Paleoanthropological Traces of a Neolithic Demographic Transition

Bocquet‐Appel, Jean‐Pierre

doi:10.1086/342429

Cited by 294 publications

(230 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…This gradual change in mobility does not match the predictions of a relatively abrupt Neolithic Demographic Transition in Europe (15) and thus only partially supports the proposed impact of increased sedentism on this transition (2). The largest previous study of European Holocene samples (n = 248) also documented gradual declines in A-P/M-L bending rigidity of the femur and tibia from the Neolithic through Iron Age or Early Medieval samples in Central Europe (42).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…However, despite its broad evolutionary significance, the timing and patterning of declining mobility during the Holocene and its relationship to changing subsistence economies has proven difficult to characterize from material archaeological remains (1,5,7,13,14), leaving many unanswered questions. For example, were declines in mobility relatively abrupt at the onset of food production in the Early Neolithic, as suggested by some demographic studies (15), or did they begin earlier, during the Mesolithic (5, 16)? Did mobility continue to decrease after the Neolithic in response to intensification of agriculture and other factors?…”

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confidence: 99%

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Gradual decline in mobility with the adoption of food production in Europe

Ruff

Holt

Niskanen

et al. 2015

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

148

149

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Increased sedentism during the Holocene has been proposed as a major cause of decreased skeletal robusticity (bone strength relative to body size) in modern humans. When and why declining mobility occurred has profound implications for reconstructing past population history and health, but it has proven difficult to characterize archaeologically. In this study we evaluate temporal trends in relative strength of the upper and lower limb bones in a sample of 1,842 individuals from across Europe extending from the Upper Paleolithic [11,000-33,000 calibrated years (Cal y) B.P.] through the 20th century. A large decline in anteroposterior bending strength of the femur and tibia occurs beginning in the Neolithic (∼4,000-7,000 Cal y B.P.) and continues through the Iron/Roman period (∼2,000 Cal y B.P.), with no subsequent directional change. Declines in mediolateral bending strength of the lower limb bones and strength of the humerus are much smaller and less consistent. Together these results strongly implicate declining mobility as the specific behavioral factor underlying these changes. Mobility levels first declined at the onset of food production, but the transition to a more sedentary lifestyle was gradual, extending through later agricultural intensification. This finding only partially supports models that tie increased sedentism to a relatively abrupt Neolithic Demographic Transition in Europe. The lack of subsequent change in relative bone strength indicates that increasing mechanization and urbanization had only relatively small effects on skeletal robusticity, suggesting that moderate changes in activity level are not sufficient stimuli for bone deposition or resorption. mobility | Europe | Neolithic | bone strength

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gradual decline in mobility with the adoption of food production in Europe

Ruff

Holt

Niskanen

et al. 2015

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

148

149

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“…A predominantly agricultural lifestyle produced higher population growth than the hunting-gathering lifestyle it replaced (148,149). This increased growth was most likely due to the spread of a complex of cultural traits (150) whose adoption may have created conditions that favored the accumulation of subsequent culturally transmitted behaviors (151,152).…”

Section: Demography and Cultural Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural evolutionary theory: How culture evolves and why it matters

Creanza

Kolodny

Feldman

2017

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

349

203

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Human cultural traits-behaviors, ideas, and technologies that can be learned from other individuals-can exhibit complex patterns of transmission and evolution, and researchers have developed theoretical models, both verbal and mathematical, to facilitate our understanding of these patterns. Many of the first quantitative models of cultural evolution were modified from existing concepts in theoretical population genetics because cultural evolution has many parallels with, as well as clear differences from, genetic evolution. Furthermore, cultural and genetic evolution can interact with one another and influence both transmission and selection. This interaction requires theoretical treatments of gene-culture coevolution and dual inheritance, in addition to purely cultural evolution. In addition, cultural evolutionary theory is a natural component of studies in demography, human ecology, and many other disciplines. Here, we review the core concepts in cultural evolutionary theory as they pertain to the extension of biology through culture, focusing on cultural evolutionary applications in population genetics, ecology, and demography. For each of these disciplines, we review the theoretical literature and highlight relevant empirical studies. We also discuss the societal implications of the study of cultural evolution and of the interactions of humans with one another and with their environment. cultural evolution | mathematical models | gene-culture coevolution | niche construction | demography H uman culture encompasses ideas, behaviors, and artifacts that can be learned and transmitted between individuals and can change over time (1). This process of transmission and change is reminiscent of Darwin's principle of descent with modification through natural selection, and Darwin himself drew this explicit link in the case of languages: "The formation of different languages and of distinct species, and the proofs that both have been developed through a gradual process, are curiously parallel" (2, 3). Theory underpins most scientific endeavors, and, in the 1970s, researchers began to lay the groundwork for cultural evolutionary theory, building on the neo-Darwinian synthesis of genetics and evolution by using verbal, diagrammatic, and mathematical models (4-8). These models are, by necessity, approximations of reality (9), but because they require researchers to specify their assumptions and extract the most important features from complex processes, they have proven exceedingly useful in advancing the study of cultural evolution (10). Here, we review the field of cultural evolutionary theory as it pertains to the extension of biology through culture. We focus on human culture because the bulk of cultural evolutionary models are human-centric and certain processes such as cumulative culture seem to be unique to humans. However, numerous nonhuman species also exhibit cultural transmission, and we consider the areas of overlap between models of human and animal culture in Discussion.The study of cultural evolution is im...

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“…A second set of paleodemographic patterns brings together signals that express temporal or space-time changes in variables compared to former stable states. This can be the case with an abrupt increase in frequencies, for example of hundreds of radiocarbon dates, interpreted as representing a re-colonization during the Late Glacial in Europe (Gamble et al, 2005), or even in the percentage of immature skeletons in more than 130 cemeteries, interpreted as the effect of a Neolithic demographic transition (Bocquet-Appel and Naji, 2006;Bocquet-Appel, 2002). It can also be the case with the variation in the space-time distribution of archaeological sites across Europe, reflecting an hitherto unknown distribution of populations under severe climatic constraint (Bocquet-Appel et al, 2005).…”

Section: Cnrs Paris Francementioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 I have not found, in Deevey (1960), the reference given by Jackes and Meiklejohn to a "demographic transition", a concept that was developed between 1929 and 1945 by several scientists, including CP Blacker, K Davis, A Landry, F Notestein and W Thompson (see Kirk, 1996); the concept of a Neolithic demographic transition was set out by the demographer Livi-Bacci (1992) and, independently, by myself (Bocquet-Appel, 2002). The reality of the concept is based, now, on more than 130 cemeteries across the entire northern hemisphere (Bocquet-Appel and Bar-Yosef, 2007).…”

Section: Notementioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Palaeodemography

Bocquet‐Appel¹

2008

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Paleoanthropological Traces of a Neolithic Demographic Transition

Cited by 294 publications

References 28 publications

Gradual decline in mobility with the adoption of food production in Europe

Gradual decline in mobility with the adoption of food production in Europe

Cultural evolutionary theory: How culture evolves and why it matters

Recent Advances in Palaeodemography

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