The study integrates genomics with archaeology and epitaphs to confirm the man's Brahmanic heritage, revealing how he maintained ethnic identity amid Silk Road cultural blending in the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (420–589 CE).

This finding illustrates the nuanced interplay of ancestry and culture in Eurasian mobility, supported by high-coverage sequencing (over 1 million SNPs) that resolves historical ambiguities about the couple's origins.

https://x.com/razibkhan/status/1985737227670831421

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X25005073

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5793435&forum_id=2:#49401351)

In 2005, a 6th-century couple’s joint tomb was found east of Northern Zhou’s Chang’an city. According to conflicting epitaph texts, the male, Li Dan, has an ambiguous ancestry, possibly from East or South Asia. Archaeological materials blend Eastern and Western influences, posing challenges for researchers. In this study, we generated high-coverage genomes on the 1240k panel for the couple, covering 1,057,118 and 1,048,087 SNPs with average depths of 3.53x and 4.10x, respectively, revealing distinct northern South Asian and northern China-related ancestries. For Li Dan, genetic analysis reveals a close relationship with modern Brahmins, supporting his Brahmin status and his biography as the progeny of Brahmanic descent. Alongside the eclectic archaeological culture, we believe Li Dan preserved his ethnic heritage while forming an integrated Chinese cultural identity.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5793435&forum_id=2:#49401355)

lived an unfathomable force

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5793435&forum_id=2:#49401667)