Asian ancestry. It was found that Andamanese (Onge) split from the common ancestor of modern day East Asians between 50,000BC to 25,000BC, before becoming isolated on the Andaman Islands. The Andamanese (Onge) as well as East Asians, are also distantly related to the Indigenous population of South Asia. Recent genetic evidence suggest that a Basal-East Asian population (close or ancestral to Andamanese and East Asians) was widespread in Asia and contributed to the formation of modern South Asians (Indian people). A study by Reich et al. (2009) found that while the Onge are distantly related to modern Indian people, they have none of the admixture from Neolithic Iranian farmers or steppe pastoralists which is widespread on the mainland. From this, they conclude that the Onge are solely descended from one of the ancient populations which contributed to the genetics of modern Indians. According to Chaubey and Endicott (2013), overall, the Andamanese are more closely related to Southeast Asians and East Asians than they are to present-day South Asians. according to Yelmen et al. 2019, certain South Indian tribal groups are a better proxy for Ancient Ancestral South Asian (AASI) ancestry than the Andamanese Onge are. Analysis of paternal lineages indicates that all Onge carry the Y-DNA Haplogroup D, widespread in East Asia and less in Central Asia. Maternally, the Onge also exclusively belong to the M clade, bearing the M2 and M4 subclades, commonly found in Asia. References Indigenous peoples of South Asia Ethnic groups in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Scheduled Tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands