Fujian Coast: Late Neolithic Seafarers

The Late Neolithic coastal communities of Fujian emerge from a shoreline stitched with shell middens, river channels, and small villages. Archaeological data from sites such as Tanshishan and Xitoucun (Minhou, along the Min River) indicate a landscape intensively exploited for marine and estuarine resources between roughly 2850 and 2200 BCE. Pottery styles, polished stone tools, and the composition of midden material suggest long-standing local traditions adapted to tidal flats and riverine floodplains.

Limited evidence suggests these communities participated in wider coastal networks. The Min River corridor and adjacent shores would have acted as arteries for people, goods, and ideas, connecting the Fujian littoral to islands and mainland coasts. Archaeological indicators — specialized fishing gear, shell assemblages, and distinctive ceramic types — point to a culture shaped by salt, sea breezes, and seasonal inundation. While the material record is increasingly detailed at Tanshishan, regional variation persists and must be read cautiously: preservation bias and uneven excavation mean our reconstruction is partial and provisional.

Eleven ancient individuals dated to 2850–2200 BCE from coastal Fujian (Tanshishan and Xitoucun) provide a modest but illuminating snapshot of population history. Among male-line markers reported, haplogroup O is the most frequent (4 individuals), accompanied by single occurrences of NO, K, and F. Haplogroup O is widespread in East Asia today and in many ancient East Asian samples, consistent with continuity of paternal lineages in southern China. Haplogroups NO, K, and F reflect deeper or complementary paternal ancestries that may record older population substructure or episodic contacts.

Mitochondrial data are less consistently reported for this sample set; available results point to diverse East Asian maternal lineages without a single dominant haplogroup. Given the modest sample size (n=11), conclusions must remain cautious: the dataset is sufficient to indicate coastal affinity with broader East Asian genetic profiles but is too small to resolve fine-scale demographic events. Archaeogenetic signals here are compatible with continuity of local coastal populations and with gene flow along littoral routes — possibilities that align with the archaeological picture of maritime connectivity. Further sampling, especially of maternally inherited mtDNA and autosomal genomes, is needed to clarify sex-biased processes, migration directionality, and links to contemporaneous mainland and island groups.