scholarly journals Genomic Insights Into the Genetic Structure and Natural Selection of Mongolians

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Yang ◽  
Sarengaowa ◽  
Guanglin He ◽  
Jianxin Guo ◽  
Kongyang Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Yellow River Basin ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Genetic Affinity ◽  
Westward Expansion ◽  
Admixture Coefficient ◽  
North Asia ◽  
Mongol Empire

Mongolians dwell at the Eastern Eurasian Steppe, where is the agriculture and pasture interlaced area, practice pastoral subsistence strategies for generations, and have their own complex genetic formation history. There is evidence that the eastward expansion of Western Steppe herders transformed the lifestyle of post-Bronze Age Mongolia Plateau populations and brought gene flow into the gene pool of Eastern Eurasians. Here, we reported genome-wide data for 42 individuals from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of North China. We observed that our studied Mongolians were structured into three distinct genetic clusters possessing different genetic affinity with previous studied Inner Mongolians and Mongols and various Eastern and Western Eurasian ancestries: two subgroups harbored dominant Eastern Eurasian ancestry from Neolithic millet farmers of Yellow River Basin; another subgroup derived Eastern Eurasian ancestry primarily from Neolithic hunter-gatherers of North Asia. Besides, three-way/four-way qpAdm admixture models revealed that both north and southern Western Eurasian ancestry related to the Western Steppe herders and Iranian farmers contributed to the genetic materials into modern Mongolians. ALDER-based admixture coefficient and haplotype-based GLOBETROTTER demonstrated that the former western ancestry detected in modern Mongolian could be recently traced back to a historic period in accordance with the historical record about the westward expansion of the Mongol empire. Furthermore, the natural selection analysis of Mongolians showed that the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) region underwent significantly positive selective sweeps. The functional genes, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and lactase persistence (LCT), were not identified, while the higher/lower frequencies of derived mutations were strongly correlated with the genetic affinity to East Asian/Western Eurasian populations. Our attested complex population movement and admixture in the agriculture and pasture interlaced area played an important role in the formation of modern Mongolians.

scholarly journals Shifting Patterns of House Structures during the Neolithic-Bronze Age in the Yellow River Basin: An Environmental Perspective

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 574
Author(s):  
Peng Lu ◽  
Yan Tian ◽  
Michael Storozum ◽  
Panpan Chen ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Yellow River Basin ◽  
The Yellow River ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
House Construction ◽  
The Yellow River Basin ◽  
Shape And Size

The emergence of houses is a social revolution around the world. Over the past several decades, Chinese archaeologists have excavated many Neolithic to Bronze Age houses, but there is still a great amount of uncertainty about the social and environmental factors driving the differences between these house structures in the Yellow River Basin. In this paper, we summarize data from excavation reports on the shape and size of Neolithic-Bronze Age houses in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, respectively, to identify some social and environmental factors that may have affected the development of house structures across northern China. Our results show that the shape and size of the houses developed at a different pace, but in general followed a similar developmental sequence: (1) 10–8 ka BP, the bud of settlements emerged in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River; (2) 8–7 ka BP, people started to construct small pithouses without walls; (3) 7–6 ka BP, people made medium-sized pithouses with low walls, and surface buildings were made with a wood skeleton and mud walls; (4) 6–5 ka BP, ultra-large houses emerged; (5) 5–4 ka BP, house form became more varied, including pithouses, cave dwellings and surface buildings with a wood skeleton mud wall, rammed earth wall, piled mud-grass mixed walls and adobe walls; and (6) 4–3 ka BP, original palaces emerged. Our analyses indicate that the environment played an essential role in determining the house changes over time and that the early to middle Holocene’s warm and humid climate provided excellent conditions for the emergence of settlements throughout the region. Due to the shortage of trees, people chose to change their house construction methods to accommodate the growing lumber shortage. In conclusion, the rapid shift in house construction methods reflects the changing ecological condition as well as a feedback cycle between the environment and social practices driven by resource limitations.

scholarly journals The Spatiotemporal Pattern of Cultural Evolution Response to Agricultural Development and Climate Change From Yangshao Culture to Bronze Age in the Yellow River Basin and Surrounding Regions, North China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Wang ◽  
Yifu Cui
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Yellow River Basin ◽  
Spatiotemporal Pattern ◽  
The Yellow River ◽  
The Yellow River Basin ◽  
Cultural Expansion ◽  
The Bronze Age

