew Conte: Seoul National University
Alexander Savelyev: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Tao Li: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Deog-Im An: Hanseo University
Ken-ichi Shinoda: National Museum of Nature and Science
Yinqiu Cui: Jilin University
Takamune Kawashima: Hiroshima University Museum
Geonyoung Kim: Seoul National University
Junzo Uchiyama: Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
Joanna Dolińska: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Sofia Oskolskaya: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Ken-Yōjiro Yamano: Kumamoto University
Noriko Seguchi: Kyushu University
Hirotaka Tomita: Hokkaido Government Board of Education
Hiroto Takamiya: Kagoshima University
Hideaki Kanzawa-Kiriyama: National Museum of Nature and Science
Hiroki Oota: The University of Tokyo
Hajime Ishida: University of the Ryukyus
Ryosuke Kimura: University of the Ryukyus
Takehiro Sato: Kanazawa University
Jae-Hyun Kim: Donga University
Bingcong Deng: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Rasmus Bjørn: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Seongha Rhee: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Kyou-Dong Ahn: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Ilya Gruntov: Russian Academy of Sciences
Olga Mazo: Russian Academy of Sciences
John R. Bentley: Northern Illinois University
Ricardo Fernandes: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Patrick Roberts: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Ilona R. Bausch: Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
Linda Gilaizeau: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Minoru Yoneda: University of Tokyo
Mitsugu Kugai: Miyakojima City Board of Education
Raffaela A. Bianco: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Fan Zhang: Jilin University
Marie Himmel: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Mark J. Hudson: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Chao Ning: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Nature, 2021, vol. 599, issue 7886, 616-621

Abstract: Abstract The origin and early dispersal of speakers of Transeurasian languages—that is, Japanese, Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic—is among the most disputed issues of Eurasian population history1–3. A key problem is the relationship between linguistic dispersals, agricultural expansions and population movements4,5. Here we address this question by ‘triangulating’ genetics, archaeology and linguistics in a unified perspective. We report wide-ranging datasets from these disciplines, including a comprehensive Transeurasian agropastoral and basic vocabulary; an archaeological database of 255 Neolithic–Bronze Age sites from Northeast Asia; and a collection of ancient genomes from Korea, the Ryukyu islands and early cereal farmers in Japan, complementing previously published genomes from East Asia. Challenging the traditional ‘pastoralist hypothesis’6–8, we show that the common ancestry and primary dispersals of Transeurasian languages can be traced back to the first farmers moving across Northeast Asia from the Early Neolithic onwards, but that this shared heritage has been masked by extensive cultural interaction since the Bronze Age. As well as marking considerable progress in the three individual disciplines, by combining their converging evidence we show that the early spread of Transeurasian speakers was driven by agriculture.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04108-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:599:y:2021:i:7886:d:10.1038_s41586-021-04108-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().