Researchers led by Prof. Qiaomei Fu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have completed a comprehensive genetic study of Shimao, a major late Neolithic settlement in northern Shaanxi Province dating to approximately 4200-3700 years before the present. The investigation examined nuclear DNA from 169 ancient human remains across 144 unrelated individuals, with samples collected over 13 years from Shimao and nearby archaeological sites. The findings, published in Nature, provide new understanding of the settlement’s population origins, social organization, and ritual practices.
Shimao covered approximately four square kilometers and featured a stone-walled structure divided into distinct functional zones. Archaeological evidence indicates a strongly stratified society with organized political systems and extensive ritual activity. Genetic comparisons with previously published ancient DNA from populations across China reveal that most Shimao inhabitants descended from local populations who had inhabited the region roughly 1,000 years earlier. The analysis identified genetic and cultural connections to the Yangshao Culture, a major Neolithic civilization across the Loess Plateau near the Yellow River. Additionally, the Shimao population maintained connections to communities associated with Taosi Culture in southern Shanxi, steppe Yumin-related groups, and southern rice-farming populations, suggesting extensive contact and exchange networks across a wide geographic area.
Genetic analysis enabled researchers to reconstruct family relationships spanning as many as four generations, revealing that Shimao’s social hierarchy operated through patrilineal descent, with ancestry and status traced through male lines. The population also practiced patrilocal residence patterns, in which women typically moved to live with or near their male partners’ families. These kinship structures likely shaped authority, inheritance, and social rank within the settlement.
The study also resolved a longstanding archaeological question regarding human sacrifice at the site. Around 80 human skulls discovered near Shimao’s East Gate had previously led researchers to believe most sacrificial victims were female. However, genetic analysis of examined burials revealed that approximately nine out of ten were male. The research identified distinct patterns in sacrifice practices, with male victims concentrated near the East Gate and female remains found in elite cemeteries including Huangchengtai and Hanjiagedan, suggesting that ritual practices were carefully organized with different ceremonies involving different genders.
The genetic evidence establishes at least 1,000 years of cultural and genetic continuity in the region while demonstrating that Shimao participated in broad networks connecting agricultural and pastoral societies across northern, central, and southern China. The study provides the first direct genetic evidence for investigating inheritance of power, ruling family composition, and social class formation at Shimao, potentially advancing understanding of family systems and political structures that contributed to the emergence of early states in East Asia.
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