Dulan-Wayan Reservoir People

Set against the wind-swept basin around the Dulan Wayan reservoir (Dulan County, Reshui town), the people sampled from this site belong to an Early Medieval horizon dated between 605 and 884 CE. Archaeological data indicates episode(s) of localized occupation during the Tang-era frontier period, when highland corridors and river valleys served as conduits between the Tibetan Plateau, inner Mongolian steppe, and lowland China. The material record at the reservoir site is fragmentary; limited evidence suggests domestic structures and mortuary deposits, but extensive excavations are pending.

Culturally, these assemblages are usually grouped with the broader Dulan-Wayan cultural phenomenon, a regional tradition visible in pottery styles and settlement patterns across northeastern Qinghai. Landscape archaeology points to a community adapted to high-altitude seasonal resources — exploiting riverine meadows and trade routes. Genetic data from this site provide another lens on emergence: the mixture of predominantly East Asian maternal lineages with a minority of Y-lineages that include both East Asian (O, N) and a single R lineage hints at movement of people or gene flow along those corridors. Given the small sample size and the uneven preservation of contexts, any model of origin must remain provisional, but the archaeological and genetic signals together portray a community at an intersection of cultural and biological exchange.

Ten individuals sampled from the Dulan Wayan reservoir site provide the primary genetic window into this community. Maternal lineages are dominated by East Asian haplogroups: D (3 individuals), M (2), D4 (1), C4d (1), and A21 (1). These mtDNA types are common across East and Northeast Asia and are consistent with long-standing maternal continuity on the high plateau and adjacent regions.

On the paternal side, Y-chromosome diversity is modest: two individuals carry haplogroup O (a widespread East Asian lineage), one carries N (often associated with northern Eurasian and Siberian groups), and one carries R, a lineage frequent in West Eurasia and parts of Central Asia. The presence of a single R Y-haplogroup among primarily East Asian profiles suggests one of several scenarios: male-mediated gene flow from western or steppe-derived populations, an outlier within broader East Asian diversity, or historical mobility along trade and pastoral routes. Because the sample count is only 10, these patterns are preliminary; population-level inferences should be made cautiously.

Combined, the uniparental markers portray a community with predominantly East Asian maternal ancestry and a more mixed paternal signal, compatible with scenarios of regional interaction and episodic long-distance contacts during the Early Medieval period.