A mixed expansion model of East Asian agriculture into northern Pakistan: demic via southern route but cultural from the northern.

Two waves of East Asian ancestry entered northern Pakistan via the southern Tibetan Plateau foothills, first ~4,800 years ago and again ~1,600 years ago.

• Why it matters: East Asian agriculture’s impact on northern Pakistan is established, but the diffusion route and whether movement was demic or cultural remain unresolved.
• What they did: The study generated 115 high-coverage WGS genomes from Burusho (Hunza), Shina, and Hazarewal, and analyzed 2,029 modern plus 4,358 ancient Eurasian genomes to test candidate source ancestries.
• The result: East Asian genetic input is linked to both ancient and modern northern Pakistani populations, while no clear evidence supports ancestries tied to the northern Inner Asian Mountain Corridor.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.