The movement of people across the Bering Sea from North Asia to North America is a well-known phenomenon in early human history. Nevertheless, the genetic makeup of the people who lived in North Asia during this time has remained mysterious due to a limited number of ancient genomes analyzed from this region.
於早期人類歷史中，人們從北亞橫越白令海到北美的遷徙，是眾所周知的事件。不過，在此時期中，生活於北亞之人們的遺傳組成，由於來自此地區，經分析之古代基因體的數量有限。因此，一直依然費解。
Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology on January 12 describe genomes from ten individuals up to 7,500 years old that help to fill the gap and show geneflow from people moving in the opposite direction from North America to North Asia.
目前，在2023年1月12日，於《現代生物學》期刊，發表報告的研究人員們描述了，來自10個多達7500年前之個體的基因體。這些基因體有助於填補此空白，及顯示來自從北美，以相反方向遷徙到北亞之人們的基因流動。
Their analysis reveals a previously undescribed group of early Holocene Siberian people that lived in the Neolithic Altai-Sayan region, near to where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan come together. The genetic data show they were descendants of both paleo-Siberian and Ancient North Eurasian (ANE) people.
他們的分析揭露了，一群先前未被描述過之初期全新世(最年輕的地質年代，開始於11700年前)的西伯利亞人。他們生活於新石器時期，靠近俄羅斯、中國、蒙古及哈薩克斯坦交界處的阿爾泰-薩彥地區(靠近阿爾泰山及薩彥嶺的中亞地區)。遺傳資料顯示，他們是古西伯利亞人與古代北歐亞人 (ANE)的後裔。
"We describe a previously unknown hunter-gatherer population in the Altai as early as 7,500 years old, which is a mixture between two distinct groups that lived in Siberia during the last Ice Age," says Cosimo Posth at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and senior author of the study.
該項研究資深撰文人，德國圖賓根大學的Cosimo Posth宣稱：「我們描述了，於阿爾泰山，一個早在7500年前，先前不為人知之狩獵-採集者的群體。此群體是上次冰河時期中，生活於西伯利亞，兩個不同群體間的混血體。
"The Altai hunter-gatherer group contributed to many contemporaneous and subsequent populations across North Asia, showing how great the mobility of those foraging communities was."
阿爾泰狩獵-採集者的群體促成了，北亞各地諸多同時期及後來的群體，顯示了那些覓食群體的流動性有多大。」
Posth notes that the Altai region is known in the media as the location where a new archaic hominin group, the Denisovans, was discovered. But the region also has importance in human history as a crossroad for population movements between northern Siberia, Central Asia, and East Asia over millennia.
Posth特別提及，在媒體中，阿爾泰地區被通稱為，新古老人類群體(丹尼索瓦人)被發現的地點。不過，在人類歷史上，作為幾千年間，在西伯利亞北部、中亞及東亞之間，群體遷徙的十字路口，該地區也具有重要性。
Posth and colleagues report that the unique gene pool they uncovered may represent an optimal source for the inferred ANE-related population that contributed to Bronze Age groups from North and Inner Asia, such as Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers, Okunevo-associated pastoralists, and Tarim Basin mummies.
Posth及同僚們提出了，他們發現的獨特基因庫可能說明，是促成來自北亞及內亞之青銅時期，諸如貝加爾湖狩獵-採集者、奧庫內沃相關牧民及塔里木盆木乃伊等群體，被推斷之古代北歐亞人相關群體的最佳來源。
They uncovered Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) ancestry as well -- which had initially been described in Neolithic hunter-gatherers from the Russian Far East -- in another Neolithic Altai-Sayan individual associated with distinct cultural features.
他們也在另一個，與不同文化特徵之新石器時期的阿爾泰-薩彥個體有所關聯中，揭露了最初在來自俄羅斯遠東地區之新石器時期的狩獵-採集者中，已經被記述的古代東北亞(ANA)血統。
The findings reveal the spread of ANA ancestry about 1,500 kilometers farther to the west than previously observed. In the Russian Far East, they also identified 7,000-year-old individuals with Jomon-associated ancestry, indicating links with hunter-gatherer groups from the Japanese Archipelago.
此些研究發現揭露了，古代東北亞血統的擴散，比先前觀察到的向西，更遠約1500公里。在俄羅斯遠東地區，他們也確認了，7千年前具有顯示，與來自日本群島狩獵-採集群體關聯性之繩紋時期(日本新石器時期，因陶器上普遍有繩紋，故名)相關血統的個體。
The data also are consistent with multiple phases of gene flow from North America to northeastern Asia over the last 5,000 years, reaching the Kamchatka Peninsula and central Siberia. The researchers note that the findings highlight a largely interconnected population throughout North Asia from the early Holocene onwards.
這些數據也與過去5千年間，從北美到東北亞，及於堪察加半島及西伯利亞中部之基因流動的多個階段相一致。此些研究人員特別提及，這些研究發現突顯了，從早期全新世起，整個北亞大量相互聯繫的群體。
"The finding that surprised me the most is from an individual dated to a similar period as the other Altai hunter-gatherers but with a completely different genetic profile, showing genetic affinities to populations located in the Russian Far East," says Ke Wang at Fudan University, China, and lead author of the study.
該項研究主要撰文人，中國復旦大學的Ke Wang宣稱：「此些最令我驚訝的發現是，一個來自回溯到與其他阿爾泰狩獵-採集者相似時期，卻具有完全不同遺傳特徵的個體。顯示了，與位於俄羅斯遠東地區之群體的遺傳親緣關係。」
"Interestingly, the Nizhnetytkesken individual was found in a cave containing rich burial goods with a religious costume and objects interpreted as possible representation of shamanism."
有趣的是，該於一處包括具有宗教服裝及物品之洞穴中，所發現的Nizhnetytkesken個體，被認為是薩滿教的可能代表。」
Wang says the finding implies that individuals with very different profiles and backgrounds were living in the same region around the same time.
Wang表示，此發現暗示，具有截然不同輪廓及背景的個體，大約在相同時期，生活於同一地區。
"It is not clear if the Nizhnetytkesken individual came from far away or the population from which he derived was located close by," she says. "However, his grave goods appear different than other local archeological contexts implying mobility of both culturally and genetically diverse individuals into the Altai region."
她宣稱：「該Nizhnetytkesken個體，是否來自很遠的地方，或來自其源自位於附近的群體，則不詳。不過，其陪葬品顯然與，暗示文化及遺傳上多樣化之個體，遷徙進入阿爾泰地區的其他當地考古背景不同。」
The genetic data from the Altai show that North Asia harbored highly connected groups as early as 10,000 years ago, across long geographic distances. "This suggests that human migrations and admixtures were the norm and not the exception also for ancient hunter-gatherer societies," Posth says.
來自阿爾泰的遺傳數據顯示，早在1萬年前，北亞就具有高度聯繫的群體，橫跨很長的地理距離。Posth宣稱：「這暗示，人類的遷徙及混合，是古代狩獵-採集者社會的常態，而不是例外。」
網址：https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230112113206.htm
翻譯：許東榮
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