A major study in Science Daily: Anthropology has revealed the genetic history of Neolithic inhabitants of the Alay Valley in high-altitude Central Asia. Analysis of 7,000-year-old skeletal remains shows a unique ancestral pulse that differs from both the Steppe and Iranian farmer lineages. Most notably, the population shows early evidence of genetic selection for resistance to caprine-derived pathogens.
This suggests that as these early pastoralists moved into the mountains with domesticated sheep and goats, they underwent intense evolutionary pressure to adapt to zoonotic diseases. The research provides the earliest known evidence of genomic defense mechanisms specifically evolved to allow long-term cohabitation with high-altitude livestock, highlighting the deep biological roots of the nomadic pastoralist lifestyle.