Human population history in North and East Asia

The Kazakh and Mongolian Steppes span ~5,000 km west to east along the northern latitude of Asia. This unique ecozone allowed rapid movements of people, animals, goods, and ideas across Eurasia since prehistory and harbored numerous polities of pastoralists that made tremendous impacts on human history. However, the region’s dynamic genetic history has been emerging only recently from archaeogenomic studies. Here, I will overview our current understanding of the region’s genetic history leveraging on our recent studies. Specifically, I will portrait 1) the pre-pastoralist hunter-gatherer population structure, 2) the dispersal of the Afanasievo herders and their genetic legacy, 3) a contrasting genetic impact of the Middle-Late Bronze Age Andronovo herders in the Kazakh and Mongolian Steppes, 4) distinct Iron Age transformations in the Kazakh and Mongolian Steppes, and 5) genetic information to understand the formation and social structure of steppe empires. Together with this overview, I will highlight 1) the divergent genetic history of the Kazakh and Mongolian Steppe populations, 2) the genetic interaction between the steppe pastoralists and their neighbors, and 3) a comparison between the genetic history of human and domesticated animal populations. The emerging genetic view illuminates the poorly recorded history of the Kazakh and Mongolian Steppes and provides an interconnected perspective on the history of Eurasia.