• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

DNA Study Finds Unknown Group Of Ancestors Of Modern Japanese People

April 18, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

A study that sequenced the DNA of 3,200 people across Japan has found suggestions that modern Japanese people are the descendants of three ancestral groups, not two as has been previously thought.

For a long time, it has been believed that modern Japanese people were descended from two groups: early hunter-gatherers known as the Jomon, who lived in Japan from 16,000 to 3,000 years ago and were likely isolated from the rest of the world during the Last Glacial Maximum, and later immigrant Yayoi farmers who lived in Japan from around 900 BCE to 300 CE.

Advertisement

But in 2021, a study of 12 ancient genomes found another ancestral group in the mix, likely arriving during the transition from the Yayoi to Kofun period (300–710 CE).

“Our analysis finds that the Jomon maintained a small effective population size of ~1,000 over several millennia, with a deep divergence from continental populations dated to 20,000 to 15,000 years ago, a period that saw the insularization of Japan through rising sea levels,” the 2021 team wrote in their paper. 

“Rice cultivation was introduced by people with Northeast Asian ancestry. Unexpectedly, we identify a later influx of East Asian ancestry during the imperial Kofun period. These three ancestral components continue to characterize present-day populations, supporting a tripartite model of Japanese genomic origins.”

The team believed that this fits with archaeological evidence of new large settlements at the time, as well as cultural and political changes.

Advertisement

In the new study, researchers analyzed the ancestry of 3,200 people, finding that Okinawa had the highest Jomon ancestry (28.5 percent), followed by Northeast (18.9 percent), with the lowest being in West (13.4 percent). Intrigued by previous studies, they discovered evidence that modern-day Japanese people descended from Jomon people, Yayoi people, and a third unknown ancestral group, likely from Northeast Asia, which “could potentially be connected to ancient populations in Japan and the Korean Peninsula”.

“Our results indicated a significantly closer relationship between West and ancient Chinese groups around the Yellow River (YR) or upper YR region, specifically in the Middle Neolithic (MN) and Late Neolithic periods,” the team wrote in their paper. 

“In contrast, individuals of Northeast showed significantly higher genetic affinities with Jomon and ancient Japanese genome from Miyako Island in Okinawa (which had a high Jomon proportion) and ancient Koreans from the Three Kingdoms (TK) period (fourth to fifth century CE). These results align with reports indicating that ancient Japanese in the Yayoi period and certain ancient Korean groups had a high proportion of Jomon ancestry.”

The team suggested possible groups which could be responsible for the distinctive genes, but stressed further study is needed.

Advertisement

“These data may suggest a potential link between Northeast and NEA [Northeast Asian], although additional evidence is required to substantiate this connection,” the team wrote in their discussion. “Historical records indicate that Northeast was inhabited by the so-called Emishi people, literally translated as ‘shrimp barbarians’. The origin of Emishi is somehow understudied and remains a matter of debate, but it was proposed that they might be related to NEA. In addition, it has been suggested that the Emishi people might have spoken a distinct Japonic language, akin to the historical Izumo dialect.”

The study is published in Science Advances.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Soccer-Ton up for Mane as Liverpool sink Palace 3-0
  2. Supergiant Stars Wave Red Flags Months Before They Go Supernova
  3. Exocontinents: How To Look For Civilizations Far More Advanced Than Earth
  4. Do You Have Knismolagnia? First-Of-Its-Kind Study Dives Deep Into The Tickle Fetish

Source Link: DNA Study Finds Unknown Group Of Ancestors Of Modern Japanese People

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Ancient Asteroid Ripped Apart In Collision Had Flowing Water
  • Flying Foxes Include The World’s Biggest Bat And The Largest Mammal Capable Of True Flight
  • NASA Responds To Claims That Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Is An Advanced Alien Spacecraft
  • Millions Of Tons Of Gold Are In Earth’s Oceans, Potentially Worth Over $2 Quadrillion
  • The Race Back To The Moon: US Vs China, Will What Happens Next Change The Future?
  • NOAA Issues G3 Geomagnetic Storm Warning As 500,000 Kilometer Hole Sends Solar Wind At Earth
  • Lasting 776 Days, This Is The Longest Case Of COVID-19 Ever Recorded
  • Living Cement: The Microbes In Your Walls Could Power The Future
  • What Can Your Earwax Reveal About Your Health?
  • Ever Seen A Giraffe Use An Inhaler? Now You Can, And It’s Incredibly Wholesome
  • Martian Mudstone Has Features That Might Be Biosignatures, New Brain Implant Can Decode Your Internal Monologue, And Much More This Week
  • Crocodiles Weren’t All Blood-Thirsty Killers, Some Evolved To Be Plant-Eating Vegetarians
  • Stratospheric Warming Event May Be Unfolding In The Southern Polar Vortex, Shaking Up Global Weather Systems
  • 15 Years Ago, Bees In Brooklyn Appeared Red After Snacking Where They Shouldn’t
  • Carnian Pluvial Event: It Rained For 2 Million Years — And It Changed Planet Earth Forever
  • There’s Volcanic Unrest At The Campi Flegrei Caldera – Here’s What We Know
  • The “Rumpelstiltskin Effect”: When Just Getting A Diagnosis Is Enough To Start The Healing
  • In 1962, A Boy Found A Radioactive Capsule And Brought It Inside His House — With Tragic Results
  • This Cute Creature Has One Of The Largest Genomes Of Any Mammal, With 114 Chromosomes
  • Little Air And Dramatic Evolutionary Changes Await Future Humans On Mars
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version