我国新疆地区自古以来即是东西方文明相互交融的摇篮,以往的考古学、体质人类学研究表明,该区域内不同文化之间的互通有无早在我国青铜-早期铁器时代便已经发生。关于这种交流与融合产生的原因,目前学术界仍未有定论。新疆于田流水墓地(2950±50 BP)是由中国社会科学院考古研究所于2003-2005年主持发掘的青铜时代墓葬群,该墓地共发掘墓葬65座,被视为是昆仑山北麓发现的最早人类文化遗存。本文从采集自流水墓地108例人骨标本的19项牙齿非测量性状研究入手,将其与欧亚大陆范围内的古今人群进行比较研究,并进行史密斯生物学距离的计算以及主成分分析。结果表明:生活在新疆流水地区的古代人类与南西伯利亚地区、日本绳纹、阿富汗/巴基斯坦、中国姜家梁地区人群之间在牙齿非测量性状方面存在某种程度上的相似性,这或许可以说明至少在3000年前,我国新疆西南部地区可能已经存在了东西方的人群迁徙。
The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, located in northwestern China, has long been a special area where populations may have originated from the east or from the west based on previous bioarchaeological studies of human cranial variation. Earlier archaeological studies from this region indicate that cultural exchanges occurred across this area during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age, however it is unclear when and how such cultural exchanges or population migrations took place. The Liushui cemetery (2950±50 BP) located in Yutian County, Xinjiang, was excavated by the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences between 2003 and 2005. Sixty- five tombs are the first group of Bronze Age tombs and earliest cultural remains discovered at the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains and provided cultural data on the local inhabitants in this region. We examined 111 individuals from Liushui cemetery. Nineteen dental nonmetric traits were collected from each individual. We compared 15 dental nonmetric traits with those from other regions of Eurasia in order to reconstruct population affinities of the study sample. Population comparisons were conducted through Smith's Mean Measure of Divergence distance cluster and principal components analyses. This study indicated that the Liushui group has closer affinities to people from southern Siberia and the Black Sea area. It also suggests that human migrations from the west can be traced back to as early as 3000 BP in southwestern Xinjiang.