The ancestral homeland of Australian dingoes and Pacific dogs is proposed to be in South China. However, the location and timing of their dispersal and relationship to dog domestication is unclear. Here, we sequenced 7,000- to 2,000-year-old complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of 27 ancient canids (one gray wolf and 26 domestic dogs) from the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins (YYRB). These are the first complete ancient mtDNA of Chinese dogs from the cradle of early Chinese civilization. We found that most ancient dogs (18/26) belong to the haplogroup A1b lineage that is found in high frequency in present-day Australian dingoes and precolonial Pacific Island dogs but low frequency in present-day China. Particularly, a 7,000-year-old dog from the Tianluoshan site in Zhejiang province possesses a haplotype basal to the entire haplogroup A1b lineage. We propose that A1b lineage dogs were once widely distributed in the YYRB area. Following their dispersal to South China, and then into Southeast Asia, New Guinea and remote Oceania, they were largely replaced by dogs belonging to other lineages in the last 2,000 years in present-day China, especially North China.

Here, we present results of a pilot project that measured δ 13 C and δ 15 N values in bone collagen (ribs and femora) as well as dentin serial sections to examine individual dietary life histories at a Late Neolithic (4500 BP) site known as Gaoshan Ancient City (高山古 城) located on the Chengdu Plain in Sichuan Province, China. The isotopic data of the bones indicate that humans consumed C 3 -based foods, which corresponds to the dominance of rice agriculture in this region. However, the isotopic data of the dentin serial sections of five individuals display much more positive δ 13 C values than those of the bones, strongly suggesting that millets (a C 4 crop) contributed substantially to human diets during the weaning process and early childhood. Furthermore, the isotopic profiles of dentin sections of the first molars and canines demonstrate that the cession of weaning was individually variable and completed between~2.5 and 4 years of age. Although limited in scope, this pilot study offers new evidence of millet consumption during human growth and development even though individuals relied on rice exclusively as adults.Moreover, our study provides another perspective with which to rethink the role that millets played during the development and spread of millet agriculture to the south of China in terms of cultural exchange and migration. KEYWORDS carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, Chengdu Plain, millet, serial sampling, weaning 1 | INTRODUCTION Over the last 40 years, carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) stable isotope ratio analysis of bulk collagen from human and animal bones has become a routine method to investigate a wide range of archaeological questions relevant to diet, evolution, mobility, social hierarchy, breastfeeding and weaning patterns, disease, nutritional stress, agriculture, and animal domestication (e.g., Britton, 2017; Lee-Thorp,

The clarification of the genetic origins of present-day Tibetans requires an understanding of their past relationships with the ancient populations of the Tibetan Plateau. Here we successfully sequenced 67 complete mitochondrial DNA genomes of 5200 to 300-year-old humans from the plateau. Apart from identifying two ancient plateau lineages (haplogroups D4j1b and M9a1a1c1b1a) that suggest some ancestors of Tibetans came from low-altitude areas 4750 to 2775 years ago and that some were involved in an expansion of people moving between high-altitude areas 2125 to 1100 years ago, we found limited evidence of recent matrilineal continuity on the plateau. Furthermore, deep learning of the ancient data incorporated into simulation models with an accuracy of 97% supports that present-day Tibetan matrilineal ancestry received partial contribution rather than complete continuity from the plateau populations of the last 5200 years.

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