Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Special Feature Articles - Most Recent
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • List of Issues
  • Front Matter
    • Front Matter Portal
    • Journal Club
  • News
    • For the Press
    • This Week In PNAS
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • Fees and Licenses
  • Submit
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Accessibility Statement
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Site Map
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Home
Home
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Special Feature Articles - Most Recent
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • List of Issues
  • Front Matter
    • Front Matter Portal
    • Journal Club
  • News
    • For the Press
    • This Week In PNAS
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • Fees and Licenses
  • Submit
Research Article

Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia

Paul Mellars, Kevin C. Gori, Martin Carr, Pedro A. Soares, and Martin B. Richards
  1. aDepartment of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, United Kingdom;
  2. bDepartment of Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, United Kingdom;
  3. cDepartment of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom;
  4. dEuropean Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, United Kingdom;
  5. eArchaeogenetics Research Group, Division of Biology, School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, United Kingdom;
  6. fSchool of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom; and
  7. gInstituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

See allHide authors and affiliations

PNAS first published June 10, 2013; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1306043110
Paul Mellars
aDepartment of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, United Kingdom;
bDepartment of Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, United Kingdom;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: pam59@cam.ac.uk m.b.richards@hud.ac.uk
Kevin C. Gori
cDepartment of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom;
dEuropean Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, United Kingdom;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Martin Carr
eArchaeogenetics Research Group, Division of Biology, School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, United Kingdom;
fSchool of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom; and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Pedro A. Soares
gInstituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Martin B. Richards
eArchaeogenetics Research Group, Division of Biology, School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, United Kingdom;
fSchool of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom; and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: pam59@cam.ac.uk m.b.richards@hud.ac.uk
  1. Edited by Richard G. Klein, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and approved May 8, 2013 (received for review April 1, 2013)

  • Article
  • Figures & SI
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

It has been argued recently that the initial dispersal of anatomically modern humans from Africa to southern Asia occurred before the volcanic “supereruption” of the Mount Toba volcano (Sumatra) at ∼74,000 y before present (B.P.)—possibly as early as 120,000 y B.P. We show here that this “pre-Toba” dispersal model is in serious conflict with both the most recent genetic evidence from both Africa and Asia and the archaeological evidence from South Asian sites. We present an alternative model based on a combination of genetic analyses and recent archaeological evidence from South Asia and Africa. These data support a coastally oriented dispersal of modern humans from eastern Africa to southern Asia ∼60–50 thousand years ago (ka). This was associated with distinctively African microlithic and “backed-segment” technologies analogous to the African “Howiesons Poort” and related technologies, together with a range of distinctively “modern” cultural and symbolic features (highly shaped bone tools, personal ornaments, abstract artistic motifs, microblade technology, etc.), similar to those that accompanied the replacement of “archaic” Neanderthal by anatomically modern human populations in other regions of western Eurasia at a broadly similar date.

  • India
  • Paleolithic
  • archaeogenetics
  • mtDNA

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: pam59{at}cam.ac.uk or m.b.richards{at}hud.ac.uk.
  • Author contributions: P.M. and M.B.R. designed research; P.M., K.C.G., M.C., P.A.S., and M.B.R. performed research; P.M., K.C.G., M.C., P.A.S., and M.B.R. analyzed data; and P.M. and M.B.R. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1306043110/-/DCSupplemental.

Next
Back to top
Article Alerts
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on PNAS.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia
(Your Name) has sent you a message from PNAS
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the PNAS web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
The initial modern human colonization of southern Asia
Paul Mellars, Kevin C. Gori, Martin Carr, Pedro A. Soares, Martin B. Richards
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 2013, 201306043; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1306043110

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
The initial modern human colonization of southern Asia
Paul Mellars, Kevin C. Gori, Martin Carr, Pedro A. Soares, Martin B. Richards
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 2013, 201306043; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1306043110
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 118 (9)
Current Issue

Submit

Sign up for Article Alerts

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Figures & SI
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

You May Also be Interested in

Setting sun over a sun-baked dirt landscape
Core Concept: Popular integrated assessment climate policy models have key caveats
Better explicating the strengths and shortcomings of these models will help refine projections and improve transparency in the years ahead.
Image credit: Witsawat.S.
Model of the Amazon forest
News Feature: A sea in the Amazon
Did the Caribbean sweep into the western Amazon millions of years ago, shaping the region’s rich biodiversity?
Image credit: Tacio Cordeiro Bicudo (University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil), Victor Sacek (University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil), and Lucy Reading-Ikkanda (artist).
Syrian archaeological site
Journal Club: In Mesopotamia, early cities may have faltered before climate-driven collapse
Settlements 4,200 years ago may have suffered from overpopulation before drought and lower temperatures ultimately made them unsustainable.
Image credit: Andrea Ricci.
Steamboat Geyser eruption.
Eruption of Steamboat Geyser
Mara Reed and Michael Manga explore why Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser resumed erupting in 2018.
Listen
Past PodcastsSubscribe
Birds nestling on tree branches
Parent–offspring conflict in songbird fledging
Some songbird parents might improve their own fitness by manipulating their offspring into leaving the nest early, at the cost of fledgling survival, a study finds.
Image credit: Gil Eckrich (photographer).

Similar Articles

Site Logo
Powered by HighWire
  • Submit Manuscript
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feeds
  • Email Alerts

Articles

  • Current Issue
  • Special Feature Articles – Most Recent
  • List of Issues

PNAS Portals

  • Anthropology
  • Chemistry
  • Classics
  • Front Matter
  • Physics
  • Sustainability Science
  • Teaching Resources

Information

  • Authors
  • Editorial Board
  • Reviewers
  • Subscribers
  • Librarians
  • Press
  • Site Map
  • PNAS Updates
  • FAQs
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Rights & Permissions
  • About
  • Contact

Feedback    Privacy/Legal

Copyright © 2021 National Academy of Sciences. Online ISSN 1091-6490