Evolutionary Demography and the Population History of the European Early Neolithic

Abstract

In this paper I propose that evolutionary demography and associated theory from human behavioral ecology provide a strong basis for explaining the available evidence for the patterns observed in the fi rst agricultural settlement of Europe in the 7th-5th millennium cal. BC, linking together a variety of what have previously been disconnected observations and casting doubt on some long-standing existing models. An outline of relevant aspects of life history theory, which provides the foundation for understanding demography, is followed by a review of large-scale demographic patterns in the early Neolithic, which point to rapid population increase and a process of demic diffusion. More localized socioeconomic and demographic patterns suggesting rapid expansion to local carrying capacities and an associated growth of inequality in the earliest farming communities of central Europe (the Linear Pottery Culture, or LBK) are then outlined and shown to correspond to predictions of spatial population ecology and reproductive skew theory. Existing models of why it took so long for farming to spread to northern and northwest Europe, which explain the spread in terms of the gradual disruption of hunter-gatherer ways of life, are then questioned in light of evidence for population collapse at the end of the LBK. Finally, some broader implications of the study are presented, including the suggestion that the pattern of an initial agricultural boom followed by a bust may be relevant in other parts of the world. Evolutionary Demography and the Population History of the European Early NeolithicStephen Shennan 1 Abstract In this paper I propose that evolutionary demography and associated theory from human behavioral ecology provide a strong basis for explaining the available evidence for the patterns observed in the fi rst agricultural settlement of Europe in the 7th-5th millennium cal. BC, linking together a variety of what have previously been disconnected observations and casting doubt on some long-standing existing models. An outline of relevant aspects of life history theory, which provides the foundation for understanding demography, is followed by a review of large-scale demographic patterns in the early Neolithic, which point to rapid population increase and a process of demic diffusion. More localized socioeconomic and demographic patterns suggesting rapid expansion to local carrying capacities and an associated growth of inequality in the earliest farming communities of central Europe (the Linear Pottery Culture, or LBK) are then outlined and shown to correspond to predictions of spatial population ecology and reproductive skew theory. Existing models of why it took so long for farming to spread to northern and northwest Europe, which explain the spread in terms of the gradual disruption of hunter-gatherer ways of life, are then questioned in light of evidence for population collapse at the end of the LBK. Finally, some broader implications of the study are presented, including the suggestion that the pattern o...

The evolutionary adaptation of the C282Y mutation to culture and climate during the European Neolithic

“…The LBK, for example, reached its height between 7500 and 6900 BP (Whittle, 1996), roughly 900 years before C282Y is thought to have mutated (Raha‐Chowdhury and Gruen, 2000; Symonette and Adams, 2011). As mentioned in the Introduction, the expansion of farming stalled in continental Europe for at least 1,000 years before crossing the channel into Britain and Ireland (Shennan, 2009). Therefore, genetic drift by founder effect may have influenced the initial spread of the C282Y allele during the expansion of the Neolithic into the British Isles.…”

“…The Neolithic first appears in Europe on the Island of Cyprus about 10,000 years ago (Pinhasi et al, 2005). Once the Neolithic reached the Hungarian Plains, by about 7,000 years ago, it rapidly moved throughout central Europe following the Danube River and its tributaries and settled on the rich loess soils ideal for farming (Jochim, 2000; Price, 2000, 2003; Price et al, 2001; Shennan, 2009, 2012; Bentley, 2013). The first farmers in Mainland Europe are associated with material remains known as the Linearbandkeramik Culture (LBK) whose temporal fingerprint is at its height between 7500 and 6900 BP (Whittle, 1996).…”

“…The first farmers in Mainland Europe are associated with material remains known as the Linearbandkeramik Culture (LBK) whose temporal fingerprint is at its height between 7500 and 6900 BP (Whittle, 1996). The Neolithic stalled in Mainland Europe not reaching the British Isles until about 6200 BP where, within less than 400 years, the Neolithicization of Britain and Ireland was rapid and complete (Richards et al, 2003; Shennan, 2009; Cunliffe, 2013; Whitehouse et al, 2013; Cramp et al, 2014; Woodbridge et al, 2014). …”

Climate Change Influenced Female Population Sizes Through Time Across the Indonesian Archipelago

“…Thus far in the study of human prehistory, BSPs have mostly been applied to large regional samples, often on continental scales (Atkinson et al 2008(Atkinson et al , 2009Fagundes et al 2008;Shennan 2009) or restricted to specific genetic lineages (e.g., mitochondrial DNA haplogroups; Soares et al 2011). However, the history of haplogroups cannot be disassociated from the dynamics of the populations from which they derive (Peng and Zhang 2011).…”

The Füzesabony-Gubakút Settlement Development Model of the Alföld Linear Pottery Culture in the Light of the Recent Archaeological Discoveries at Hejőpapi-Szeméttelep (2008-2011) and Bükkábrány-Bánya VII -Vasúti Dűlő (2009-2011)

“…For the time being then its lifelike character and the compactness as a means of explanation make both hereditary and clan models probable and it is for this reason that this model is favoured by some. 30 With reference to the spread of neolithic culture a complex explanation has emerged, in which the migration, which followed the successful settlement of one particular area resulted from a combination of a significant increase in the population, the preference for cattle as the domestic animal of choice and the need for ever greater grazing areas that accompanied it. It is for this reason that one needs to stress the importance of animal husbandry in connection with neolithization, both here in the spread of early and middle neolithic cultures within the Carpathian Basin and elsewhere in the more westerly lying areas of the LBK.…”