Ancient China The Bantu Expansion (ca. 2,000 BCE-1,000 CE)

• Modern mtDNA and Y chromosome studies show that the Bantu Expansion was a migration of people, not just a diffusion of culture and language.

• Ancient DNA perspectives: – Prior to the arrival of agriculture, hunter- gatherers related to the modern San lived across southern and eastern Africa. – Farmers initially replaced these hunter- gatherers without admixing. After a few thousand years, they began to admix.

• Interactions between Bantu farmers and Khoisan hunter-gatherers were sex-biased: – Bantu language speakers have comparatively low Y-chromosome diversity and high mtDNA diversity. – Reflects a patrilocal marriage system in Pakendorf, B. et al. (2011). Molecular perspectives on the Bantu expansion: a synthesis which male farmers married female hunter- Lang. Dynames Change, 1, pp. 50-88 Skoglund, P. et al. (2017). Reconstructing Prehistoric African Population Structure. Cell gatherers. 171 (1): 59-71. Crowther et al. (2017). Subsistence mosaics, forager-farmer interactions, and the transition to food production in eastern Africa. Quaternary International. The Deep History of Social Divisions in South Asia

• Modern nuclear DNA studies show that significant founder effects have taken place within Indian castes. • Increased risk to recessive genetic diseases when marrying within castes. • Ancient North Indian ancestry is more common in upper castes and Indo-European language speakers. Ancient South Indian ancestry is more common in lower castes and Dravidian language speakers. • Divisions between castes became established starting between 4,000-2,000 years ago (after the Indus collapse). High caste men more often marry low caste women. • Genetics can reveal intersections between social and gender- based inequalities.

Moorjani, P. et al. (2013). Genetic Evidence for Recent Population Mixture in India. Am J Hum Genet 93 (3): 422-438. Nakatsuka, N. et al. (2017). The promise of discovering population-specific disease-associated genes in South Asia. Nature Genetics 49: 1403-1407. Reich, D. et al. (2009). Reconstructing Indian population history. Nature 461: 489-494. Outline of Today’s Class: Ancient China

1) Overview of Chinese archaeology in the Yellow River Valley Region

a. How could we study the spread of farming associated with the Neolithic Yangshao culture using aDNA?

b. How could we study site-specific questions about the Shang Dynasty capital at Anyang using aDNA?

c. How could we study Han imperial expansion and early Silk Road trade routes using aDNA?

2) The current state of aDNA research in China East Asian Geography Two Main Rivers in China

Yellow River (huanghe 黄河)

Yangzi River (changjiang 长江) Farming populations associated with the Yangshao culture expanded across the central and upper Yellow River valley region ca. 5,000 BCE- 3,000 BCE.

Liu, L., & Chen, X. (2012). The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Cambridge University Press. Early Yangshao (ca. 5,000-4,000 BCE, Banpo Phase)

• Site layout and burials indicate that Early Yangshao societies at sites such as Banpo, were egalitarian.

Liu, L., & Chen, X. (2012). The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Cambridge University Press. Middle to Late Yangshao (ca. 4,000-3,000 BCE)

– Large houses for public rituals. – Burials of different sizes and numbers of grave goods. – Development of social hierarchies.

Large house at Xipo Burial at Xipo Xishuipo burial of a high status man. Chieftain? Ritual specialist? Yangshao Painted Pottery Yangshao Beer!

Residue analysis reveals that beer made from millet, barley, job’s tears, and tubers was fermented in stored in jiandiping 尖底瓶 amphorae-shaped vessels.

Competitive feasting involving fermented beverages was associated with the emergence of social complexity in China. The Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BCE) Shang Dynasty capital at Anyang (ca. 1250-1046 BCE)

• City layout reflects “clan” lineages. Lineages were the basis of social, economic, and political organization. • Each lineage lived in a neighborhood with its own houses, cemeteries, and massive craft workshops (for bronze, jade, bone, etc.).

Campbell, R.(2014). Archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age: From Erlitou to Anyang. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press.

Analyzing bone workshop debris at Anyang. Anyang Royal Cemetery

• Royal tombs are cross-shaped tombs with ramps. Almost all tombs were looted in antiquity.

• Sacrifices in pits surrounding these tombs include hundreds of animals and war captives/slaves. Sacrifices were a central part of the construction of royal power.

Campbell, R.(2014). Archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age: From Erlitou to Anyang. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. The First Horses and Chariots in China are Found at Anyang

Oracle Bone Inscriptions at Anyang

• Earliest written inscriptions in East Asia.

• Topics: Offerings to be made to ancestors, weather, harvests, eclipses, dreams, childbirth, military campaigns, and royal hunts. Oracle bone pit. Fu Hao’s Tomb

• Unlooted tomb found in the Palace- Temple area of Anyang.

• Fu Hao’s name appears in oracle bone inscriptions about 200 times. According to these oracle bone inscriptions, she was the consort of King Wu Ding, mother of another King (possibly Zu Geng or Zu Jia), and a successful military leader.

• Her tomb also contains many weapons, showing her military prowess.

Reconstruction of the Fu Hao ancestral shrine in the • An ancestral shrine was built on top Anyang archaeological site park. of her tomb. Fu Hao’s Tomb

Sixteen human sacrificial victims, six dog sacrifices, 468 bronzes, 755 jades, 110 stone objects, 564 bone objects, 3 ivory objects, 11 ceramic vessels, and thousands of cowrie shells.

Reconstruction showing the arrangement of artifacts in Fu Hao’s Tomb Fu Hao’s Tomb Fu Hao’s Tomb Qin Dynasty (221-210 BCE)

• Emperor Qinshi Huangdi’s military campaigns unified rival warring states.

• The dynasty established standardized systems of measurement, currency, and writing that were shared across the entire Qin territory.

• Walls from previous states linked together to form the earliest version of China’s “Great Wall.”

Section of the great wall Terracotta warriors Modern depiction of the Qin Emperor Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE)

• Imperial expansion (including migration) into the far northeast, northwest, and southwest. • Development of Silk Road trade routes that were used throughout Chinese history. Ancient DNA Research in China • Three new ancient DNA laboratories. Materials cannot be exported from China.

• Applications for the Paleolithic: – Identify fossil hominins in East Asia. – Clarify the genetic relationships between modern humans and other ancestral hominins. – Document the ancient distributions of hunter-gatherer populations.

• Neolithic and Post-Neolithic: – Clarify the nature of the Neolithic transition (e.g., the spread of Yangshao farmers and their relationships with hunter-gatherers). – Answer site-specific questions (e.g., kin relationships, origins of sacrificial victims at Anyang, origins of domestic horses, etc.). – Understand other population migration and turnover events (e.g., Han Dynasty imperial expansion). – Reveal aspects of long-distance trade, exchange, and interaction (e.g., Silk Road trade routes).

• Other applications: Animal and plant domestication, environmental reconstruction, paleodiet, paleodisease, and more. Next time…migrations into the Americas!