From Lake Baikal to Lake Chad: The Y-Chromosome R1b-V88 Mutation and Ecological Plasticity.

Abstract

Among researchers who explore the prehistory of language, ecological plasticity is an important concept. The evolutionary history of the Y-chromosome R1b-V88 mutation presents a unique opportunity to build important empirical support for this largely theoretical idea. R1b-V88 evolved roughly 12,000 years ago, a time in prehistory that coincides with the end of the Last Ice Age. With the onset of the Holocene and warmer climatic conditions, the mammoths and many of the other large herbivores of northern Eurasia became extinct. The evolutionary history of R1b-V88 records human adaptation to the loss of these large herbivores which had formed the basis of their subsistence strategy for tens of thousands of years. Those who adapted include fishermen along the banks of the Danube, Mesolithic Sardinians who fled wildfire, hippo hunters of the last African human period, and Neolithic cattle herders along the shoreline of Lake Chad.

Full text

From Lake Baikal to Lake Chad: The Y-
Chromosome R1b-V88 Mutation and Ecological
Plasticity.
The Genetic-Linguistic Interface Project.
by Dr. Michael St. Clair, PhD
Wolfschlugener Str. 16
70597 Stuttgart, Germany
July 15, 2024
Email: mstclair@genlinginterface.com
Personal Website: https://genlinginterface.com/

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Abstract:
Among researchers who explore the prehistory of language, ecological plasticity is an important
concept. The evolutionary history of the Y-chromosome R1b-V88 mutation presents a unique
opportunity to build important empirical support for this largely theoretical idea. R1b-V88 evolved
roughly 12,000 years ago, a time in prehistory that coincides with the end of the Last Ice Age. With the
onset of the Holocene and warmer climatic conditions, the mammoths and many of the other large
herbivores of northern Eurasia became extinct. The evolutionary history of R1b-V88 records human
adaptation to the loss of these large herbivores which had formed the basis of their subsistence
strategy for tens of thousands of years. Those who adapted include fishermen along the banks of the
Danube, Mesolithic Sardinians who fled wildfire, hippo hunters of the last African human period, and
Neolithic cattle herders along the shoreline of Lake Chad.
Keywords: Y-chromosome mutations; ecological plasticity; cold-adapted cultures; climate change;
Iron Gates Mesolithic; Sardinian Mesolithic; North African Mesolithic; African Neolithic; language
variation.
1. Introduction
According to genetic and archaeological evidence, Homo Sapiens evolved roughly 300,000 years ago
(Mendez et al. 2012; Hublin et al. 2017). Dating the evolution of language among the humans is more
complicated. The strategy involves the development of estimates from archaeological data supporting
cognitive milestones that may have required the behavioral adaptation called language. An especially
strong indicator of human cognition stems from the observation that much of animal life on our planet
occupies a narrow ecological niche. An alligator, for example, cannot survive the pack ice of the arctic
circle, and a polar bear is ill-equipped to thrive and survive in the everglades. We, the Homo sapiens,
on the other hand, can adapt to both environments because our cognitive abilities help to develop
novel solutions to climate change. Our ability to adapt to environmental change is called “ecological
plasticity.” To build important empirical support for this largely theoretical concept, this paper
discusses the evolutionary history of the R1b-V88 mutation.
A 2018 paper by Roberts and Stewart provides an important foundation for exploring the concept of
ecological plasticity. The researchers take the position that the exodus from Africa pushed Homo
sapiens into new biomes. Our cognitive abilities then forged cultural adaptations that exploited the
new opportunities that they offered and overcame the limitations that they imposed. Anthrpological
support for this position includes successful human adaptation to climate extremes such as deserts,
rainforests, high altitude, and the arctic tundra. Roberts and Stewart (2018) also take the position that
“ecological plasticity” among humans was facilitated by highly advanced collaborative problem-
solving skills that require language. According to the researchers, when the human tribe migrated out
of Africa into new ecological environments, no single person could possess all of the requisite
knowledge for adapting to climate change. However, the tribe could collectively develop an adaptive
response and then transmit this knowledge to the next generation.
In his 2021 monograph, St. Clair reported 110 linguistically informative mutations. Evolutionary
analysis of these mutations rendered surprising agreement with a paper published in 2018 by Roberts
and Stewart. One of the linguistically informative mutations identified by St. Clair in 2021 is the R1b-
V88 mutation, a downstream variant of the R-M207 haplogroup. The R1b-V88 mutation attains a
significant frequency among Chadic-speaking populations in the Sahel region of Africa. This is a
surprising observation. First, haplogroup R-M207 variants are mostly found among the populations of
western Eurasia (Myres et al. 2011; Underhill et al. 2015). Secondly, the evolutionary history of

