article Open Access (hybrid) EN 2021-11-10

Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages

Martine Robbeets, Remco Bouckaert, Matthew Conte, Alexander Savelyev, Tao Li, Deog-Im An, Ken‐ichi Shinoda, Yinqiu Cui, Takamune Kawashima, Geonyoung Kim, Junzō Uchiyama, Joanna Dolińska, Sofia Oskolskaya, Ken-Yōjiro Yamano, Noriko Seguchi, Hirotaka Tomita, Hiroto Takamiya, Hideaki Kanzawa‐Kiriyama, Hiroki Oota, Hajime Ishida, Ryosuke Kimura, Takehiro Sato, Jae‐Hyun Kim, Bingcong Deng, Rasmus Bjørn, Seongha Rhee, Kyou-Dong Ahn, Ilya Gruntov, Olga Mazo, John R. Bentley, Ricardo Fernandes, Patrick Roberts, Ilona Bausch, Linda Gilaizeau, Minoru Yoneda, Mitsugu Kugai, Raffaela A. Bianco, Fan Zhang, Marie Himmel, Mark Hudson, Chao Ning

Nature, Vol. 599, Issue 7886, pp. 616–621 (2021)

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, University of Auckland, Seoul National University, Institute of Linguistics, Wuhan University, Hanseo University, National Museum of Nature and Science, Jilin University, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima Children's Museum, Kanazawa University, Sainsbury Laboratory, Institute of Linguistic Studies, Kumamoto University, Kyushu University, University of Montana, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Hokkaido Board of Education, Kagoshima University, The University of Tokyo, University of the Ryukyus, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Northern Illinois University, Masaryk University, University of Oxford, Oxford Archaeology, Leiden University, Kokugakuin University, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Institut d'Asie Orientale, Peking University, Institute of Archaeology

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8 PMID: 34759322

View Free PDF Publisher Website Google Scholar

Abstract

Abstract The origin and early dispersal of speakers of Transeurasian languages—that is, Japanese, Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic—is among the most disputed issues of Eurasian population history 1–3 . A key problem is the relationship between linguistic dispersals, agricultural expansions and population movements 4,5 . Here we address this question by ‘triangulating’ genetics, archaeology and linguistics in a unified perspective. We report wide-ranging datasets from these disciplines, including a comprehensive Transeurasian agropastoral and basic vocabulary; an archaeological database of 255 Neolithic–Bronze Age sites from Northeast Asia; and a collection of ancient genomes from Korea, the Ryukyu islands and early cereal farmers in Japan, complementing previously published genomes from East Asia. Challenging the traditional ‘pastoralist hypothesis’ 6–8 , we show that the common ancestry and primary dispersals of Transeurasian languages can be traced back to the first farmers moving across Northeast Asia from the Early Neolithic onwards, but that this shared heritage has been masked by extensive cultural interaction since the Bronze Age. As well as marking considerable progress in the three individual disciplines, by combining their converging evidence we show that the early spread of Transeurasian speakers was driven by agriculture.

Topics

Forensic and Genetic Research 1.00 Linguistics and Cultural Studies 0.95 Eurasian Exchange Networks 0.95

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Subfield: Genetics

Keywords

Biological dispersal,Geography,Pastoralism,Population,Bronze Age,Agriculture,Out of africa,Vocabulary,Genealogy,History

MeSH Terms

AgricultureAgricultureAgricultureAgricultureArchaeologyArchaeologyArchaeologyArchaeology

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Zero hunger (0.51)

All Available Versions

PDF Landing page — Nature publishedVersion cc-by
Landing page — PubMed publishedVersion
PDF Landing page — DergiPark (Istanbul University) submittedVersion cc-by-nc-nd
Landing page — PubMed Central submittedVersion cc-by
Landing page — RePEc: Research Papers in Economics submittedVersion
Landing page — Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) submittedVersion

Citations by Year

2026	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
18	72	41	31	33	2	1

APA

Martine Robbeets, Remco Bouckaert, Matthew Conte, Alexander Savelyev, Tao Li, Deog-Im An, Ken‐ichi Shinoda, Yinqiu Cui, Takamune Kawashima, Geonyoung Kim, Junzō Uchiyama, Joanna Dolińska, Sofia Oskolskaya, Ken-Yōjiro Yamano, Noriko Seguchi, Hirotaka Tomita, Hiroto Takamiya, Hideaki Kanzawa‐Kiriyama, Hiroki Oota, Hajime Ishida, Ryosuke Kimura, Takehiro Sato, Jae‐Hyun Kim, Bingcong Deng, Rasmus Bjørn, Seongha Rhee, Kyou-Dong Ahn, Ilya Gruntov, Olga Mazo, John R. Bentley, Ricardo Fernandes, Patrick Roberts, Ilona Bausch, Linda Gilaizeau, Minoru Yoneda, Mitsugu Kugai, Raffaela A. Bianco, Fan Zhang, Marie Himmel, Mark Hudson, Chao Ning (2021). Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages. Nature, 599(7886), 616–621. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8

