DNA samples were extracted from six prehistoric human remains, found on the Malay Peninsula, dating to the Paleolithic and the Neolithic periods. Nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA were determined by the polymerase chain reaction-direct sequencing method. A phylogenetic tree between prehistoric and present humans was constructed based on the nucleotide sequence data. Mitochondrial DNA phylogenetic relationships and ethnoarchaeological evidence suggest that there is a continuity beetween the pre-Neolithic humans and the present Semang and that the Neolithic humans in this area might be an ancestral group of the Senoi.
The human occupation history of Southeast Asia (SEA) remains heavily debated. Current evidence suggests that SEA was occupied by Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers until ~4000 years ago, when farming economies developed and expanded, restricting foraging groups to remote habitats. Some argue that agricultural development was indigenous; others favor the "two-layer" hypothesis that posits a southward expansion of farmers giving rise to present-day Southeast Asian genetic diversity. By sequencing 26 ancient human genomes (25 from SEA, 1 Japanese Jōmon), we show that neither interpretation fits the complexity of Southeast Asian history: Both Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers and East Asian farmers contributed to current Southeast Asian diversity, with further migrations affecting island SEA and Vietnam. Our results help resolve one of the long-standing controversies in Southeast Asian prehistory.