DNA study clarifies SE Asian migration

University of Otago archaeologist Prof Charles Higham with a 1600-year-old skeleton, at Non Ban Jak, in northern Thailand. Photo: Supplied
University of Otago archaeologist Prof Charles Higham with a 1600-year-old skeleton, at Non Ban Jak, in northern Thailand. Photo: Supplied
New research discoveries, including some by University of Otago academics, have helped clarify long-disputed early human migration patterns in Southeast Asia.

Prof Charles Higham, of the anthropology and archaeology department, and Prof Hallie Buckley, of the anatomy department, are among the co-authors of an international study, gaining insights from ancient DNA.

Prof Higham's son, Otago graduate Prof Tom Higham, is professor of archaeological science at Oxford University, and has radiocarbon dated ancient human bones used in the study, recently published in the journal Science.

The groundbreaking analysis used ancient DNA extracted from 8000-year-old skeletons - twice the age of samples previously sequenced

in the region.

Two long-competing theories about where Southeast Asian people came from were debunked.

One theory suggested that indigenous hunter-gatherers of the prehistoric Hoa Bihn culture, populating the region from 44,000 years ago, had adopted agricultural practices independently, without input from early farmers from East Asia.

Another ''two-layer model'' theory argued that migrating rice farmers from what is now China replaced the hunter-gatherers.

The international research team found that at least four ancient populations contributed to the region's ancestry.

Prof Charles Higham is a visiting fellow of the Mcdonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, England, and is completing Marsden-funded research on the origins of the Angkor civilisation.

Archaeology was ''being transformed'' through ''new generation ancient DNA recovery from prehistoric people'', and the new study ''dramatically confirmed a major migration by anatomically modern humans in Southeast and East Asia'', he said.

This expansion of early humans from Africa took place at least 60,000 years ago.

Also confirmed was a second wave of expansion, of rice farmers from China's Yangtze Valley, moving south, by river and coast, and integrating with long-established hunter gatherers.

Further movements by sea brought Austronesian language speakers to island Southeast Asia.

The same movement, recently recorded in the Solomon Islands and Tonga, had ''ultimately brought people to New Zealand'', he said.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz

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