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haplogroup R-M207 is generally a collection of Eurasian markers that St. Clair (2021: Chapters 17 and
18) associates with the collapse of the mammoth hunter tradition at the onset of the Holocene, roughly
12,000 years ago. As such, the ubiquitous presence of R-M207 variants in western Eurasia is easily
explained by the collapse of the mammoth hunter tradition. Yet, the idea of former mammoth hunters
along the shoreline of Lake Chad seems far-fetched. Accordingly, the R1b-V88 mutation presents an
opportunity to generate important empirical support for the concept of ecological plasticity. In other
words, the data may well support a series of complex cultural adaptations that ultimately transformed
cold-adapted mammoth hunters of the Eurasian steppes into cattle herders inhabiting the Sahel, a
vastly different region characterized by tropical semi-arid climatic conditions.
2. The Present and Past Distribution of R1b-V88
The R1b-V88 mutation, a variant of Haplogroup R-M207, was initially reported by Cruciani et al. 2010.
Important updates include Haber et al. (2016) and D’Atanasio et al. (2018). Among contemporary
populations (see Supplementary Table 1), the R1b-V88 mutations attains a significant frequency in the
Sahel region of Africa, especially among the Chadic-speaking population living in the vicinity of Lake
Chad. Within this region, the mutation is also reported among populations speaking Nilo-Saharan
and Niger-Congo languages. In North Africa, the mutation is reported among Berber-speaking
populations. Outside of Africa, the R1b-V88 mutation attains a frequency of around 2.5 percent among
contemporary Sardinians (Francalacci et al. 2015). Elsewhere, the mutation is virtually absent.
Turning now to the ancient DNA data (see Supplementary Table 2), the R1b-V88 mutation first
appears on the “radar screen” roughly 10,000 years ago at the Iron Gates, a section of the Danube
River along the contemporary border between Serbia and Romania. Additionally, the mutation is
found in Neolithic remains from Sardinia.
3. Phylogenetic Relationships
Figure 1 (below) illustrates important phylogenetic relationships which carry the evolutionary history
of the R1b-V88 mutation. This mutation is a variant of haplogroup R-M207. As discussed later in this
paper, the R-M207 haplogroup arose near Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia. The available data, however,
suggest that R1b-V88 arose somewhere in Eastern Europe. Important downstream variants of R1b-V88
later evolved on Sardinia and in northern Africa.
4. Lake Baikal
According to the available data, haplogroup R-M207 evolved roughly 30,000 years ago near Lake
Baikal in Eastern Siberian (Raghavan et al. 2014). This haplogroup evolved against the background of
the Last Glacial Maximum and the so-called “mammoth steppes.” St. Clair 2021 (Chapters 17 and 18)
discusses archaeological, genetic, and climate support for this unique ecosystem that extended across
Northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene. The mammoth steppes supported a variety of large
herbivores such as mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, wild horses, reindeer, and bison. Cold-adapted
Paleolithic hunter-gatherers of Northern Eurasia harvested this food resource from about 50,000 years
ago until the beginning of the Holocene, roughly 12,000 years ago. During the extreme climatic
conditions of northern Eurasia during the Last Ice Age, hunter-gatherers thrived and survived
because of a plentiful source of protein that could be harvested at a comparatively small expenditure
of energy.
Harvesting the large mammals of the Eurasian steppes, such as mammoths, clearly required
specialized hunting skills. A mammoth, for example, is about the same size as a modern-day African
elephant. As such, the archaeological evidence for mammoth hunting suggests that the Paleolithic
hunter-gatherers of northern Eurasia were capable of collaborative that involved planning among

