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Paper short abstract

The demographic transition throughout prehistoric East/Southeast Asia is explored using batteries of nonmetric dental traits. Agriculturally driven demic expansion during the Neolithic, associated with genetic exchange with pre-existing hunter-gatherers, is demonstrated.

Paper long abstract

Eastern Eurasia is believed to have been occupied by anatomically modern Homo sapiens (AMH) from at least 60kya, followed by near simultaneous dispersals from the southern region into sub-continental Sahul. AMHs occupying the northern region colonized the Americas much later, after 20kya. Elucidating the biological relationships between early AMH colonizers and the present-day inhabitants of the region is fundamental to resolving questions surrounding the migration history of this area. Non-metric dental trait analysis provides a powerful tool for mapping out the genetic landscape of past and present day East/Southeast Asia. This study, using dental data sets spanning the late Pleistocene through to Neolithic (and later) periods, demonstrates an apparent genetic discontinuity between pre- and post-Neolithic populations. Events occurring during the Neolithic, it would seem, were pivotal in terms of the micro-evolutionary history of this region. Moreover, we demonstrate a close affinity between pre-Neolithic Hoabinhian and Australo-Melanesian samples on the one hand, and a northern source for contemporary Southeast Asians on the other hand. We argue that pre-Neolithic foragers descended from the first AMH colonizers of Southeast Asia, sharing common ancestry with present-day Australian Aboriginal and Melanesian populations. The eventual outcome of this was large scale integration with a population-language-agriculture dispersal package originating to the north in East Asia, ultimately contributing to the modern Southeast Asian morphology.