Ancient genomes from 46 Qing-era skeletons in Sanmenxia show the Central Plains' genetic makeup stayed remarkably stable across the dynastic change, linking Tang-period populations directly to modern Han people of Henan.
A Jilin University team reconstructs mitochondrial genomes of the Gansu-Qinghai Qijia culture (c. 2300–1500 BCE), tracing maternal diversity and links to later populations on the Tibetan Plateau.
A year-end People's Daily feature surveys Qiaomei Fu's work on over a thousand ancient genomes, framing East Asian prehistory as an interwoven web of migration waves readable through molecular archaeology.
Paleoproteins and dental-calculus ancient DNA identified the Middle Pleistocene Harbin cranium as an early Denisovan, solving the group's morphology puzzle—and it made Science's 2025 top breakthroughs list.
The Shimao ancient-DNA study was named among China's top ten archaeology news of 2025. The 13-year, 169-sample Nature paper traces the city's population to local late-Yangshao ancestry and reveals a patrilineal social structure.
Who were the hanging-coffin people, and do any descendants survive? Ancient DNA shows the modern Bo of Yunnan share up to 79% ancestry with cliff-buried individuals in China and Thailand.
Paleoanthropologist John Hawks rounds up 2025's top ancient-DNA findings, including the ~200,000-year-old high-coverage Denisova 25 genome. This piece uses that list to review key breakthroughs.
Two IVPP projects were showcased at the World Archaeology Forum: one reconstructs 100,000 years of East Asian migration and adaptation from ancient DNA, the other traces Eastern Zhou population fusion in central Inner Mongolia.
A Sichuan University review synthesizes ancient-DNA evidence for 160,000 years of East Asian interactions and three archaic introgression waves, tracking adaptive variants such as EPAS1 and EDAR in ancient populations.