{{Short description|Bag in Khongor, Darkhan-Uul, Mongolia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} '''Salkhit''' ({{langx|mn|Салхит}}, {{MongolUnicode|ᠰᠠᠯᠬᠢᠲᠦ|style=max-height:2em;word-break:normal|lang=mn|h}}, "windy") is a [[Bags of Mongolia|bag]] in [[Khongor, Darkhan-Uul|Khongor]] [[Sums of Mongolia|sum]] (district) of [[Darkhan-Uul Province]], [[Mongolia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.1212.mn/tablesdata1212.aspx?tbl_id=dt_nso_0300_004v5&ln=en|title=Resident Population in Mongolia, by Bag/Khoroo|website=Mongolian Statistical Information Service|access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref>
== Geography == Salkhit is located on the [[Kharaa gol]] river (a right tributary of the [[Orkhon river]]), 13 km south of the center of the [[Sums of Mongolia|sum]] of [[Khongor, Darkhan-Uul|Khongor]], and 33 km south of the [[Provinces of Mongolia|aimag]] capital [[Darkhan (city)|Darkhan]].
== Economy == Salkhit is the railway station where the 164 km long Salkhit–[[Erdenet]] line starts. This line was built to the copper producing city of Erdenet in 1975, with Soviet assistance.
==Prehistory== An [[Homo sapiens]] skullcap with archaic features similar to those of [[Neanderthals]] and ''[[Homo erectus]]'' was found near Salkhit in 2006 during gold mining operations at depth 5–6 m.<ref name=Coppens>{{cite journal |last1=Coppens |first1=Yves |last2=Tseveendorg | first2=Damdinsuren |last3=Demeter |first3=Fabrice |last4=Turbat |first4=Tsagaan |last5=Giscard |first5=Pierre-Henri |date=February 2008 |title=Discovery of an archaic ''Homo sapiens'' skullcap in Northeast Mongolia |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1631068307001650 |journal=Comptes Rendus Palevol |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=51-60 |doi=10.1016/j.crpv.2007.12.004 |access-date=4 February 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205025855/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1631068307001650 |archive-date=5 February 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Original estimates dated the skullcap to about 22,100 years old, but later re-dating in 2010 indicated 23,630 [[Before Present|BP]].<ref name=Coppens /><ref>{{cite journal |pmid=25813423 | doi=10.1016/j.jchb.2015.02.002 | volume=66 | issue=4 | title=Homo erectus in Salkhit, Mongolia? | year=2015 | journal=Homo | pages=287–98 | last1 = Lee | first1 = SH| doi-access=free }}</ref>
In 2019, the Salkhit skull was again radiocarbon dated, analyzing hydroxyproline in bone-extracted collagen, placing it in the range 34,950–33,900 [[cal BP]].<ref name="Thibaut">{{Cite journal|last=Thibaut|first=Devièse|date=January 2019|title=Compound-specific radiocarbon dating and mitochondrial DNA analysis of the Pleistocene hominin from Salkhit Mongolia|journal=Nature Communications|volume=10|issue=1|pages=274|doi=10.1038/s41467-018-08018-8|pmid=30700710|pmc=6353915}}</ref> Despite its archaic features, genetic reconstruction of [[ancient DNA]] from the skull indicates the specimen falls on a novel branch of [[Haplogroup N (mtDNA)|mtDNA haplogroup N]], one of two basal haplogroups ancestral to all non-African populations. Application of a molecular clock to the mtDNA sequence yielded a date for the skull of 12,910 to 39,410 years BP.<ref name="Thibaut" /> The Salkhit individual was found to have carried c. 74–78% 'Basal East Asian' [[Tianyuan man|Tianyuan-like]] ancestry and c. 22–26% Early West Eurasian [[Kostenki-14|Kostenki14-like]] ancestry. The Salkhit individual displayed a complex relationship to [[Ancient North Eurasians]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Massilani |first=Diyendo |last2=Skov |first2=Laurits |last3=Hajdinjak |first3=Mateja |last4=Gunchinsuren |first4=Byambaa |last5=Tseveendorj |first5=Damdinsuren |last6=Yi |first6=Seonbok |last7=Lee |first7=Jungeun |last8=Nagel |first8=Sarah |last9=Nickel |first9=Birgit |last10=Devièse |first10=Thibaut |last11=Higham |first11=Tom |last12=Meyer |first12=Matthias |last13=Kelso |first13=Janet |last14=Peter |first14=Benjamin M. |last15=Pääbo |first15=Svante |date=30 October 2020 |title=Denisovan ancestry and population history of early East Asians |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc1166 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=370 |issue=6516 |pages=579–583 |doi=10.1126/science.abc1166 |issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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[[Category:Bags of Mongolia]] [[Category:Khongor, Darkhan-Uul]]
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