Genetic insights into the origin, admixture, and migration of the early Austronesian peoples

Abstract

It is understood that Austronesian ancestors appeared in Taiwan ~6 thousand years ago (Kya), and later expanded beyond Taiwan, but their early origins and relationships with people outside Taiwan remain uncertain. By reconstructing phylogenetic patterns and phylogeographical distribution from mitochondrial and Y haplogroups and genome-wide data, new evidence shows that the Pre-Austronesians may have originated in the coastal southeastern China (centered on Fujian) during the very early Neolithic Age (>10Kya) and lived on the marine subsistence in addition to hunting-gathering. They subsequently mixed with some ancient northern Chinese (from Shandong) and introduced mixed millets and rice cultivation, forming the Proto-Austronesian people ~7-10Kya. Later, Early Austronesians (~4-7Kya) evolved and migrated to Taiwan (~6Kya), and then spread to Island Southeast Asia (ISEA), Champa, southern Thailand, Madagascar, and Oceania via the Philippines (~4.1Kya). The second source is the Austroasiatic ancestors, who originated in southern China in the early Neolithic Age and migrated to the ISEA via the Mainland Southeast Asia and Malay Peninsula in the late Neolithic Age. They mixed with the core Austronesian speakers from Taiwan to become Austronesian speakers, and spread to Oceania. Linguistic and archaeological findings also support the Austronesian origins and genetic prehistory. Most recently, some Austronesians of ISEA have mixed with newcomers from South Asia. The Austronesian ancestors neither originated in the ISEA nor migrated directly from mainland China to the Philippines, also has nothing to do with the so-called "two-layer" hypothesis. Future research requires more Paleolithic and Neolithic genetic evidence, improved genetic age estimates, and multidisciplinary consistency.