All,
The following papers – which you may not have seen – are, in some ways, relevant to the discussion topic that has recently popped up on the Forum (click
HERE):
Forster, Peter. 2004. Ice Ages and the mitochondrial DNA chronology
of human dispersals: a review. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 359: 255–264.
Abstract:
Modern DNA, in particular maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), is now routinely used to trace ancient human migration routes and to obtain absolute dates for genetic prehistory. The errors on absolute genetic dates are often large (50% or more) and depend partly on the inherent evolutionary signal in the DNA data, and partly on our imperfect knowledge of the DNA mutation rate. Despite their imprecision, the genetic dates do provide an independent, consistent and global chronology linking living humans with their ancestors. Combining this chronology with archaeological and climatological data, most of our own mtDNA studies during the past decade strongly imply a major role for palaeoclimate in determining conditions for prehistoric migrations and demographic expansions. This paper summarizes our interpretation of the genetic findings, covering the initial and modest spread of humans within Africa more than 100 ka, the striking re-expansion within Africa 60–80 ka, leading ultimately to the out-of-Africa migration of a single, small group which settled in Australia, Eurasia and America during windows of opportunity at least partly dictated by fluctuations in sea-levels and climatic conditions.
Keywords:
female; migration; prehistory; genetics; palaeoclimate; demography
Click
HERE for a free PDF of the full article.
It is one of the papers (contribution 14) that resulted from
The evolutionary legacy of the Ice Ages, a conference that was mentioned earlier,
HEREAlso from the same source is:
Gamble, Clive, William Davies, Paul Pettitt, and Martin Richards. 2004. Climate change and evolving human diversity in Europe during the last glacial. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, 359: 243–254.
Abstract:
A link between climate change and human evolution during the Pleistocene has often been assumed but rarely tested. At the macro-evolutionary level Foley showed for hominids that extinction, rather than speciation, correlates with environmental change as recorded in the deep sea record. Our aim is to examine this finding at a smaller scale and with high-resolution environmental and archaeological archives. Our interest is in changing patterns of human dispersal under shifting Pleistocene climates during the last glacial period in Europe. Selecting this time frame and region allows us to observe how two hominid taxa, Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, adapted to climatic conditions during oxygen isotope stage 3. These taxa are representative of two hominid adaptive radiations, termed terrestrial and aquatic, which exhibited different habitat preferences but similar tolerances to climatic factors. Their response to changing ecological conditions was predicated upon their ability to extend their societies in space and time. We examine this difference further using a database of all available radiocarbon determinations from western Europe in the late glacial. These data act as proxies for population history, and in particular the expansion and contraction of regional populations as climate changed rapidly. Independent assessment of these processes is obtained from the genetic history of Europeans. The results indicate that climate affects population contraction rather than expansion. We discuss the consequences for genetic and cultural diversity which led to the legacy of the Ice Age: a single hominid species, globally distributed.
Keywords:
radiation; stage 3; late glacial; Greenland ice-core project; radiocarbon; phylogeography
As far as I can tell, a full version of the latter can only be accessed through the actual Royal Society site,
HERE, and by clicking
HERE, you’ll get a complete listing of the papers published in this what is a most interesting and informative issue.
Jacques Cinq-Mars
