Ancient DNA is helping researchers piece together the population history of Shimao, a major late Neolithic settlement in northern Shaanxi Province, China, according to ScienceDaily. The study, published in Nature, explores where the people came from, how they were related, and how the city’s society was organized.
The research team, led by Prof. Qiaomei Fu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, analyzed nuclear DNA from 169 ancient human samples collected over 13 years. The remains came from Shimao, nearby sites, and places in southern Shanxi.
According to the study, most of Shimao’s residents descended from local groups who lived in the region about 1,000 years earlier. The results also show links to Yangshao Culture, along with connections to Taosi Culture, steppe Yumin-related groups, and southern rice-farming communities.
The DNA evidence also points to a strongly structured society built around patrilineal descent and patrilocal residence, meaning family ties and status were traced through fathers and women typically moved to their partners’ households. Researchers were even able to reconstruct family trees spanning up to four generations.
One of the study’s most striking findings involves human sacrifice near Shimao’s East Gate. Earlier interpretations suggested the burials were mostly female, but the genetic analysis found that nine out of ten of the examined victims were male, while female remains were found in elite cemeteries elsewhere at the site.
