Southeast Asia was first reached by anatomically modern humans possibly before 70,000 years ago. [1] Anatomically modern humans are suggested to have reached Southeast Asia twice in the course of the Southern Dispersal migrations during and after the formation of a distinct East Asian clade from 70,000 to 50,000 years ago. [2] [3]
In Asia, the most recent late archaic human fossils were found in Thailand (125-100 ka), the Philippines (58-24 ka), Malaysia (c. 40 ka), and Sri Lanka (c.36 ka). [4] The artifacts from these sites include partial skeleton, crania, deep skull, and other related skeletons indicate that modern human migrated to Asia earlier than the western theory might have discussed. [5]
In 2007, an analysis of cut marks on two bovid bones found in Sangiran, showed them to have been made 1.5 to 1.6 million years ago by clamshell tools. This may be the oldest evidence for the presence of early humans in today Indonesia and are to date the oldest evidence of shell tool use in the world. [6]
In 2009, archaeologists discovered the partial cranium and some teeth of a modern human at Tam Pa Ling in mainland Laos, which shed light on the understanding of anatomically modern human migration and evolution in the region during the Late Pleistocene Period. [5] The site is located in Houaphanh Province, around 170 miles north of Vientiane, the capital city of modern Laos. Within this site, only human remains were found, and there is no evidence of human occupation or other artifacts. The radiocarbon dating of the charcoal and the sediment dating analyses identify the remains to date at least c. 56.5 ka, while the dental artifacts from the remains that analyzed by the isotope-ratio measurement indicate c. 63.6 ka. [5] The analysis of the cranium and dentition of the remains suggest that these are the remains of early modern human populations in Southeast Asia. This date is older than the fossils that were found in Niah cave in Malaysia, which offers another explanation for human evolution in Southeast Asia.
In addition to the discovery in Laos, there are also a number of human remains and related artifacts found across mainland Southeast Asia in which it suggests the new ideas of the regional Late Pleistocene development as well. More teeth and molars that were found in Thailand and Vietnam sites (Tham Wihan Naki, Thailand; Tham Kuyean, Vietnam, etc.) indicate transitions between H. erectus and H. sapiens. [7] In fact, these remains might indicate the possible interbreeding between H. erectus and H. sapiens, such as the tooth at Wihan Nakin at Chaiyaphum province in Thailand. [7]
The earliest modern human inhabitants of Southeast Asia were hunter-gatherers that arrived in the area at least c. 40,000 BP. Contemporary remnant groups of these earliest inhabitants (e.g. the Semang of Malaysia or the Aetas of the Philippines) are usually included under the cover term "Negrito". [8] The earliest settlers had sufficient maritime technology to cross the Wallace Line, probably at a similar date to the first settlement of Sahul (c. 45,000 BP/49,000 –43,000 BP). [9] : 50
The Neolithic was characterized by several migrations from southern China into Mainland and Island Southeast Asia by Austroasiatic and Austronesian-speakers. [8] [10]
During the Neolithic, Austroasiatic peoples populated Indochina via land routes. The earliest agricultural societies that cultivated millet and wet-rice emerged around 1700 BCE in the lowlands and river floodplains of Indochina. [12] Based on archaeological and genetic evidence, it is assumed that Austroasiatic speakers also expanded into Insular Southeast Asia in the Neolithic, but were later supplanted or assimilated by Austronesian speakers. [11]
The most widespread migration event was the Austronesian expansion, which began at around 5,500 BP (3500 BC) from coastal southern China via Taiwan. Due to their use of ocean-going outrigger boats and voyaging catamarans, [lower-alpha 1] Austronesians rapidly colonized Island Southeast Asia, before spreading further into Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Madagascar [lower-alpha 2] and the Comoros. They dominated the lowlands and coasts of Island Southeast Asia, giving rise to modern Islander Southeast Asians, Micronesians, Polynesians, and Malagasy. [14] [15] [16] [17] The first Austronesians reached the Philippines at around 2200 BC, settling the Batanes Islands and northern Luzon from Taiwan. From there, they rapidly spread downwards to the rest of the islands of the Philippines and Southeast Asia. [18] [19]
The widespread presence of Kra-Dai, Tibeto-Burman, and Hmong-Mien speakers in Mainland Southeast Asia is the result of later migrations. Originating from southern China, where many languages of these families are still spoken, they expanded southwards into Southeast Asia in historical times around the second half of the first millennium CE. [8]
Territorial principalities in both Insular and Mainland Southeast Asia, characterised as Agrarian kingdoms [20] had by around 500 BCE developed an economy based on surplus crop cultivation and moderate coastal trade of domestic natural products. Several states of the Malayan-Indonesian "thalassian" zone [21] shared these characteristics with Indochinese polities like the Pyu city-states in the Irrawaddy river valley, Van Lang in the Red River delta and Funan around the lower Mekong. [22] Văn Lang, founded in the 7th century BCE endured until 258 BCE under the rule of the Hồng Bàng dynasty, as part of the Đông Sơn culture eventually sustained a dense and organised population, that produced an elaborate Bronze Age industry. [23] [24]
Intensive wet-rice cultivation in an ideal climate enabled the farming communities to produce a regular crop surplus, that was used by the ruling elite to raise, command and pay work forces for public construction and maintenance projects such as canals and fortifications. [23] [21] Though millet and rice cultivation was introduced around 2000 BCE, hunting and gathering remained an important aspect of food provision, in particular in forested and mountainous inland areas. [25]
Historians have emphasized the maritime connectivity of the Southeast Asian region whereby it can be analyzed as a single cultural and economic unit, as has been done with the Mediterranean basin. [26] This region stretches from the Yangtze delta in China down to the Malay Peninsula, including the South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand and Java Sea. The region was dominated by the thalassocratic cultures of the Austronesian peoples. [27] [28] [29]
One study (Chaubey 2015) found evidence for ancient gene flow from East Asian-related groups into the Andamanese people, suggesting that Andamanese (Onge) had about 30% East Asian-related ancestry next to their original Negrito ancestry, though the authors also suggest that this latter finding may in fact reflect the genetic affinity of the Andamanese to Melanesian, Southeast Asian, and Asian Negrito populations rather than true East Asian admixture (stating that "The Han ancestry measured in Andaman Negrito is probably partially capturing both Melanesian and Malaysian Negrito ancestry"), [31] as a previous study by the authors (Chaubey et al.) indicated "a deep common ancestry" between Andamanese, Melanesians and other Negrito groups (as well as South Asians), and an affinity between Southeast Asian Negritos and Melanesians with East Asians. [32]
A 2020 genetic study on Southeast Asian populations focusing on ethnic groups in Vietnam by Liu et al. 2020 found that most sampled groups are closely related to East Asians and carry mostly "East Asian-related" ancestry. Modern Austronesian and Austroasiatic speaking populations of Southeast Asia were found to have mostly East Asian-related ancestry (89% to 96%, with 94% on average). Taiwanese indigenous peoples had on average 99% East Asian-related ancestry. Kra–Dai-speaking populations had, similar to the Taiwanese indigenous peoples, nearly exclusively East Asian-related ancestry. [33]
A recent study from 2021 found that an ancient Holocene hunter-gatherer from South Sulawesi had ancestry from both a distinct lineage related to modern Papuans and Aboriginal Australians and from the East-Eurasian lineage (represented by modern East Asians). The hunter-gatherer individual had approximately ~50% "Basal-East Asian" ancestry, and was positioned in between modern East Asians and Papuans of Oceania. The authors concluded that East Asian-related ancestry expanded much earlier into Maritime Southeast Asia than previously suggested, long before the expansion of Austroasiatic and Austronesian groups. [34]
Another study about the ancestral composition of modern ethnic groups in the Philippines from 2021 suggests that distinctive Basal-East Asian (East-Eurasian) ancestry originated in Mainland Southeast Asia at ~50,000BC, and expanded through multiple migration waves southwards and northwards respectively. [3]
A 2022 study stated that there was substantial South Asian admixture in various Southeast Asian populations in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Singapore. Exceptions were isolated hill tribes and present hunter-gatherer groups in Thailand. Admixture rates for Southeast Asians range from 2% to 16% and originated from Indian cultural influence in the region. [35]
According to McColl et. al (2018), present-day Southeast Asians derive their ancestry from at least four ancient populations. The oldest source derives from mainland Hòabìnhians, who share ancestry with present-day Andamanese Önge, Malaysian Jehai, and the ancient Japanese Ikawazu Jōmon. During the Neolithic period, East Asian farmers intermixed with the native inhabitants and contrary to popular opinion, did not replace them. These farmers also shared ancestry with present-day Austroasiatic-speaking hill tribes themselves. About 2000 years ago, new East Asian ancestry components were introduced and coincided with the introduction of ancestral Kradai languages and Austronesian culture in mainland and maritime Southeast Asia respectively. [36]
The Austroasiatic languages are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority populations scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China. Approximately 117 million people speak an Austroasiatic language, of which more than two-thirds are Vietnamese speakers. Of the Austroasiatic languages, only Vietnamese, Khmer, and Mon have lengthy, established presences in the historical record. Only two are presently considered to be the national languages of sovereign states: Vietnamese in Vietnam, and Khmer in Cambodia. The Mon language is a recognized indigenous language in Myanmar and Thailand, while the Wa language is a "recognized national language" in the de facto autonomous Wa State within Myanmar. Santali is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. The remainder of the family's languages are spoken by minority groups and have no official status.
