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The full curve is the maximum speed predicted by Eq. (5), the dashed curve is the minimum speed predicted by Eq. (5), the horizontal hatched rectangle is the observed speed range, and the vertical hatched rectangle is the observed range of cultural transmission intensity C. The purely demic model corresponds to (i.e., no conversion of hunter-gatherers into herding).
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It is well known that the Neolithic transition spread across Europe at a speed of about 1 km/yr. This result has been previously interpreted as a range expansion of the Neolithic driven mainly by demic diffusion (whereas cultural diffusion played a secondary role). However, a long-standing problem is whether this value (1 km/yr) and its interpretat...
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Citations
... The Majangir (Ethiopia) and the Issongos (Central African Republic) are pre-industrial farmers, and their dispersal kernels have been used in studies on the spread of the Neolithic in Europe (Ammerman and Cavalli-Sforza 1984;Fort 2012) and Bantu expansions . Markazi (Iran), Bihar (India), and Chandauli (India) are rural populations whose dispersal kernels have been used to model some expansions of farmers (Cobo et al. 2019) and herders (Jerardino et al. 2014). Table 1 includes B, R, and M distances but unfortunately, only one of these three kinds of distances is known for each of these five populations. ...
Mathematical models of agricultural spread use distances between birthplaces of parents and their children (often called “birthplace distances”). However, the difficulty to find those distances for pre-industrial farmers has often led to the use of other kinds of distances. One example is the distance between the birthplace and the place of residence of each individual (“residence distances”). Another example is the separation between the birthplaces of parents (“mating distances”). It is poorly known to what extent the latter two distances are valid approximations to birthplace distances. In order to address this question, we have prepared a database with the three distances for a specific pre-industrial agricultural population (the Yanomamö). For the spread of the Neolithic in Europe, all three kinds of distances yield spread rates consistent with the archaeological data, as well as cultural effects below 50% (so demic diffusion was more important than cultural diffusion). The three kinds of distances also yield estimations for the percentage of early farmers who interbred with hunter-gatherers that are consistent with the corresponding estimation from genetics. There is wide agreement for the cultural and demic effects in other expansions of agriculture and/or herding (the spread of the Neolithic in Asia, Bantu, and Khoikhoi expansions; the spread of rice in Asia, etc.) and using distances measured for other populations. We conclude that estimates are largely insensitive to the kind of distances used. This implies that the conclusions drawn so far in the literature using these three kinds of distances are robust.
... As described by Sadr [17], three scenarios are currently proposed for the spread of domesticated caprines based on archaeological, linguistic and genetic data: the migration model, in which the caprine herds were brought south by mass movement of Khoe-speaking groups [29,94,95]; the demic model, in which livestock was traded from one group to a neighbouring one, without human migration [96]; and finally, a 'small-scale' model in which their diffusion was more sporadic, as hunter-gatherer groups slowly became 'hunters with sheep' [4,97]. Although not intended to document the first occurrences of domesticated caprines in both eastern and southern Africa, our dataset, combined with the available zooarchaeological evidence in the same archaeological layers for each site, allows us to observe the associated presence of wild species of antelope and domesticated caprines at all studied sites. ...
We report the first large-scale palaeoproteomics research on eastern and southern African zooarchaeological samples, thereby refining our understanding of early caprine (sheep and goat) pastoralism in Africa. Assessing caprine introductions is a complicated task because of their skeletal similarity to endemic wild bovid species and the sparse and fragmentary state of relevant archaeological remains. Palaeoproteomics has previously proved effective in clarifying species attributions in African zooarchaeological materials, but few comparative protein sequences of wild bovid species have been available. Using newly generated type I collagen sequences for wild species, as well as previously published sequences, we assess species attributions for elements originally identified as caprine or ‘unidentifiable bovid’ from 17 eastern and southern African sites that span seven millennia. We identified over 70% of the archaeological remains and the direct radiocarbon dating of domesticate specimens allows refinement of the chronology of caprine presence in both African regions. These results thus confirm earlier occurrences in eastern Africa and the systematic association of domesticated caprines with wild bovids at all archaeological sites. The combined biomolecular approach highlights repeatability and accuracy of the methods for conclusive contribution in species attribution of archaeological remains in dry African environments.
... Conversely, challenges in establishing settlements in sub-Saharan regions may partly account for the higher prevalence of single-rooted configurations observed in Egypt, as compared to Nigeria and South Africa, in the current study. These countries have a greater influence of Paleolithic lineage, as the introduction of agriculture occurred primarily through cultural diffusion 32 . The outcomes for single-rooted configurations in the Americas and Oceania appear to bear a resemblance to the Asian results, possibly due to the shared migration routes taken by humans in these regions, which could have originated from Asia 33 . ...
... This law has strong support from mathematical models (Sec. 16.4) and it is consistent with the observed rates for two expansions in which cultural diffusion has been proposed to be of importance, namely those of Khoi-khoi herders in southern Africa [39] and the southern Bantu spread in East Africa [36]. For both case studies (Khoi-khoi and southern Bantu), the lower bounds (1.2 km/yr and 1.3 km/yr, respectively) are close to 1 km/yr, so they also agree with the first law. ...
... Most inland and coastal Neolithic spreads are mainly demic. The only examples known up to now that might be perhaps mainly cultural are the spread of maize in America [41] and the expansion of Khoi-khoi herders in southern Africa [39]. Anyway, the fourth law is valid for all 13 case studies of farmers listed in the first law, as well as for the coastal spread of the Neolithic along the western Mediterranean [23]. ...
We cannot predict the behavior of a single person using mathematical equations. However, if we consider many individuals, we can observe certain regularities in the overall reproductive and dispersive behavior of human populations. This is not surprising because the same happens with non-human species. Indeed, the latter are routinely studied by many ecologists who describe biological invasions by means of mathematical models. Here we do the same for a specific phenomenon in human prehistory: the Neolithic transition, i.e., the shift from hunting-gathering into farming economics. The spread of the Neolithic across Europe from the Near East has been well-established by archeologists. We review models that attempt to estimate to what extent it was due to demic diffusion (dispersal of farming populations) and/or to cultural diffusion (incorporation of hunter-gatherers into the farming populations). We also discuss recent, similar work on Neolithic transitions in other continents, which has led to the proposal of several general laws of Neolithic spread.
... We cannot account for its use in eastern Africa, but we highlight that local hunter-gatherers had social networks with radii reaching~100 km or more (Marshall 1976;Wiessner 1982;Wadley 1993). Within such systems, ideas originating anywhere on the landscape could spread from group to group across the subcontinent within a single human generation without groups/individuals travelling vast distances (Jerardino et al. 2014;Högberg & Lombard 2020). We therefore do not see distance as a disqualifier for using type-site designations. ...
... In this formal way, Fort was able to conclude that demic diffusion was thus the main driving factor behind the spread of the Neolithic, explaining 60% of the spread rate. A related study applied this framework to study the spread of agriculture in southern Africa (Jerardino et al. 2014), concluding that in contrast to Europe southern African prehistoric agricultural diffusion was a mainly cultural process. ...
Modelling can mean many things, but in this chapter, it is used to refer to the process whereby formal expressions about systems are made using algorithms and the language of mathematics. These mathematical constructs are then used to provide new insight or make predictions about data. Modelling is an important aspect of many fields of research and study, but can also be a rather complex and difficult undertaking. Archaeologists are generally much more comfortable defining models using verbal expressions rather than equations. Yet, the process of describing and refining such verbal descriptions often leads to imperfect mutual understanding among workers about what archaeological phenomenon is being discussed, what components of the underlying cultural system are reflected in the evidence, and what new insight is being offered by the outcome of the investigation.
... 30 Similarly, a related model focusing primarily on sheep suggests that diffusion was the main process. 31 Branching off from the second option, a third alternative seeks a middle ground. Its advocates have argued that ceramics were part of a wider herding knowledge system that began in southern Africa with infiltrations of individuals and small groups with livestock sometime in the last five centuries BCE, most probably from a source in East Africa. ...
Pottery has been part of daily life in southern Africa for the last two millennia. The frequent occurrence at settlement sites and its resistance to decay makes pottery the most common proxy for past food-producing communities (farmers and livestock herders), who made containers for cooking, serving, and storing foods and liquids. Provided that pots and sherds have enough diagnostic features to indicate décor patterns and vessel shape, trained eyes can get an instant and literally cost-free peek into past movement and interaction. Various material sciences offer high-precision dating and insights into less visible characteristics, and ethnographic insights are helpful for understanding more intangible aspects, such as the organization of production, pots’ roles in social practices and belief systems, and the transmission of knowledge and skills through apprenticeship. Potting has been a highly gendered activity, and attention to social identity is instrumental in widening the range of lenses through which archaeologists view past material culture. In this manner, by focusing on skilled craft networks dominated by women, ceramic research can provide a critical corrective alternative to more traditional top-down narratives that trace the evolution and interaction of (male) elites.
However, the European and North American legacy of archaeological classification in southern Africa cannot be overlooked. Ceramic classification may still unwillingly project a Western-centered understanding of the human condition, mobility, and social change. While unacceptable labels that refer to outmoded notions of tribalism have long been replaced by more neutral terms, this does not mean that ceramics provide archaeology with a neutral “tracking device.” A continual key challenge for practitioners in southern Africa is to situate ceramic analysis within a wider thematic and disciplinary nexus in order to construct convincing deep time narratives while also exploring new pathways to insights that can give voices to otherwise silent or subaltern members of past societies.
... However, some scholars have challenged the hypothesis of a major migratory event, based on a number of apparent inconsistencies. First, it has been suggested that there is little archaeological evidence for an overturn in material culture following the arrival of sheep to southern Africa (Sadr 2008), in sharp contrast with the relatively fast spread of herding in the region (Jerardino et al. 2014). Second, the ethnographic record does not necessarily support a relationship between the whole Khoe-Kwadi family and pastoralism: although the Kwadi and Khokhoe branches are presently associated with a pastoralist subsistence, other Khoe-Kwadi speakers -most notably from the Kalahari Khoe branchare hunter-gatherers and display foraging practices similar to their Kx'a and Tuu neighbors (Barnard 1992). ...
... Second, the ethnographic record does not necessarily support a relationship between the whole Khoe-Kwadi family and pastoralism: although the Kwadi and Khokhoe branches are presently associated with a pastoralist subsistence, other Khoe-Kwadi speakers -most notably from the Kalahari Khoe branchare hunter-gatherers and display foraging practices similar to their Kx'a and Tuu neighbors (Barnard 1992). Third, the extreme fragmentation of the eastern African component in modern Khoe-Kwadi speakers requires explanation and may suggest that the role played by demic processes in the pre-Bantu transition to pastoralism was relatively minor (Jerardino et al. 2014;Uren et al. 2016). ...
The present-day diversity of southern African populations was shaped by the confluence of three major pre-historic settlement layers associated with distinct linguistic strata: i) an early occupation by foragers speaking languages of the Kx'a and Tuu families; ii) a Late Stone Age migration of pre-Bantu pastoralists from eastern Africa associated with Khoe-Kwadi languages; iii) the Iron Age expansion of Bantu-speaking farmers from West-Central Africa who reached southern Africa from the western and eastern part of the continent. Uniting data and methodologies from linguistics and genetics, we review evidence for the origins, migration routes and internal diversification patterns of all three layers. By examining the impact of admixture and sex-biased forms of interaction, we show that southern Africa can be characterized as a zone of high contact between foraging and food-producing communities, involving both egalitarian interactions and socially stratified relationships. A special focus on modern groups speaking languages of the Khoe-Kwadi family further reveals how contact and admixture led to the generation of new ethnic identities whose diverse subsistence patterns and cultural practices have long puzzled scholars from various disciplines.
... The approach has seen a number of additional features, including the use of alternative distance metrics, formal comparisons of putative points of origin, and spatially explicit models that account for geographic variation in the dispersal process (4,8,38,39). Despite differences in methodology (particularly with regard to how error ranges are calculated and reported), this wealth of case studies provides some benchmark estimates on the speed of the dispersal process, with figures around 0.6 to 1.3 km/year for Europe (9,10,14), 2.4 ± 1.0 km/year for South Africa (42), and values from 0.45 to 2.88 km/year for different parts of tropical South America (6). ...
The adoption of rice farming during the first millennium BC was a turning point in Japanese prehistory, defining the subsequent cultural, linguistic, and genetic variation in the archipelago. Here, we use a suite of novel Bayesian techniques to estimate the regional rates of dispersal and arrival time of rice farming using radiocarbon dates on charred rice remains. Our results indicate substantial variations in the rate of dispersal of rice within the Japanese islands, hinting at the presence of a mixture of demic and cultural diffusion, geographic variations in the suitability of its cultivation, and the possible role of existing social networks in facilitating or hindering the adoption of the new subsistence economy.
... In a subject like domestication and the origins of agriculture, where the archaeological record is incomplete in both space and time, and real-world experiments are unrealistic, the use of modelling and simulation has become a useful alternative for testing hypotheses and building theory [42]. However, the most important contributions within this framework have focus on the representation of plant domestication in terms of genetic change [25,43] and the geographical spread of the Neolithic transition [44][45][46][47], mainly for testing hypotheses related to regional or species-wise case studies. Exceptionally, there have been key contributions from niche construction and optimal foraging theory as well as complex adaptative systems, but such contributions have been mostly centred on the human side of the process [31,38,[48][49][50]. ...
The domestication of plants and the origin of agricultural societies has been the focus of much theoretical discussion on why, how, when, and where these happened. The ‘when’ and ‘where’ have been substantially addressed by different branches of archaeology, thanks to advances in methodology and the broadening of the geographical and chronological scope of evidence. However, the ‘why’ and ‘how’ have lagged behind, holding on to relatively old models with limited explanatory power. Armed with the evidence now available, we can return to theory by revisiting the mechanisms allegedly involved, disentangling their connection to the diversity of trajectories, and identifying the weight and role of the parameters involved. We present the Human-Plant Coevolution (HPC) model, which represents the dynamics of coevolution between a human and a plant population. The model consists of an ecological positive feedback system (mutualism), which can be reinforced by positive evolutionary feedback (coevolution). The model formulation is the result of wiring together relatively simple simulation models of population ecology and evolution, through a computational implementation in R. The HPC model captures a variety of potential scenarios, though which conditions are linked to the degree and timing of population change and the intensity of selective pressures. Our results confirm that the possible trajectories leading to neolithisation are diverse and involve multiple factors. However, simulations also show how some of those factors are entangled, what are their effects on human and plant populations under different conditions, and what might be the main causes fostering agriculture and domestication.
