Abstract:

Located in northwestern China, the Hexi Corridor was an important route for communication between east-west and north-south in prehistoric and historical times. In the context of the rise of transcontinental exchanges, the migration, diffusion, and integration of prehistoric populations in the Hexi Corridor and their relationship with the development of archaeological cultures have been of great interest. However, the lack of human remains has led to an obscure understanding of the origin of Neolithic populations and their relationship to the Bronze Age population in this area. In this study, 14 adult crania excavated from the Wuba cemetery located in the central region of the Hexi Corridor were analyzed for non-metric and metric craniofacial traits. The Wuba population was compared with 30 populations from the Howells database and 26 groups from ancient northern China by principal component analysis and neighbor-joining network analysis. The results show that: 1) the Wuba population belongs to an East Asia taxon, and no individuals with craniofacial features close to those of the western Eurasian group were found; 2) the results of comparison with craniometric data from ancient populations in northern China indicate that the Wuba population has the closest affinity with the late Neolithic population from northeastern Qinghai province. The review and integration of the prehistoric population history in the Hexi Corridor indicate that this region has experienced at least two large-scale population migrations. In the late Neolithic Age, groups from Hehuang Valley spread to the Hexi Corridor on a large scale, bringing wavy cultural diffusion. In the early and middle Bronze Age, the craniofacial morphology of the Hexi population became complex due to increased human mobility, but the population attributes did not change. The large-scale southward migration of nomads from the Eurasian steppes after the Late Bronze Age brought major changes to the craniofacial morphology of the Hexi population, as well as ushering in archaeological cultural changes and shifts in subsistence in the region.

Key words: Hexi Corridor, Skull, Craniofacial morphology, Population affinity