嫩江流域是中国东北地区古代先民的重要栖息地之一。自新石器时代开始这里的先民一直以渔猎经济为主要生活方式,直到新石器时代晚期至早期青铜时代才开始兼营畜牧业和少量的种植业。嫩江流域青铜时代的生业模式的转变是否伴随着外来人群的融合与替代一直是考古研究的热点。为了探讨嫩江流域新石器时代与青铜铁器时代人群的构成是否改变,我们对嫩江流域新石器时代至青铜铁器时代的24个个体进行了线粒体全基因组分析。分析结果表明：嫩江流域青铜铁器时代人群与新石器时代人群具有一定遗传连续性的同时,晚期人群与西辽河地区古代人群有着更近的遗传联系,表明西辽河地区古代居民对嫩江流域青铜铁器时代人群具有部分遗传贡献。结合考古学文化、古气候学数据以及语言学证据,我们推测距今4000-3000年间,西辽河地区古代居民曾迁入到嫩江流域,并留下遗传印记。

The Nenjiang River valley is one of the most important settlements for ancient Chinese people in northeast China. Archaeological research demonstrates that the inhabitants had practiced mixed hunting-gathering-fishing since the Neolithic Age, only began to engage in animal husbandry and limited millet cultivation until the late Neolithic Age and early Bronze Age. A problem remained about whether it was a transfer of culture and technology or if it involved the migration of people who experimented with animal husbandry and limited millet cultivation and then brought them to Nenjiang River valley. Here we successfully sequenced 24 complete mitochondrial DNA genomes of 11000 to 2000-year-old humans from the Nenjiang River Valley. The results show that the Bronze / Iron Age populations of Nenjiang River valley matrilineal received partial contribution from the populations of the West Liao River, despite some level of continuity between Neolithic Age groups and Bronze / Iron Age. Combining paleoclimatology, archaeology, and linguistics, we estimate that the ancient people of West Liao River had migrated to the Nenjiang River valley carried their cultural techniques and languages between 4,000 and 3,000 years ago.