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Figure 1. Phylogenetic Relationships
Blue outline represents European R1b-V88 variation. Green represents African R1b-V88 variation.
Time estimates from YFull. See https://www.yfull.com/tree/R-V88/
Phylogenetic relationships follow the ISOGG Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree 2017, Version: 12.334, dated
28 December 2017. See https://isogg.org/tree/2017/index17.html
Location of where a mutation evolved is my opinion.
Haplogroup R-M207
Evolved roughly 30,000 years ago near
Lake Baikal among cold adapted
Pleistocene hunter-gatherers.
R1a-M420
Significant frequency among
the populations of Eastern
Europe and South Asia.
R1b-M343
R1b1a1a1-M73
Central Eurasian
marker.
R1b1a1a2-M269
Significant marker for
Western Europe.
R1b1a2-V88
Found in North Africa
and the Sahel.
R1b1a2a-M18
Low frequency among
contemporary Sardinians.
Evolved on Sardinia
roughly 11,000 years ago.
R1b1a2b-V3608
R1b1a2b1-Y8451
Evolved roughly 9,100
years ago.
R1b1a2b1a-V35
Low frequency among
contemporary Europeans
and Sardinians. Evolved
roughly 7,600 years ago.
R1b1a2b1b-FGC20970
R1b1a2b1b1-V1589
Significant frequency among the
populations of the Lake Chad Region.
Evolved roughly 7,600 years ago.
P1-M45

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several individuals. Additionally, it should also be stressed that mammoth hunting was dangerous. It
must have involved some sort of risk assessment among the Paleolithic hunter-gatherers of northern
Eurasia and the potential reward obviously outweighed the risk. Mammoth provided raw materials
for making cutting tools, projectile points for spears, hide for clothing and shelter, dung and bones as
fuel for fire, and thousands of kilograms of meat. For a more detailed discussion, see Pitulko and
Nikolskiy 2012; Pitulko et al. 2016; Pfeifer et al. 2019.
Figure 2. Lake Baikal
5. The Iron Gates
As explained previously, haplogroup R-M207 stands as a genetic relic of the mammoth hunter
tradition that evolved on the Eurasian steppes during the Last Ice Age. Roughly 12,000 years ago, with
the onset of the Holocene and warmer weather, mammoths and other large herbivores of the
mammoth steppes became extinct as the result of climate change (i.e. Nogués-Bravo et al. 2008).
Remarkably, the human who hunted them could adapt. Consequently, several haplogroup R-M207
mutations now stand as genetic relics of the collapse of this tradition at the onset of the Holocene.
Among these relics is the R1b-V88 mutation.
According to a 2018 study (D’Atanasio et al.), R1b-V88 evolved around 12,000 years ago in Eastern
Europe, a point in prehistory that coincides with the onset of the Holocene. Support for this position
comes from ancient DNA harvested from the Iron Gates, a 230-kilometer section of the Danube River
dividing contemporary Serbia and Romania. Archaeologically, the Iron Gates provides a remarkable
picture of the European Mesolithic. See Bonsall et al. (2008) for additional details. See, also, Figure 3, a
map of significant archeological sites within the Iron Gates region). Genetic data harvested from
Mesolithic human remains excavated from archaeological sites at this location provide the oldest
ancient DNA documentation for the R1b-V88 mutation. They are dated between 8,000 and 11,000
years ago. Interestingly, the Iron Gates Mesolithic tradition was unique compared to other Mesolithic
cultures elsewhere in Europe. At the Iron Gates, the Mesolithic tradition consisted largely of sedentary
groups (Dimitrijević et al. 2016). Normally, hunter-gathers are nomadic as they must migrate across a
large geographic expanse in search of food resources. Sedentism, for the most part, evolved during the
Neolithic.
Sedentism among the cultures of the Iron Gates Mesolithic is linked to abundant aquatic food
resources from the Danube River, especially large fish such as sturgeon, catfish, Danube salmon, and
carp, which represent sources of high-quality protein. This conclusion is supported by stable isotope
analysis of human remains from the Mesolithic (Bonsall et al. 1997; Bonsall et al. 2004) that present

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data confirming the prevalence of aquatic protein among individuals of this period. As such, evidence
of sedentism from the Iron Gates Mesolithic links the evolutionary history of R1b-V88 with cultural
adaptations that enabled the human tribe to survive the collapse of the Upper Paleolithic mammoth
hunter tradition. Insight into cultural adaptation among the cultures of the Iron Gates Mesolithic is
provided by Bartosiewicz et al. in an interesting paper from 2008. Here, researchers describe the
harvesting of sturgeon by Mesolithic within the middle and lower Danube region. They note that
sturgeons can weigh 100 kilograms or more. As such, harvesting this food resource involves an
element of danger that must be overcome with collaboration among several individuals. For example,
site selection for harvesting this resource required planning. Additionally, they developed a plan for
butchering and moving the fish for consumption at another location. They also constructed and
maintained fish traps.
Figure 3. Iron Gates Map (courtesy of Clive Bonsall, used with permission)
6. Sardinia
Sardinia is an island in the Mediterranean that lies about 250 kilometers west of the Italian mainland.
Corsica is about 13 kilometers to the north. Tunisia is about 200 kilometers to the south (see Figure 4).
As previously mentioned, ancient DNA identifies Eastern Europe as the geographical origin of the
expansion of the R1b-V88 mutation. Contemporary data, on the other hand suggest an expansion of
R1b-V88 that terminated at Lake Chad in Africa. A combination of ancient and contemporary data
suggests that R1b-V88 reached North Africa via Sardinia. Finally, it should be noted that the available
data hinder determination as to whether the Sardinian Mesolithic was an extension of the Iron Gates
Mesolithic, or alternatively, if both traditions stem from a common ancestral population elsewhere.
Clearly, this is a topic for future research.
Among contemporary Sardinians, the R1b-V88 mutation attains a frequency of just 2.5 percent (see
Francalacci et al. 2015). Interestingly, specialized dating analysis of contemporary Y-chromosome data
for Sardinia (Contu et al. 2008) suggests that R1b-V88 is the genetic signature of human migration to
Sardinia during the Mesolithic. However, the ancient data for Sardinia only provides R1b-V88
mutations from Neolithic and Bronze Age remains that are dated roughly between 2,900 and 4,600
years ago (Supplementary Table 2). They were found on the Ticci Plateau in Central Sardina where
numerous caves provide evidence of human activity in the area dating from the Neolithic (see Skeates

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et al. 2013). As such, it might appear that ancient and contemporary data conflict. Was the R1b-V88
mutation present among Mesolithic Sardinians? An explanation follows the idea that Mesolithic
Sardinians lived along the coastline of the island and as such much of the Mesolithic data, including
human remains with the R1b-V88 mutation, probably disappeared as the result of Holocene warming
and rising sea levels.
Figure 4. Sardinia
Turning now to phylogenetic relationships that are downstream from R1b-V88, D’Atanasio et al.
(2018) identified R1b-M18 and R1b-V35 as Sardinian specific R1b-V88 variants that evolved on the
island during the Mesolithic. They are indicative of rapid population growth on the island. R1b-
V1589, on the other hand, is a R1b-V88 variant that probably evolved in Africa following a sea
migration to the continent from Sardinia. For additional clarification, the reader is directed to the
overview of phylogenetic relationships in Figure 1 (above) and the position of R1b-V1589 relative to
R1b-V35.
The idea that Mesolithic Sardinians crossed the Mediterranean Sea with primitive watercraft to North
Africa, an expanse of roughly 200 kilometers, seems plausible when one considers significant sea
crossings during the Paleolithic, such as the human colonization of Japan (Takashi 2012) or Australia
(Allen 2008). Additionally, archaeological evidence (Perrin et al. 2020) suggests sea voyages facilitated
the exchange of stone blades and distinctive trapeze-shaped points between North Africa, Sicily, and
southern Italy roughly 6,500 years ago, during the Late Mesolithic. Finally, evidence for sailing skills
among Mesolithic Sardinians stems from the idea that the human colonization of the island involved a
sea crossing from mainland Italy to Corsica and another sea crossing over the Strait of Bonofacio
between Corsica and Sardinia (Palombo et al. 2017; Lugliè 2018).
Carlo Lugliè, an authority in the field of Sardinian archaeology, notes in a paper from 2018 that the
Mesolithic in Sardinia remains poorly documented. He further argues that although the
archaeological record supports the ephemeral presence of humans on the island by around 10,000
years ago, a permanent human presence on the island cannot be established until the Neolithic,
roughly 7,700 years ago. As such, his arguments undermine a sea crossing that ultimately brought the
R1b-V88 to North Africa during the Mesolithic. In other words, the archeological evidence may
conflict with the genetic evidence as the contemporary data R1b-V88 data from Africa is indicative of
deliberate migration involving a significant number of individuals, probably more than a thousand
individuals. The importance of deliberate migration involving a significant population follows
modeling data for the human colonization of Australia (Bird et al. 2019). In other words, a mere
nautical accident cannot alter the genetic landscape.

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Support for a large and thriving Mesolithic population on Sardinia comes from burials at S’Omu e
S’Orku (SOMK), an archaeological site on the southwestern coast of Sardinia. A synthesis of data from
this site (Melis and Mussi 2016; Melis et al. 2023) suggests that Mesolithic people resided along the
Sardinian coastline where they harvested food resources from the sea. Meanwhile, Holocene warming
caused the glacial ice to melt, which caused sea levels to rise, which ultimately erased much of the
archaeological record for the Mesolithic activity along the Sardinian coastline. Fortunately, the unique
location of the SOMK archaeological site, nestled amongst 5-to-10-meter cliffs facing the sea, facilitated
preservation of valuable Mesolithic data. Important remains include three human skeletons, the oldest
from an individual who died about 9,000 years ago. Remains also include obsidian and jasper
artifacts, as well as abundant Prolagus sardus remains.
Commonly known as Sardinian pika, Prolagus sardus weighed about 800 grams. This extinct small
mammal provided roughly 80 percent of the food resources for Mesolithic Sardinians (Sondaar and
van der Geer 2000). Moreover, this food resource must have seemed inexhaustible as Prolagus had a
high reproduction rate. Conceivably, the availability of Prolagus as a food resource facilitated better
reproductive success among the humans who trapped them, and in turn, Mesolithic Sardinia could
have had greater population density relative to other areas of Europe.
For researchers, evidence of frequent wildfire during the Sardinian Mesolithic supports the idea that a
Mesolithic sea migration to North Africa was deliberate. In other words, Mesolithic people fled the
island to escape an environmental catastrophe, and in the process, brought the R1b-V88 mutation to
Africa. This follows another substantial find at the SOMK archaeological site, the abundance of ash
from wildfires (Melis and Mussi 2016; Melis et al. 2023). An explanation of the ash follows the
vegetation of Mesolithic Sardinia and the prevalence of Erica scoparia (common besom heath) and Erica
arborea (tree heath or tree heather). Since both are highly flammable, wildfire probably occurred
frequently during the Sardinian Mesolithic. Then, beginning perhaps 7,500 years ago, and lasting over
the course of several thousand years, evergreen oak forests replaced eventually Erica and the threat of
wildfire diminished (Beffa et al. 2016; Pedrotta et al. 2021).
7. Mega-Lake Chad
The Sahara Desert of northern Africa is one the most uninhabitable regions of the world, a region
defined by sand dunes, temperatures can exceed 50 degrees centigrade, and no moisture. However,
about 10,000 years ago, as the result of global climate change, monsoon rains came to the region.
During this “humid phase” rain transformed the desert into a savanna defined by grassland, widely
spaced trees, rivers and lakes. The moisture also supported a variety of aquatic and terrestrial animals
that were harvested by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers living in the region. Then, about 3,000 to 4,000
years ago, the monsoon rains subsided, and the desert returned.
A fascinating study from 2011 (Drake et al.) presents the results of satellite imagery which confirms
the complex system rivers and lakes that appeared during the early Holocene in the Sahara (see Figure
5). Their study also discusses artifacts from the humid phase including numerous barbed bone points
left behind by the hunter-gatherers who once harvested food resources within this complex system of
rivers and lakes. With these points hunter-gatherers made harpoons. This technological adaptation
enabled them to harvest hippos, crocodiles, and fish that thrived here during the humid period.
A Y-chromosome study from 2018 (D’Atanasio), takes the position that R1b-V88 mutations in Africa
stand as genetic relic of the North African Mesolithic and the so-called humid period. As noted
previously, downstream phylogenetic relationships suggest that Sardinia was the source of R1b-V88
among Africans (see Figure 1). Dating estimates, as provided by YFull, suggest that the R1b-V1589
mutation, an African specific R1b-V88 variant, evolved roughly 7,600 years ago. This estimate helps to

