Explore Audrey Truschke’s groundbreaking history of India, shifting focus from empires to marginalised voices.

The researchers found that about 10,000 years ago, India received a second infusion of genetic material when existing South Asian hunter-gatherers mixed with migrating farmers from what is now Iran.

Then, 5,000 years ago, endogamy led to bottlenecks in many Indian communities. Together, this complex evolutionary history has shaped the genetic variation and health and disease in India.

Journal reference: Kerdoncuff, E., Skov, L., Patterson, N., et al. (2025). 50,000 years of evolutionary history of India: Impact on health and disease variation.