The research direction of ancient DNA in the laboratory Cui Yinqiu's research group (including the Frontier Archaeology Center of Jilin University) and the Max Planck Institute of Human History in Germany are based on the ancient human individual genomes unearthed 2,200 years ago from the Shirenzigou site in the East Tianshan area of Xinjiang, China The data, compared with the gene pool of ancient humans in Eurasia, found out the genetic relationship between the Shirenzigou people in the Iron Age in Xinjiang and the East Asian and Eurasian steppe populations. At the same time, it is the eastward migration of the Yannaya cultural population in the early Bronze Age. The relevance to the now extinct Tocharian language in Xinjiang provides evidence. At the same time, the research team cooperated with the German team in project design, data collection and genome analysis, and made outstanding contributions to exploring the genetic structure of ancient people in Xinjiang. The results are published in Current Biology.
　　This result is of great scientific value for exploring the migration history, genetic pattern and internal integration process of Chinese prehistoric populations, clarifying the complicated population history of Xinjiang, and understanding the nomadic culture of Eurasian steppe and the road map for the eastward expansion of Indo-European languages. It is of great academic and practical significance to explore the historical process of the formation of the pluralistic and integrated Chinese nation and its reasons and motivations, to enhance the traditional friendship and flesh-and-blood ties between various ethnic groups, and to maintain the unity of a multi-ethnic country. At the same time, this discovery fills the gaps in the study of genetics, evolution, and adaptation of prehistoric humans in China, especially in Xinjiang, and also opened the prelude to the study of ancient DNA in East Asia, especially the origin of ancient Chinese people.