Climate, African and Beringian subaerial continental shelves, and migration of early peoples

Hetherington, Renée; Wiebe, Edward C.; Weaver, Andrew J.; Carto, Shannon L.; Eby, Michael; MacLeod, R F

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.06.033

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…These relationships are consistent with a demographic history in which structure among EHG populations emerged before the Last Glacial Maximum (∼21 kya). This period has been identified as one of increased aridity and reduced temperatures in East Africa; these climatic conditions were accompanied by shifts in vegetation, particularly reduced forest coverage (101,102), and these environmental changes are thought to have triggered human dispersals into environmental refugia (103). Thus, we have uncovered a connection among geographically disparate HG populations in East Africa, consistent with a broad geographic distribution of their ancestors in the late Pleistocene before 30 kya.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Genomic evidence for shared common ancestry of East African hunting-gathering populations and insights into local adaptation

Scheinfeldt

Soi

Lambert

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Anatomically modern humans arose in Africa ∼300,000 years ago, but the demographic and adaptive histories of African populations are not well-characterized. Here, we have generated a genome-wide dataset from 840 Africans, residing in western, eastern, southern, and northern Africa, belonging to 50 ethnicities, and speaking languages belonging to four language families. In addition to agriculturalists and pastoralists, our study includes 16 populations that practice, or until recently have practiced, a hunting-gathering (HG) lifestyle. We observe that genetic structure in Africa is broadly correlated not only with geography, but to a lesser extent, with linguistic affiliation and subsistence strategy. Four East African HG (EHG) populations that are geographically distant from each other show evidence of common ancestry: the Hadza and Sandawe in Tanzania, who speak languages with clicks classified as Khoisan; the Dahalo in Kenya, whose language has remnant clicks; and the Sabue in Ethiopia, who speak an unclassified language. Additionally, we observed common ancestry between central African rainforest HGs and southern African San, the latter of whom speak languages with clicks classified as Khoisan. With the exception of the EHG, central African rainforest HGs, and San, other HG groups in Africa appear genetically similar to neighboring agriculturalist or pastoralist populations. We additionally demonstrate that infectious disease, immune response, and diet have played important roles in the adaptive landscape of African history. However, while the broad biological processes involved in recent human adaptation in Africa are often consistent across populations, the specific loci affected by selective pressures more often vary across populations.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Genomic evidence for shared common ancestry of East African hunting-gathering populations and insights into local adaptation

Scheinfeldt

Soi

Lambert

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…14 Nonetheless, in sub-Saharan Africa, glacial periods such as MIS 6 were often, but not exclusively, accompanied by aridity with expanding deserts and arid regions. 18,19 Such regions could have hampered interand/or intra-regional movement of humans and other animals. 17 Data for MIS 6 in South Africa indicate two dry phases, interspersed by a wet phase at ~140-130 ka ( Figure 3).…”

Section: Context Within the Mis Chronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…20 During such interglacial phases wetter climates and extended woodlands are expected, yet these remain general trends that might not apply equally to all regions or environmental niches. 18,19 As a whole, MIS 5 comprises a sequence of sub-stages alternating between warmer and cooler conditions ( Figure 3). 21 MIS 5e was an early warm interval, and was followed by irregular, but generally cooler, conditions culminating in the glacial conditions of MIS 4 (~71/74-60 ka).…”

Section: Context Within the Mis Chronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging disciplines to better elucidate the evolution of early Homo sapiens in southern Africa

2013

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Bridging disciplines to better elucidate the evolution of early Homo sapiens in southern Africa Elucidating the history of Homo sapiens has been a passion shared by many researchers spanning several decades. There are now overwhelming lines of evidence from genetic, archaeological, palaeoanthropological and, to some extent, palaeoenvironmental research, that place Africa as the region of origin of our species. The different fields of study use diverse types of data, and methods are subject to variances introduced by mutation rates, time estimates and/or sampling biases. All of these approaches have their respective shortcomings and error ranges and are accompanied by intense debate. Yet, it is timeous to review the most recent and salient highlights that the different approaches are contributing towards explaining our deep history and ancestry. It is, after all, one history, and consequently, there ought to be several convergent patterns between data sets. Our focus is to present an updated regional synthesis from each discipline for a specific window in time within the southern African context, namely between ~160 ka and 85 ka, and to speculate about possible connections between data sets for this period. Even though our focus is specific in time and space, it is not intended to consider southern Africa in isolation from the rest of Africa or to suggest a singular 'origins' locale for modern Homo sapiens. We hope that this integrated approach will stimulate discussions to include broader time periods within Africa and between continents. Genetic insights into the past The genetic approach, when reconstructing the past, focuses on the patterns of genetic variation found in living people, and in some instances uses ancient DNA found in human remains such as skeletal material and teeth. Computational methods are then applied to examine how the changes or mutations in DNA can be traced to a common point in the past. Since the 1980s, haploid genomes-the maternally transmitted mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the paternally transmitted Y-chromosome DNA-are widely used in population genetic studies to examine the genetic affinities of groups around the globe. Several independent studies have now shown that the ancestors of all living humans diverged from a common mtDNA ancestor before 100 ka, and that the most divergent mtDNA haplogroup, L0d, is strongly associated with the Khoe-San as well as some Coloured groups from southern Africa. 1-4 Haplogroup L0d is found at high frequencies in all Khoe-San and selected Coloured groups, ranging in frequency from 45% in the Cape Coloured group 3 to 100% in the Karretjie People 1. Using mtDNA control region sequence variation, haplogroup L0d was estimated to have a coalescence time of 87±18 ka and to have diverged from the other L0 groups about 96±20 ka. 4 These age estimates are shallower in time when compared with estimates based on whole mtDNA genome sequencing data. In the latter case, the coalescent time for L0d was ~100±10 ka, the divergence time of L0d from other L0 haplogrou...

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The Late Quaternary Hominins of Africa: The Skeletal Evidence from MIS 6-2

Grine

2016

Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology

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Climate, African and Beringian subaerial continental shelves, and migration of early peoples

Cited by 10 publications

References 107 publications

Genomic evidence for shared common ancestry of East African hunting-gathering populations and insights into local adaptation

Genomic evidence for shared common ancestry of East African hunting-gathering populations and insights into local adaptation

Bridging disciplines to better elucidate the evolution of early Homo sapiens in southern Africa

The Late Quaternary Hominins of Africa: The Skeletal Evidence from MIS 6-2

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