Ancient DNA from Shimao city records kinship practices in Neolithic China.

ABSTRACT: The discovery of Shimao city (around 2300-1800 BCE¹), a premier state-level Neolithic fortified settlement in Shaanxi, China², played an important role in helping us understand the emergence of socially stratified urban societies. However, key questions remain regarding how ancestry and kinship shaped the hierarchy of this class-based society characterized by human sacrifice. The origin of the founding populations of Shimao and other Loess Plateau settlements, and their interactions within the broader ancestral landscape, have yet to be determined. Here we present, by sequencing 144 ancient genomes from Shimao city and its satellites, pedigrees among tomb owners spanning up to four generations. These findings reveal a predominantly patrilineal descent structure across

SUBMITTER: Chen Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12711557 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature