Bioarchaeology of East Asia: Movement, Contact, Health

3. The Population History of China and Mongolia from the Bronze Age to the Medieval Period (2500 BC–AD 1500)

3 The Population History of China and Mongolia from the Bronze Age to the Medieval Period (2500 BC–AD 1500) CHRISTINE LEE China and Mongolia together have experienced a unique and complex population history that has seldom been explored in detail within the context of microevolutionary studies. These two countries encompass a total area of more than 10,000,000 km2 and contain one-fifth of the world’s total population .China witnessedveryearlylarge-scale humansettlement,while Mongolia has been populated by nomadic peoples for at least 9,000 years (Derevyanko and Dorj 1992; Chang 1994; Fung 1994; Barnes 1999; Weber et al. 2002). Presently, more than 50 different ethnic groups are found within their combinedborders,includingthe familiar Chinese,Mongolians,Koreans,and Tibetans, and the less-well-known Kazak, Uighur, and Manchurians. To determine the population history of this area, dental nonmetric traits were scored for the remains of more than 900 individuals derived from 56 different archaeological sites. The population samples include the well-studied ethnic Han Chinese and Mongolians but also archaeological populations little known outside of Asia, such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Qidan, Qiang, Huimo, and Wanggu, as well as the non-Asian mummies of western China. The majority of the groups included in this study have had little representation in previously published large-scale population studies. In addition, the geographic scope and time depth of this study allow a more thorough and detailed examination of population interaction and movement in China and Mongolia than has previously been reported. The Regional Divisions To facilitate discussion of the large number of samples considered in this study, they have been divided into groups pertaining to four geographic re- 62 Christine Lee gions: the Central Plains, the Northern Zone, Manchuria, and the Western Regions (figure 3.1). While these labels broadly refer to specific geographic areas, the groupings are really intended to represent division of the samples on the basis of cultural or ethnic affiliation, and therefore the actual physical boundaries are somewhat fluid. The majority of the Central Plains samples come from sites located along the Yellow River in northern China and comprise groups of individuals considered culturally Chinese or ancestral to modern Chinese. The Northern Zone includes samples from archaeological sites left by the nomadic populations of central and eastern Mongolia. Manchuria refers to populations that resided in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and eastern Mongolia, which were ethnically,butnotalwaysculturally,distinctfromthe populationsof the Central Plains and the Northern Zone. Finally, the Western Regions incorporates samplings of the European-descended populations of western Mongolia and Xinjiang Province, as well as Asian-descended populations from west of the Central Plains. The Asian samples were included with the non-Asian samFigure 3.1. Regional divisions of the study area. Population History of China and Mongolia from the Bronze Age to the Medieval Period 63 ples, as there appears to have been a long period of interaction and admixture among these groups within the region. Previous Population History Studies of China and Mongolia The following section summarizes the results of previous studies of population history in China and Mongolia. The most common methodologies used in this area are the study of cranial metric traits and DNA analysis. Recently, cranial and dental nonmetric traits have gained some popularity as subjects for investigation. Most prior studies of population history in China and Mongolia have been relatively limited in geographic or temporal scope. Cranial Metric Studies Until recently, the majority of the physical anthropological studies carried outinChina andMongolia usedcranialmetrictraitsto determine population relatedness. Tumen (2004), using cranial metric traits, found Bronze Age Mongolians not to be closely related to the Bronze Age Chinese. She did find cranial metric continuity within Mongolia from the Bronze Age through to the Iron Age. She concluded that the peoples of Mongolia had a long unbroken history of cranial metric distinctiveness from the Chinese. Matsumura and colleagues (1998) examined crania from the Chandman site, located in Uvs, western Mongolia. This site was heterogeneous, with mainly non-Asian skulls and a few Asian crania. Based on cranial metric results , the population of Chandman was more closely related to modern-day Russians than to modern-day Mongolians. Alekseev and Gochman (1983) studied two non-Asian Iron Age populations from western Mongolia and one Asian Iron Age population from eastern Mongolia, with some evidence of admixture. They found skulls from Mongolia overall to be fairly homogeneous, with population continuity from the Iron Age to the...