The term Negrito refers to several diverse ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands. Populations often described as Negrito include: the Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, the Semang peoples of Peninsular Malaysia, the Maniq people of Southern Thailand, as well as the Aeta of Luzon, the Ati and Tumandok of Panay, the Mamanwa of Mindanao, and about 30 other officially recognized ethnic groups in the Philippines.
The Andamanese are the various indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, part of India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the union territory in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The Andamanese are a designated Scheduled Tribe in India's constitution.
The Onge are an Andamanese ethnic group, indigenous to the Andaman Islands in Southeast Asia at the Bay of Bengal, India. They are traditionally hunter-gatherers and fishers, but also practice plant cultivation. They are designated as a Scheduled Tribe of India.
Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia is the study of the genetics and archaeogenetics of the ethnic groups of South Asia. It aims at uncovering these groups' genetic histories. The geographic position of the Indian subcontinent makes its biodiversity important for the study of the early dispersal of anatomically modern humans across Asia.
In human mitochondrial genetics, haplogroup E is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup typical for the Malay Archipelago. It is a subgroup of haplogroup M9.
The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar that speak Austronesian languages. They also include indigenous ethnic minorities in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Hainan, the Comoros, and the Torres Strait Islands. The nations and territories predominantly populated by Austronesian-speaking peoples are sometimes known collectively as Austronesia.
Tianyuan man are the remains of one of the earliest modern humans to inhabit East Asia. In 2007, researchers found 34 bone fragments belonging to a single individual at the Tianyuan Cave near Beijing, China. Radiocarbon dating shows the bones to be between 42,000 and 39,000 years old, which may be slightly younger than the only other finds of bones of a similar age at the Niah Caves in Sarawak on the South-east Asian island of Borneo.
In the course of the peopling of the World by Homo sapiens, East Asia was reached about 50,000 years ago. The "recent African origin" lineage of 70 kya diverged into identifiable East Eurasian and West Eurasian lineages by about 50 kya. The East Eurasian ancestors of East Asians used a southern route to reach South and Southeast Asia, along which they rapidly diverged into the ancestors of Indigenous South Asians (AASI), Papuans, East Asians and Andamanese peoples. This early East Asian lineage diverged further during the Last Glacial Maximum, contributing outgoing from Mainland Southeast Asia significantly to the peopling of the Americas via Beringia about 25 kya. After the last ice age China became cut off from neighboring island groups. The previous phenotypes of early East Asians became either replaced or prevailed among more geographically distant groups.
Early human migrations are the earliest migrations and expansions of archaic and modern humans across continents. They are believed to have begun approximately 2 million years ago with the early expansions out of Africa by Homo erectus. This initial migration was followed by other archaic humans including H. heidelbergensis, which lived around 500,000 years ago and was the likely ancestor of Denisovans and Neanderthals as well as modern humans. Early hominids had likely crossed land bridges that have now sunk.
In the context of the recent African origin of modern humans, the Southern Dispersal scenario refers to the early migration along the southern coast of Asia, from the Arabian Peninsula via Persia and India to Southeast Asia and Oceania. Alternative names include the "southern coastal route" or "rapid coastal settlement", with later descendants of those migrations eventually colonizing the rest of Eastern Eurasia, the remainder of Oceania, and the Americas.
Since H. Otley Beyer first proposed his wave migration theory, numerous scholars have approached the question of how, when and why humans first came to the Philippines. The current scientific consensus favors the "Out of Taiwan" model, which broadly match linguistic, genetic, archaeological, and cultural evidence.