8
determine when Mesolithic Sardinians crossed the Mediterranean to North Africa, probably about
8,000 years ago.
Figure 5: Humid Period (map courtesy of Nick Drake, used with permission).
Based on the shortest sea route to North Africa, seafarers from Mesolithic Sardina may have landed on
the Tunisian coast where they may have encountered and ultimately assimilated with the Capsian
Culture of the Maghreb. Broodbank and Lucarini in a 2019 paper describe the subsistence strategy of
the Early Capsian Mesolithic as a dependence on snails and mollusks. Beginning around 8,000 years
ago, their subsistence strategy diversified. Some of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers combed the
savannah with bows and arrows in search of large game animals such as gazelles, zebra, barbary
sheep, and bovids, and smaller game, such as tortoises, birds, and hares. Others exploited the
numerous mega-lakes and river systems and harvested fish, hippos, and crocodiles with harpoons,
hooks, and perhaps nets.
The assimilation of Mesolithic Sardinians into the Capsian cultural tradition is supported by the faint
presence of R1b-V88 mutations among contemporary Berbers of North African (see Supplementary
Table 1). This observation raises an important question, one that seeks to explain the heavy frequency
of R1b-V88 among the cultures of the southern Lake Chad Basin. As detailed by Drake et al. (2022),
the monsoon rain of the humid period created several “mega-lakes” in North Africa. A mega-lake has
a water surface area greater than 25,000 square kilometers. The largest of these lakes was Mega-Lake
Chad (see Figure 5), which had a surface area of around 350,000 square meters, which is roughly the
same size as the contemporary Caspian Sea at the eastern edge of the Caucasus region.
Today, as a result of dryer climatic conditions and other factors, Lake Chad is just fraction of the size
of the mega-lake it replaces, perhaps with a surface area of about 10,000 square kilometers.
MacEachern (2012) focuses on the Holocene history of the southern Lake Chad Basin utilizing a
synthesis of archaeological, linguistic, and genetic evidence. As noted previously, the R1b-V88
mutation attains a significant frequency among the populations of this region. According MacEachern
(2012), the archaeological record only supports significant human occupation of the southern Lake
Chad Basin beginning around 4,000 years ago. Interestingly, this coincides with the end of the last
humid phase, which explains why hunter-gatherers with the R1b-V88 mutation migrated to the

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region. As the climate became more arid in northern Africa, the food resources of the savanna and
monsoon-fed rivers disappeared. Mega-Lake Chad served as a refugium for these hunter-gatherers.
According MacEachern (2012), the receding shoreline of Mega-Chad, along with increased aridity,
ultimately created a grassland suitable for cattle grazing. Finally, about 3,000 years ago, people began
to cultivate cereal crops. Thus, the human tribe adapted, and the R1b-V88 mutation carries this
transformation among the contemporary populations of the Sahel.
8. Conclusions
This paper discusses the evolutionary history of the R1b-V88 mutation to generate empirical for the
concept of ecological plasticity. The data identify successful cultural adaptations that allowed the
human tribe to thrive and survive after the collapse of the mammoth-hunter tradition at the onset of
the Holocene. The R1b-V88 mutation first appears on the “radar screen” during the Mesolithic, about
10,000 years ago, at the Iron Gates, a section of the Danube River. Here, we find evidence that the
human tribe had abandoned mammoth hunting in favor of harvesting aquatic resources from the
Danube River, especially large fish such as sturgeon. Around the same time, the evolutionary history
of R1b-V88 also unfolds in Sardinia. At this point the human tribe had developed nautical skills that
allowed them to colonize the island. These early colonists adapted to their new environment by
trapping pika and harvesting food resources from the sea. They also employed their nautical skills
about 8,000 years ago to escape the island when threatened by wildfires. On the shores of North Africa
in Tunisia the story of R1b-V88 unfolds within the environmental context of the last humid period.
The monsoon rains transformed the Sahara Desert into a savannah and formed numerous rivers and
mega-lakes. The human tribe adapted and successfully exploited food resources that the humid phase
supported, such as hippos and crocodiles. When the monsoon rains ended, roughly 4,000 years ago,
the Sahara became, once again, a desert, and once again, the human tribe adapted. At Lake Chad, the
tribe abandoned hunting and gathering and built a new survival strategy based on the cultivation of
cereal crops and the herding of cattle.
Evidence of ecological plasticity, as detailed above, provides support for the idea that Homo sapiens
adapted to the collapse of the mammoth-hunter tradition through collaboration and the transfer of
knowledge from one generation to the next. The harvesting of Danube River sturgeon, for example,
was a complex collaborative undertaking that involved planning the activity of several individuals.
Evidence of knowledge transfer, on the other hand, is supported by evidence of maritime skills that
facilitated the human colonization of Corsica and Sardinia, and a sea crossing to North Africa that
occurred several generations later. Taking this a step further, evidence of collaboration and
knowledge transfer, as supported by the data, provides strong empirical support for a robust
correlation between human evolutionary success and the behavioral adaptation we call language.
Focusing now on future research, language certainly thrives and survives because the human tribe
thrives and survives. Nevertheless, linking language with evolutionary success still remains a
theoretical correlation that screams for more empirical support. Analysis of Y-chromosome mutations
provide numerous examples that illustrate human resiliency in the face of climate change and
environmental disaster. However, because of space constraints, this paper focuses on R1b-V88. This
observation raises an intriguing question, one that asks how the Y-chromosome consistently records
human evolutionary success. Perhaps the answer is organization. In other words, analysis of the
evolutionary history of Y-chromosome mutation facilitates the convergence of multiple lines of
evidence under a single umbrella.
Acknowledgments: A special thank you to Professor Nick Drake at King’s College London and
Professor Clive Bonsall at the University of Edinburgh for providing maps.

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Supplementary Files:
Supplementary Table 1
Supplementary Table 2
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