Donghulin Ancient Genomes: Population Turnover and a Previously Unknown Deep Northern East Asian Lineage at the Paleolithic–Neolithic Transition

A team led by Fu Qiaomei of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), working with the Donghulin archaeological team, Peking University and Capital Normal University, has retrieved ancient DNA from three human remains dated to roughly 11,000–9,000 years ago at the Donghulin site in Mentougou, Beijing — three complete mitogenomes and two nuclear genomes. Published online in Current Biology (36(6)) on 9 March 2026, these are among the few well-contextualized terminal Pleistocene genomes from northern China.

The lower-layer individual, M1, was a woman who lived about 11,000 years ago. Her genome belongs to a previously unrecognized, deeply divergent northern East Asian lineage, with a divergence time comparable to that of Heilongjiang AR19K (around 19,000 years ago). In other words, at the close of the Last Glacial Period, northern East Asia was not populated by a single uniform group but hosted several old, distinct lineages side by side.

The upper-layer individual M2, a male of about 9,000 years ago, already shows a markedly shifted genetic profile. This turnover coincides in time with the appearance of pottery in upper layers and with changes in skeletal morphology, suggesting that the transition from late Paleolithic foraging to early Neolithic millet-related lifeways involved real demographic change, not merely the spread of artifacts.

Both M1 and M2 carry mitogenomes falling under different sub-branches of haplogroup D4h. The site also shows cross-regional gene flow with Heilongjiang ARpost14K individuals and with people of the Yumin culture in Inner Mongolia. The authors describe a dynamic northern East Asia in which local groups were unstable, even as deep lineages persisted and turned over.

Unlike the European pattern in which farming populations largely replaced foragers, northern East Asia shows local fluctuations within a broadly northern East Asian genetic envelope — first ancient-DNA evidence on the human dynamics behind millet domestication.

Source: Zhang G.-Y., Zhao C., Wang T., Wang T. et al., corr. Fu Q. Current Biology, 2026-03-09.