In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans or the "Out of Africa" theory (OOA) is the most widely accepted model of the geographic origin and early migration of anatomically modern humans. It follows the early expansions of hominins out of Africa, accomplished by Homo erectus and then Homo neanderthalensis.
The peopling of India refers to the migration of Homo sapiens into the Indian subcontinent. Anatomically modern humans settled India in multiple waves of early migrations, over tens of millennia. The first migrants came with the Coastal Migration/Southern Dispersal 65,000 years ago, whereafter complex migrations within South and Southeast Asia took place. West Asian (Iranian) hunter-gatherers migrated to South Asia after the Last Glacial Period but before the onset of farming. Together with ancient South Asian hunter-gatherers they formed the population of the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC).
The 'Two Layer' Hypothesis, or immigration hypothesis, is an archaeological hypothese that suggests the human occupation of mainland Southeast Asia occurred over two distinct periods by two separate racial groups, hence the term 'layer'. According to the Two Layer Hypothesis, early indigenous Australo-Melanesian peoples comprised the first population of Southeast Asia before their genetic integration with a second wave of inhabitants from East Asia, including Southern China, during the agricultural expansion of the Neolithic. The majority of evidence for the Two Layer Hypothesis consists of dental and morphometric analyses from archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia, most prominently Thailand and Vietnam.
Various genetic studies on Filipinos have been performed, to analyze the population genetics of the various ethnic groups in the Philippines.
This article summarizes the genetic makeup and population history of East Asian peoples and their connection to genetically related populations such as Southeast Asians and North Asians, as well as Oceanians, and partly, Central Asians, South Asians, and Native Americans. They are collectively referred to as "East Eurasians" in population genomics.
The farming/language dispersal hypothesis proposes that many of the largest language families in the world dispersed along with the expansion of agriculture. This hypothesis was proposed by archaeologists Peter Bellwood and Colin Renfrew. It has been widely debated and archaeologists, linguists, and geneticists often disagree with all or only parts of the hypothesis.
The term Ancient East Eurasian, alternatively also known as East Eurasian or Eastern Eurasian, is used in population genomics to describe the genetic ancestry and phylogenetic relationship of diverse populations primarily living in the Asia-Pacific region, belonging to the "Eastern Eurasian clade" of human genetic diversity, and which can be associated with the Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) wave, following the Out of Africa migration (>60kya).
In archaeogenetics, Ancient Southern East Asian (ASEA), also known as Southern East Asian (sEA), is an ancestral lineage that is represented by individuals from Qihe Cave in Fujian and Liangdao Island in the Taiwan Strait as well as Guangxi. Ancient Southern East Asian ancestry significantly contributed to the genetic makeup of modern populations in East Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Insular Southeast Asia, and Oceania, and is commonly associated with the Neolithic expansion of early Austronesian and Austroasiatic speakers that occurred more than 4,000 years ago.
We show that Aboriginal Australians are descendants of an early human dispersal into eastern Asia, possibly 62,000 to 75,000 years ago. This dispersal is separate from the one that gave rise to modern Asians 25,000 to 38,000 years ago.
The former [eastern clade] includes present-day East Asians and had differentiated as early as the ~40 kya Tianyuan individual (Fu et al. 2013), while early members of the latter [western clade] include ancient European hunter-gatherers (Lazaridis et al. 2014; Seguin-Orlando et al. 2014; Fu et al. 2016) and the ancient northern Eurasian Mal'ta 1 (MA1, a ~24 kya Upper Paleolithic individual from south-central Siberia) (Raghavan et al. 2014). More recent (Neolithic and later) western Eurasians, such as Europeans, are mostly descended from the western clade but with an additional component of "Basal Eurasian" ancestry (via the Near East) splitting more deeply than any other known non-African lineage (Lazaridis et al. 2014, 2016). The timing of the eastern/western split is uncertain, but several papers (Gutenkunst et al. 2009; Laval et al. 2010; Gravel et al. 2011) have used present-day European and East Asian populations to infer dates of initial separation of 40–45 kya (adjusted for a mutation rate of 0.5 × 10−9 per year; Scally 2016).
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: CS1 maint: others (link)The qpGraph analysis confirmed this branching pattern, with the Leang Panninge individual branching off from the Near Oceanian clade after the Denisovan gene flow, although with the most supported topology indicating around 50% of a basal East Asian component contributing to the Leang Panninge genome (Fig. 3c, Supplementary Figs. 7–11).