The processes and mechanisms of cultural evolution provide helpful insights into the origin and development of civilizations. This study analyses data from the national archaeological survey using kernel density analysis, a geospatial tool provided by ArcGIS10 software, to explore the spatiotemporal pattern of cultural evolution from the beginning of the Yangshao cultural period to the Bronze Age in the Yellow River basin. Agricultural development and the environmental background of this region were reconstructed using published flotation materials and high-resolution paleoclimate records. The results indicate that cultural expansion and differentiation from Yangshao (7000–5000 BP) to Longshan period (4600–4000 BP) are responding to the establishment and strengthening of millet-based agriculture and the appearance of multiple subsistence strategies in the context of environmental deterioration. To the Bronze Age, the center of sites accumulates to the Central Plains and Shandong, in contrast to the continuous cultural expansion and differentiation. The opposite circumstance may result from early urbanization along with the formation of a social system with high centralization of power.

Sanzuodian: the structure, function and social significance of the earliest stone fortified sites in China

Antiquity ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 85 (327) ◽  
pp. 11-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Shelach ◽  
Kate Raphael ◽  
Yitzhak Jaffe
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Yellow River Basin ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
The Yellow River Basin ◽  
New Research

The authors present new research on the Chifeng area of north-eastern China where they have been studying the remains of a society of the second millennium BC. This northern region, which saw the introduction of agriculture at the same time as the Yellow River basin experienced a brief and intensive period of fortification in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age: natural ridges above the valleys were ringed with double stone walls and semicircular towers enclosing clusters of round houses with yards. Using large-scale survey and analysis of the structures at the key site of Sanzuodian, they place this phenomenon in its cultural and social context.

scholarly journals Carbon Storage Change Analysis and Emission Reduction Suggestions under Land Use Transition: A Case Study of Henan Province, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1844
Author(s):  
Dongyang Xiao ◽  
Haipeng Niu ◽  
Jin Guo ◽  
Suxia Zhao ◽  
Liangxin Fan
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Yangtze River Basin ◽  
Yellow River Basin ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Henan Province ◽  
Huai River

The significant spatial heterogeneity among river basin ecosystems makes it difficult for local governments to carry out comprehensive governance for different river basins in a special administrative region spanning multi-river basins. However, there are few studies on the construction of a comprehensive governance mechanism for multi-river basins at the provincial level. To fill this gap, this paper took Henan Province of China, which straddles four river basins, as the study region. The chord diagram, overlay analysis, and carbon emission models were applied to the remote sensing data of land use to analyze the temporal and spatial patterns of carbon storage caused by land-use changes in Henan Province from 1990 to 2018 to reflect the heterogeneity of the contribution of the four basins to human activities and economic development. The results revealed that food security land in the four basins decreased, while production and living land increased. Ecological conservation land was increased over time in the Yangtze River Basin. In addition, the conversion from food security land to production and living land was the common characteristic for the four basins. Carbon emission in Henan increased from 134.46 million tons in 1990 to 553.58 million tons in 2018, while its carbon absorption was relatively stable (1.67–1.69 million tons between 1990 and 2018). The carbon emitted in the Huai River Basin was the main contributor to Henan Province’s total carbon emission. The carbon absorption in Yellow River Basin and Yangtze River Basin had an obvious spatial agglomeration effect. Finally, considering the current need of land spatial planning in China and the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060 set by the Chinese government, we suggested that carbon sequestration capacity should be further strengthened in Yellow River Basin and Yangtze River Basin based on their respective ecological resource advantages. For future development in Hai River Basin and Huai River Basin, coordinating the spatial allocation of urban scale and urban green space to build an ecological city is a key direction to embark upon.

scholarly journals Inheritors of the Yellow River: the relationship of heritage making practices to cultural self-confidence in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanlin Zhang ◽  
Stuart Walker ◽  
Martyn Evans ◽  
Julia Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Yellow River Basin ◽  
The Yellow River ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Support Mechanisms ◽  
The Yellow River Basin ◽  
Relationship Of

AbstractThrough active involvement in UNESCO’s ICH (Intangible Cultural Heritage) programme, China has developed its own framework to support traditional making practices. To examine the ‘characteristics’ of heritage crafts preservation in China, we undertook empirical research in the Yellow River basin. Our research involved in-depth observations and key informant interviews with a range of highly accomplished craftspeople who have inherited their particular expertise from their family and have been officially designated ICH Inheritors. Through our qualitative research with inheritors, a businessperson and a government official, we identified various support mechanisms employed by the Chinese government that aim to protect traditional culture while also recognising outstanding individuals. We also found that ICH Inheritors play an important role in raising cultural awareness and enhancing cultural confidence through their creative activities and making practices, craft businesses and transfer of expertise. Based on the findings, potential areas where designers may collaborate with inheritors were identified.

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