Archaeological mystery solved with modern genetics

[Sanguine]

Y chromosomes reveal population boom and bust in ancient Japan

University of Tokyo

Researchers at the University of Tokyo conducted a census of the Japanese population around 2,500 years ago using the Y chromosomes of men living on the main islands of modern-day Japan. This is the first time analysis of modern genomes has estimated the size of an ancient human population before they were met by a separate ancient population.

"Evidence at archaeological dig sites has been used to estimate the size of ancient human populations, but the difficulty and unpredictability of finding those sites is a big limitation. Now we have a method that uses a large amount of modern data," said Associate Professor Jun Ohashi, an expert in human evolutionary genetics and leader of the research team that performed the analysis.

Archaeological mystery

The current theory on human migrations into Japan is that the original inhabitants, the Jomon people, were met about 2,500 years ago by a separate group coming mainly from the Korean Peninsula, the Yayoi people. ...

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/uot-ams061919.php