Bioarchaeological analysis of Bronze Age populations in the Xiaohe cemetery using dental non-metric traits

Abstract

The archaeological site of the Xiaohe cemetery (3980 to 3540 years cal BP), one of the earliest sites in the Lop Nur Desert of Xinjiang, China, has attracted considerable attention in recent years due to its well-preserved organic materials such as mummified human remains. However, questions of the regional diversity of populations from this time period are still not well understood, as few detailed studies have been undertaken. This study utilizes 17 dental morphological traits to assess the phenetic relationships between Xiaohe (19 males and 17 females) and other ancient populations from northern China and Eurasia. Trait frequencies are determined and biodistances are calculated through Mean Measure of Divergence (MMD) statistics. Based on our MMD results, we suggest that there had already been a certain degree of genetic exchange between people of the Xiaohe area and other parts of Eurasia before the early Bronze Age. These results are consistent with other genetic studies on the Xiaohe cemetery.