Ancient DNA Reveals the Multiethnic Structure of Mongolia’s First Nomadic Empire

© Artwork by Galmandakh Amarsanaa, courtesy of Christina Warinner and the DairyCultures Project

The Xiongnu, contemporaries of Rome and Egypt, built their nomadic empire on the Mongolian steppe 2,000 years ago, emerging as Imperial China’s greatest rival and even inspiring the construction of China’s Great Wall. In a new study researchers find that the Xiongnu were a multiethnic empire, with high genetic diversity found across the empire and even within individual extended elite families. At the fringes of the empire, women held the highest positions of power, and the highest genetic diversity was found among low-status male servants, giving clues to the process of empire building that gave rise to Asia’s first nomadic imperial power.

Publication: JUHYEON LEE , et al., Genetic population structure of the Xiongnu Empire at imperial and local scales, SCIENCE ADVANCES (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf3904

Original Story Source: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology