Ancient Genomes from the Southeastern Mongolian Plateau Trace Neolithic Cultural Diffusions in Northern East Asia

The southeastern fringe of the Mongolian Plateau sits between the grasslands of Northeast Asia and the agricultural zones of northern China, making it a key corridor for studying population interaction in northern East Asia. In a study led by Liu T, Zhao Z and Guo M, with Qiaomei Fu among the corresponding authors and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CAS) among the participating institutions, researchers analyzed genome-wide data from 35 ancient individuals dating to roughly 8,800–5,000 years ago. The work appears in The Innovation (Cell Press; DOI: 10.1016/j.xinn.2025.101186).

The analysis first characterizes the genetic baseline of the early Holocene. The early-Holocene populations in the region shared a common ancestral component, whose persistence may be linked to the spread of microlithic (small-blade) technology across Northeast Asia after the Last Glacial Maximum. In other words, long before large-scale northward movements of Neolithic farmers, the grasslands already carried an enduring forager genetic background.

A clear genetic shift then follows. Around 5,700–5,000 years ago, gene flow arrived from populations on the northeastern edge of the Mongolian Plateau and from groups associated with the Hongshan culture of the Western Liaohe region. This timing overlaps with archaeologically recognized phases of Neolithic cultural diffusion in northern China, suggesting that such diffusion was not purely the spread of ideas but, at least in some stages, accompanied by real human movement and intermarriage.

The authors frame the region’s history as a sequence of enduring local ancestry followed by incoming genetic contributions: early Holocene populations were dominated by a local component, while later phases layer on new components from the northeastern plateau and the Hongshan sphere. This structure supplies direct genetic evidence for Neolithic population interaction in northern East Asia.

The study is geographically focused on the southeastern Mongolian Plateau, so its conclusions describe regional-scale dynamics; the specific links among individual sites and cultures still require more ancient-genome, archaeological and dating evidence. Even so, the work brings two previously separate archaeological threads—the spread of microlithic technology and that of Hongshan culture—together onto the same set of ancient genomes for the first time.

Source: Liu T, Zhao Z, Guo M, et al. (Q. Fu, co-corresponding author). The Innovation (Cell Press), 2025-11-20.