New study on "Tocharians" of the Tarim Basin

A 2021 study found that the earliest inhabitants of the Tarim Basin (dated Early to Middle Bronze Age, 2100 to 1700 BC, and pictured above) were not Indo-European Tocharians, but a population descended from Ancient North Eurasians. Such populations were common across Central Asia and West Siberia from the Mesolithic to Bronze Age (e.g. the Botai).

The newly published study investigated a Late Bronze Age site in the far west of the Tarim Basin, dated 1600 to 1400 BC. Its inhabitants overwhelmingly descended from the Indo-European Sintashta population, with additional ancestry from BMAC (10%) and Tarim_EMBA (12%). In terms of genetic similarity, they were most closely related to modern Northern Europeans, particularly Finnic and Russian people.

Admixture between Sintashta and Tarim_EMBA dated to around 2000 BC, indicating Indo-European settlement began during the Early to Middle Bronze Age.

Proto-Indo-European steppe cultures, like the Yamnaya, were not more intelligent than the European Neolithic Farmers they conquered; both groups had comparable intelligence polygenic scores.

However, they were significantly taller, stronger, had higher stress resilience (lower risk of depression), and systematizing cognition (a predisposition toward autistic traits).

Source: Cognitive Genetics Through Time: Surprises From 3,640 Ancient Genomes by Davide Piffer