Prehistoric human migration between Sundaland and South Asia was driven by sea-level rise

Hie Lim Kim; Tanghua Li; Namrata Kalsi; Hung Tran The Nguyen; Timothy A. Shaw; Khai C. Ang; Keith C. Cheng; Aakrosh Ratan; W. Richard Peltier; Dhrubajyoti Samanta; Mahesh Pratapneni; Stephan C. Schuster; Benjamin P. Horton

doi:10.1038/s42003-023-04510-0

Prehistoric human migration between Sundaland and South Asia was driven by sea-level rise

Hie Lim Kim^*
, Tanghua Li
, Namrata Kalsi
, Hung Tran The Nguyen
, Timothy A. Shaw
, Khai C. Ang
, Keith C. Cheng
, Aakrosh Ratan
, W. Richard Peltier
, Dhrubajyoti Samanta
, Mahesh Pratapneni
, Stephan C. Schuster (Co-last Author)
, Benjamin P. Horton (Co-last Author)

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

21 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Rapid sea-level rise between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the mid-Holocene transformed the Southeast Asian coastal landscape, but the impact on human demography remains unclear. Here, we create a paleogeographic map, focusing on sea-level changes during the period spanning the LGM to the present-day and infer the human population history in Southeast and South Asia using 763 high-coverage whole-genome sequencing datasets from 59 ethnic groups. We show that sea-level rise, in particular meltwater pulses 1 A (MWP1A, ~14,500–14,000 years ago) and 1B (MWP1B, ~11,500–11,000 years ago), reduced land area by over 50% since the LGM, resulting in segregation of local human populations. Following periods of rapid sea-level rises, population pressure drove the migration of Malaysian Negritos into South Asia. Integrated paleogeographic and population genomic analysis demonstrates the earliest documented instance of forced human migration driven by sea-level rise. © 2023, The Author(s).

Original language	English
Article number	150
Journal	Communications Biology
Volume	6
Online published	4 Feb 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04510-0
Publication status	Published - 2023
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We thank Pavel Adamek, Elena Gusareva, Xianfeng Wang, Sharon Longford, Cassie E. Heinle, Sam Spence, Amit Ghosh, and Regin Tiong, for their helpful comments on writing the manuscript. H.L.K. was supported by The Ministry of Education, Singapore, under its Academic Research Fund Tier 1 (RG100/20). The computational work for this article was partially performed on resources of the National Supercomputing Centre, Singapore (https://www.nscc.sg). B.P.H., T.L., T.A.S., D.S. were funded by the Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund MOE2019-T3-1-004 and MOE-T2EP50120-0007, the National Research Foundation Singapore, and the Singapore Ministry of Education, under the Research Centres of Excellence initiative. The GIA modelling is conducted in part using the research computing facilities and/or advisory services offered by Information Technology Services, the University of Hong Kong. This work is Earth Observatory of Singapore contribution number 439.

Publisher's Copyright Statement

This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Access Output

10.1038/s42003-023-04510-0

283080058.pdfFinal Published version, 4 MBLicence: CC BY

Other Access Options

Check CityUHK Library

Permanent Link

Right click to copy link

Cite this

@article{4356fd1e86cf476aa0f6b25dd4710c3e,

title = "Prehistoric human migration between Sundaland and South Asia was driven by sea-level rise",

abstract = "Rapid sea-level rise between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the mid-Holocene transformed the Southeast Asian coastal landscape, but the impact on human demography remains unclear. Here, we create a paleogeographic map, focusing on sea-level changes during the period spanning the LGM to the present-day and infer the human population history in Southeast and South Asia using 763 high-coverage whole-genome sequencing datasets from 59 ethnic groups. We show that sea-level rise, in particular meltwater pulses 1 A (MWP1A, \textasciitilde{}14,500–14,000 years ago) and 1B (MWP1B, \textasciitilde{}11,500–11,000 years ago), reduced land area by over 50\% since the LGM, resulting in segregation of local human populations. Following periods of rapid sea-level rises, population pressure drove the migration of Malaysian Negritos into South Asia. Integrated paleogeographic and population genomic analysis demonstrates the earliest documented instance of forced human migration driven by sea-level rise. {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",

author = "Kim, \{Hie Lim\} and Tanghua Li and Namrata Kalsi and Nguyen, \{Hung Tran The\} and Shaw, \{Timothy A.\} and Ang, \{Khai C.\} and Cheng, \{Keith C.\} and Aakrosh Ratan and Peltier, \{W. Richard\} and Dhrubajyoti Samanta and Mahesh Pratapneni and Schuster, \{Stephan C.\} and Horton, \{Benjamin P.\}",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1038/s42003-023-04510-0",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

journal = "Communications Biology",

issn = "2399-3642",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Prehistoric human migration between Sundaland and South Asia was driven by sea-level rise

AU - Kim, Hie Lim

AU - Li, Tanghua

AU - Kalsi, Namrata

AU - Nguyen, Hung Tran The

AU - Shaw, Timothy A.

AU - Ang, Khai C.

AU - Cheng, Keith C.

AU - Ratan, Aakrosh

AU - Peltier, W. Richard

AU - Samanta, Dhrubajyoti

AU - Pratapneni, Mahesh

AU - Schuster, Stephan C.

AU - Horton, Benjamin P.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Rapid sea-level rise between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the mid-Holocene transformed the Southeast Asian coastal landscape, but the impact on human demography remains unclear. Here, we create a paleogeographic map, focusing on sea-level changes during the period spanning the LGM to the present-day and infer the human population history in Southeast and South Asia using 763 high-coverage whole-genome sequencing datasets from 59 ethnic groups. We show that sea-level rise, in particular meltwater pulses 1 A (MWP1A, ~14,500–14,000 years ago) and 1B (MWP1B, ~11,500–11,000 years ago), reduced land area by over 50% since the LGM, resulting in segregation of local human populations. Following periods of rapid sea-level rises, population pressure drove the migration of Malaysian Negritos into South Asia. Integrated paleogeographic and population genomic analysis demonstrates the earliest documented instance of forced human migration driven by sea-level rise. © 2023, The Author(s).

AB - Rapid sea-level rise between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the mid-Holocene transformed the Southeast Asian coastal landscape, but the impact on human demography remains unclear. Here, we create a paleogeographic map, focusing on sea-level changes during the period spanning the LGM to the present-day and infer the human population history in Southeast and South Asia using 763 high-coverage whole-genome sequencing datasets from 59 ethnic groups. We show that sea-level rise, in particular meltwater pulses 1 A (MWP1A, ~14,500–14,000 years ago) and 1B (MWP1B, ~11,500–11,000 years ago), reduced land area by over 50% since the LGM, resulting in segregation of local human populations. Following periods of rapid sea-level rises, population pressure drove the migration of Malaysian Negritos into South Asia. Integrated paleogeographic and population genomic analysis demonstrates the earliest documented instance of forced human migration driven by sea-level rise. © 2023, The Author(s).

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85147392075

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85147392075#tab=impact

U2 - 10.1038/s42003-023-04510-0

DO - 10.1038/s42003-023-04510-0

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

C2 - 36739308

SN - 2399-3642

VL - 6

JO - Communications Biology

JF - Communications Biology

M1 - 150

ER -

Prehistoric human migration between Sundaland and South Asia was driven by sea-level rise

Abstract

Funding

Publisher's Copyright Statement

Access Output

Other Access Options

Permanent Link

Other Files and Links

Fingerprint

Cite this