Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 112, Issue 43, Pages 13296-13301Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1503793112
Keywords
human dispersal; phylogeography; phylogenetics; languages; Bantu
Categories
Funding
- European Research Council [268744, 284126]
- Ghent University
- European Research Council (ERC) [268744, 284126] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Unlike most other biological species, humans can use cultural innovations to occupy a range of environments, raising the intriguing question of whether human migrations move relatively independently of habitat or show preferences for familiar ones. The Bantu expansion that swept out of West Central Africa beginning similar to 5,000 y ago is one of the most influential cultural events of its kind, eventually spreading over a vast geographical area a new way of life in which farming played an increasingly important role. We use a new dated phylogeny of similar to 400 Bantu languages to show that migrating Bantu-speaking populations did not expand from their ancestral homeland in a random walk but, rather, followed emerging savannah corridors, with rainforest habitats repeatedly imposing temporal barriers to movement. When populations did move from savannah into rainforest, rates of migration were slowed, delaying the occupation of the rainforest by on average 300 y, compared with similar migratory movements exclusively within savannah or within rainforest by established rainforest populations. Despite unmatched abilities to produce innovations culturally, unfamiliar habitats significantly alter the route and pace of human dispersals.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available