A large-scale genetic study led by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has analyzed human remains from a 5,500-year-old Neolithic site in Tripura. The analysis identifies a unique genetic profile that represents the earliest known admixture between Austroasiatic hunter-gatherers and Tibeto-Burman pastoralists in Northeast India. This discovery redefines the chronology of migration pulses into the Brahmaputra and Surma valleys.
The study reveals that this ancient population possessed specific alleles for arsenic metabolism, likely an evolutionary response to the high arsenic levels naturally occurring in the region's groundwater. This finding suggests that human populations in the northeast have been genetically adapting to local environmental challenges for over five millennia, far earlier than previously recorded in genomic history.