Comment on “Intensifying Weathering and Land Use in Iron Age Central Africa”

Neumann, Katharina; Eggert, Manfred K. H.; Oslisly, Richard; Clist, Bernard-Olivier; Denham, Tim; Maret, Pierre de; Ozainne, Sylvain; Hildebrand, Elisabeth; Bostoen, Koen; Salzmann, Ulrich; Schwartz, Dominique; Eichhorn, Barbara; Tchiengué, Barthélémy; Höhn, Alexa

doi:10.1126/science.1221747

Cited by 52 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…2A). This thinning has been linked to climatic changes, but not to human deforestation (43,44), suggesting that if Bantu populations contributed to thinning, it was to a process that was already underway.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals

Grollemund

Branford

Bostoen

et al. 2015

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

260

270

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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 ∼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 ∼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.human dispersal | phylogeography | phylogenetics | languages | Bantu

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…or older for Bantoid, non-Bantu (58); (b) 4,000-5,000 B.P. for Narrow Bantu (13,14,16,44,59,60); (c) 3,000-3,500 B.P. for the Mbam-Bubi ancestor (61); and (d) 2,500 B.P.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals

Grollemund

Branford

Bostoen

et al. 2015

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

260

270

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“…However, such large-scale human-driven vegetation changes have largely been questioned. Paleoecologists and archaeologists indeed agree on the fact that this "rainforest crisis" was related to a large climate 210 J Morin-Rivat et al change that led to a drier and more seasonal rainfall regime rather than due to human disturbance (Neumann et al 2012b). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

New Evidence of Human Activities During the Holocene in the Lowland Forests of the Northern Congo Basin

et al. 2014

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In the last decade, the myth of the pristine tropical forest has been seriously challenged. In central Africa, there is a growing body of evidence for past human settlements along the Atlantic forests, but very little information is available about human activities further inland. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the temporal and spatial patterns of human activities in an archaeologically unexplored area of 110,000 km 2 located in the northern Congo Basin and currently covered by dense forest. Fieldwork involving archaeology as well as archaeobotany was undertaken in 36 sites located in southeastern Cameroon and in the northern Republic of Congo. Evidence of past human activities through either artifacts or charred botanical remains was observed in all excavated test pits across the study area. The set of 43 radiocarbon dates extending from 15,000 BP to the present time showed a bimodal distribution in the Late Holocene, which was interpreted as two phases of human expansion with an intermediate phase of depopulation. The 2300-1300 BP phase is correlated with the migrations of supposed farming populations from northwestern Cameroon. Between 1300 and 670 BP, less material could be dated. This is in agreement with the population collapse already reported for central Africa. Following this, the 670-20 BP phase corresponds to a new period of human expansion known as the Late Iron Age. These results bring new and extensive evidence of human activities in the northern Congo Basin and support the established chronology for human history in central Africa.

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“…13,000–10,000 yrs BP) (Anhuf et al, 2006). Over the last three millennia, significant changes in the vegetation structure and floristic composition were caused by climate fluctuations (Maley et al, 2012; Neumann et al, 2012; Lézine et al, 2013). Specifically, a dry event around 2500 ya caused forest fragmentationan event with a more pronounced seasonality occurred around 2500 ya and caused forest fragmentation, and this fragmented forest included patches of savanna (Maley, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Present-day central African forest is a legacy of the 19th century human history

Morin‐Rivat

Fayolle

Favier

et al. 2017

eLife

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The populations of light-demanding trees that dominate the canopy of central African forests are now aging. Here, we show that the lack of regeneration of these populations began ca. 165 ya (around 1850) after major anthropogenic disturbances ceased. Since 1885, less itinerancy and disturbance in the forest has occurred because the colonial administrations concentrated people and villages along the primary communication axes. Local populations formerly gardened the forest by creating scattered openings, which were sufficiently large for the establishment of light-demanding trees. Currently, common logging operations do not create suitable openings for the regeneration of these species, whereas deforestation degrades landscapes. Using an interdisciplinary approach, which included paleoecological, archaeological, historical, and dendrological data, we highlight the long-term history of human activities across central African forests and assess the contribution of these activities to present-day forest structure and composition. The conclusions of this sobering analysis present challenges to current silvicultural practices and to those of the future.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20343.001

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Comment on “Intensifying Weathering and Land Use in Iron Age Central Africa”

Cited by 52 publications

References 12 publications

Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals

Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals

New Evidence of Human Activities During the Holocene in the Lowland Forests of the Northern Congo Basin

Present-day central African forest is a legacy of the 19th century human history

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