Spatial linguistic variationSpatial genetic variationTemporal linguistic variationTemporal genetic variation
PaleolithicVery highHighModerate-to-highModerate-to-low
NeolithicModerateModerate-to-lowModerateHigh
Bronze AgeModerate-to-lowLowModerateModerate-to-high
Iron AgeLowLowModerate-to-lowModerate
Modern AgeVery lowLowLowModerate-to-low
In the comments below I posited a scenario to explain a strange inference from a paper from a few years back, Sequencing of 50 Human Exomes Reveals Adaptation to High Altitude:
Population historical models were estimated (8) from the two-dimensional frequency spectrum of synonymous sites in the two populations.
The best-fitting model suggested that the Tibetan and Han populations diverged 2750 years ago
, with the Han population growing from a small initial size and the Tibetan population contracting from a large initial size (fig. S2). Migration was inferred from the Tibetan to the Han sample, with recent admixture in the opposite direction.
2,750 years would place the divergence of modern Tibetans and Chinese a few hundred years before Confucius. In fact, it would technically post-date the first historically attested Chinese ...
