There is not yet evidence of earlier presence. Recent work, however, has shown that the Tarim mummies were probably not genetically related to the Afanasievo culture, which has long been thought to have been Indo-European in origin. Instead, it is now thought that the Tarim mummies' people were a local group which were influenced by Afanasievo practices. That challenges an Indo-European migration assumption and would suggest that there might have be earlier, Neolithic occupation in the Tarim basin, perhaps a very remote offshoot of the "Ancient North Eurasian" group of the Pleistocene. As of yet, evidence of that has not been discovered, however.

Note that some initial pottery discoveries in the Tarim basin were initially attributed to the Neolithic, but further studies have pushed down those chronologies. That can be confusing.