Projects & Grants




Archaeogenetic Study of Human Populations in Mainland Southeast Asia
Project IdLTAUSA18153
Main solverM.Sc. Pavel Flegontov, Ph.D.
Period1/2019 - 6/2022
ProviderINTER-ACTION
Statefinished
AnotationOur first goal is to trace and date the spread of Indian genetic admixture in Mainland Southeast Asia, using newly sequenced ancient and modern human samples. Indian admixture has never been detected before in ancient samples from Southeast Asia, even though it is ubiquitous in some present-day populations. Radiocarbon dates for ancient samples with Indian admixture will be compared to known dates of arrival of Indian culture to the region. We expect to find Indian admixture in samples which are more recent than 2000 years before present and from locations which are close to ancient cities within the Funan, Champa, and Dvaravati Indianised states. Another goal is to trace and date migration waves that arrived in Mainland Southeast Asia after the bronze Age period, especially to map and date the arrival of Tai-Kadai-speaking populations using newly sequenced ancient samples. Tai-Kadai-speaking populations migrated to the region at some date before the 13th c. CE, probably much later than Austroasiatic speakers, but Tai-Kadai languages spread widely across Thailand and Laos and mostly replaced local Austroasiatic languages. A general goal is to find out whether the spread of both the Indian and Tai-Kadai cultural and linguistic influence was accompanied by substantial movements of people.