MLA

Martine Robbeets, et al. "Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages." Nature, vol. 599, no. 7886, 2021, pp. 616–621. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8

Chicago

Martine Robbeets, Remco Bouckaert, Matthew Conte, Alexander Savelyev, Tao Li, Deog-Im An, Ken‐ichi Shinoda, Yinqiu Cui, Takamune Kawashima, Geonyoung Kim, Junzō Uchiyama, Joanna Dolińska, Sofia Oskolskaya, Ken-Yōjiro Yamano, Noriko Seguchi, Hirotaka Tomita, Hiroto Takamiya, Hideaki Kanzawa‐Kiriyama, Hiroki Oota, Hajime Ishida, Ryosuke Kimura, Takehiro Sato, Jae‐Hyun Kim, Bingcong Deng, Rasmus Bjørn, Seongha Rhee, Kyou-Dong Ahn, Ilya Gruntov, Olga Mazo, John R. Bentley, Ricardo Fernandes, Patrick Roberts, Ilona Bausch, Linda Gilaizeau, Minoru Yoneda, Mitsugu Kugai, Raffaela A. Bianco, Fan Zhang, Marie Himmel, Mark Hudson, Chao Ning. "Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages." Nature 599, no. 7886 (2021): 616–621. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8

BibTeX

@article{robbeets2021,
  title = { Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages },
  author = { Martine Robbeets and Remco Bouckaert and Matthew Conte and Alexander Savelyev and Tao Li and Deog-Im An and Ken‐ichi Shinoda and Yinqiu Cui and Takamune Kawashima and Geonyoung Kim and Junzō Uchiyama and Joanna Dolińska and Sofia Oskolskaya and Ken-Yōjiro Yamano and Noriko Seguchi and Hirotaka Tomita and Hiroto Takamiya and Hideaki Kanzawa‐Kiriyama and Hiroki Oota and Hajime Ishida and Ryosuke Kimura and Takehiro Sato and Jae‐Hyun Kim and Bingcong Deng and Rasmus Bjørn and Seongha Rhee and Kyou-Dong Ahn and Ilya Gruntov and Olga Mazo and John R. Bentley and Ricardo Fernandes and Patrick Roberts and Ilona Bausch and Linda Gilaizeau and Minoru Yoneda and Mitsugu Kugai and Raffaela A. Bianco and Fan Zhang and Marie Himmel and Mark Hudson and Chao Ning },
  journal = { Nature },
  year = { 2021 },
  volume = { 599 },
  number = { 7886 },
  pages = { 616--621 },
  doi = { 10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8 }
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages
AU  - Martine Robbeets
AU  - Remco Bouckaert
AU  - Matthew Conte
AU  - Alexander Savelyev
AU  - Tao Li
AU  - Deog-Im An
AU  - Ken‐ichi Shinoda
AU  - Yinqiu Cui
AU  - Takamune Kawashima
AU  - Geonyoung Kim
AU  - Junzō Uchiyama
AU  - Joanna Dolińska
AU  - Sofia Oskolskaya
AU  - Ken-Yōjiro Yamano
AU  - Noriko Seguchi
AU  - Hirotaka Tomita
AU  - Hiroto Takamiya
AU  - Hideaki Kanzawa‐Kiriyama
AU  - Hiroki Oota
AU  - Hajime Ishida
AU  - Ryosuke Kimura
AU  - Takehiro Sato
AU  - Jae‐Hyun Kim
AU  - Bingcong Deng
AU  - Rasmus Bjørn
AU  - Seongha Rhee
AU  - Kyou-Dong Ahn
AU  - Ilya Gruntov
AU  - Olga Mazo
AU  - John R. Bentley
AU  - Ricardo Fernandes
AU  - Patrick Roberts
AU  - Ilona Bausch
AU  - Linda Gilaizeau
AU  - Minoru Yoneda
AU  - Mitsugu Kugai
AU  - Raffaela A. Bianco
AU  - Fan Zhang
AU  - Marie Himmel
AU  - Mark Hudson
AU  - Chao Ning
JO  - Nature
PY  - 2021
VL  - 599
IS  - 7886
SP  - 616
EP  - 621
DO  - 10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8
ER  -

198

Citations

View on Google Scholar

15.78

FWCI

100%

Normalized Pctile

References

Authors