A new study has found that people living in the middle reaches of the Yellow River have maintained remarkable genetic continuity for more than 6,200 years, with their ancestry tracing back to populations associated with the Yangshao culture, offering new insights into population movements and genetic evolution in the region.

The study, conducted by researchers from Fudan University, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, Zhengzhou University and other institutions, was published online on June 26 in the journal National Science Review.

The Yangshao culture, first identified in 1921 at Yangshao Village in Mianchi County, central China's Henan Province, dates back about 7,000 to 5,000 years and is China's most widely distributed Neolithic archaeological culture. Yet genomic data from the Yangshao cultural heartland in western Henan have long been scarce, leaving researchers with limited understanding of how populations in the region evolved, moved and interacted over the following millennia.

"We successfully obtained 112 high-quality ancient human genomes from eight archaeological sites and carried out sequencing and in-depth analysis," said Wang Chuanchao, a professor at Fudan University and one of the study's corresponding authors.

The newly sequenced genomes span roughly 6,100 years, from about 6,200 years ago to around 100 years ago. Among them, samples from the Xiaowu archaeological site in Lingbao, Henan Province, are among the oldest Yangshao-related genomes identified so far in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, Wang said.

Wei Xingtao, deputy director of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, said archaeological evidence has long suggested cultural continuity in the Yellow River region. The new genomic findings provide direct genetic evidence that Yangshao-related ancestry has remained the dominant genetic component among populations in the middle reaches of the Yellow River for more than 6,200 years.

The study also found no significant genetic contribution from steppe nomadic populations to the main population of the Central Plains, despite historical records documenting the arrival of several nomadic groups over the centuries.

"This suggests that the entry of nomadic groups into the Central Plains was reflected more in political and cultural integration," Wang said. "Even where intermarriage occurred, incoming populations were rapidly assimilated into the much larger local population."