a Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China;
b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
c Tibet Institute for Conservation and Research of Cultural Relics, Lhasa 850000, China;
d Center for Archaeological Science, School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, China;
e School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710069, China;
f School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
g Science and Technology Archaeology, National Centre for Archaeology, Beijing 100013, China;
h Shanghai Qi Zhi Institute, Shanghai 200232, China
The settlement of the Tibetan Plateau epitomizes human adaptation to a high-altitude environment that poses great challenges to human activity. Here, we reconstructed a 4000-year maternal genetic history of Tibetans using 128 ancient mitochondrial genome data from 37 sites in Tibet. The phylogeny of haplotypes M9a1a, M9a1b, D4g2, G2a’c, and D4i show ancient Tibetans shared the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) with ancient Middle and Upper Yellow River populations around the Early and Middle Holocene. In addition, the connections between Tibetans and Northeastern Asians varied over the past 4000 years, with a stronger matrilineal connection between the two during 4000–3000 BP, and a weakened connection after 3000 BP, that coincident with climate change, followed by a reinforced connection after the Tubo period (1400-1100 BP). Besides, an over 4000-year matrilineal continuity was observed in some of the maternal lineages. We also found the maternal genetic structure of ancient Tibetans is correlated to the geography and interactions between ancient Tibetans and ancient Nepal and Pakistan populations. Overall, the maternal genetic history of Tibetans can be characterized as a long-term matrilineal continuity with frequent internal and external population interactions that were dynamically shaped by geography, climate changes, as well as historical events.
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