Holocene fluctuations in human population demonstrate repeated links to food production and climate

Bevan, Andrew; Colledge, Sue; Fuller, Dorian Q.; Fyfe, Ralph; Shennan, Stephen; Stevens, Chris J.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1709190114

Cited by 215 publications

(185 citation statements)

References 130 publications

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“…The most recent study suggests that climate deterioration might have resulted in the diversification of food production in Holocene (Bevan et al . ). A rapid transformation of subsistence strategies in the Early Bronze Age also occurred in the upper Yellow River Valley of North‐West China (Ma et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Economic Change in the Prehistoric Hexi Corridor (4800–2200 bp), North‐West China

et al. 2019

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It is widely known that the Hexi Corridor in North‐West China lies at a hub of trans‐Eurasian cultural exchange. Its role became increasingly important during the late prehistoric period, particularly as the ancient Silk Road began to be used. While the profound transformation of local cultural characteristics in the late Neolithic and the Bronze Age is well documented, the detailed economic dynamics of cultural evolution have not yet been clearly illustrated. In this paper, we report on significant new zooarchaeological and faunal isotopic data from the Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in the Hexi Corridor. The primary objective is to systematically reconstruct the prehistoric economic context of this area by combining these new data with previous archaeological studies and radiocarbon dates. We argue that the primary economic activities of local inhabitants changed dramatically in the prehistoric Hexi Corridor. This was marked by agricultural production at c.4800–4000 bp, agro‐pastoral production at c.4000–3000 bp and animal husbandry at c.3000–2200 bp, respectively. The major subsistence strategies of these three periods show considerable variation. It is very likely that these transformations of economic patterns in the prehistoric Hexi Corridor were primarily triggered by transcontinental cultural exchange and, to a lesser extent, by climate change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Economic Change in the Prehistoric Hexi Corridor (4800–2200 bp), North‐West China

et al. 2019

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“…Other unaccounted factors may have had a stronger effect on the vegetated landscape. An obvious candidate is the dramatic increase in population density that occurred over the last 3,000 years (Bevan et al, 2017), which likely led to strong changes in land use practices, consequently disturbing vegetation throughout the continent. Earlier population rises and collapses during the Neolithic and Bronze Age could have also influenced the vegetated landscape in significant ways, although on a smaller scale (Shennan et al, 2013;Lechterbeck et al, 2014;Woodbridge, R. M. Fyfe, et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A geostatistical approach to modelling human Holocene migrations in Europe using ancient DNA

Racimo

Woodbridge

Fyfe

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The European continent was subject to two major migrations of peoples during the Holocene: the northwestward movement of Anatolian farmer populations during the Neolithic and the westward movement of Yamnaya steppe peoples during the Bronze Age. These movements changed the genetic composition of the continent's inhabitants, via admixture and population replacement processes. The Holocene was also characterized by major changes in vegetation composition, which altered the environment occupied by the original hunter-gatherer populations. Here, we use a combination of paleogenomics and geostatistical modelling to produce detailed maps of the movement of these populations over time and space, and to understand how these movements impacted the European vegetation landscape. We find that the dilution of hunter-gatherer ancestries and the Yamnaya steppe migration coincided with a reduction in the amount of broad-leaf forest and an increase in the amount of pasture lands in the continent. We also show that climate played a role in these vegetational changes. Additionally, we find that the spread of Neolithic farmer ancestry had a two-pronged wavefront, in agreement with similar findings based on patterns of the cultural spread of farming from radiocarbon-dated archaeological sites. With thousands of ancient genomes publicly available and in production, we foresee that the integration of ancient DNA with geostatistical techniques and large-scale archaeological datasets will revolutionize the study of ancient populations movements, and their effects on local fauna and flora.

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“…In this paper we use a version of the "UCL-method" (Shennan et al, 2013;Timpson et al, 2014;Edinborough et al, 2017). Such simulationbased models based on real archaeological datasets have shown to be useful for identifying changes related to population fluctuation in archaeological contexts (Edinborough et al, 2017:1;Bevan et al, 2017; see also Timpson et al, 2015). The paper by Edinborough et al (2017) has also demonstrated the value of this simulation-based method for studying early and mid-Holocene coastal population.…”

Section: Radiocarbon Dates and Summed Radiocarbon Probability Distribmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early and mid-Holocene coastal settlement and demography in southeastern Norway: Comparing distribution of radiocarbon dates and shoreline-dated sites, 8500–2000 cal. BCE

Solheim

Persson

2018

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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In this paper we explore temporal variation in demography and settlement intensity in southeastern Norway during the Early and mid-Holocene. In order to investigate the temporal variation in demography and settlement we have applied and compared two different proxies: Summed radiocarbon probability distributions and site count data of shoreline-dated sites. The proxies display similar patterns, and we suggest that they indicate stability in settlement in the coastal areas of southeastern Norway between 8500 cal. BCE and 2000 cal. BCE.

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Holocene fluctuations in human population demonstrate repeated links to food production and climate

Cited by 215 publications

References 130 publications

Economic Change in the Prehistoric Hexi Corridor (4800–2200 bp), North‐West China

Economic Change in the Prehistoric Hexi Corridor (4800–2200 bp), North‐West China

A geostatistical approach to modelling human Holocene migrations in Europe using ancient DNA

Early and mid-Holocene coastal settlement and demography in southeastern Norway: Comparing distribution of radiocarbon dates and shoreline-dated sites, 8500–2000 cal. BCE

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Holocene fluctuations in human population demonstrate repeated links to food production and climate

Cited by 215 publications

References 130 publications

Economic Change in the Prehistoric Hexi Corridor (4800–2200 bp), North‐West China

Economic Change in the Prehistoric Hexi Corridor (4800–2200 bp), North‐West China

A geostatistical approach to modelling human Holocene migrations in Europe using ancient DNA

Early and mid-Holocene coastal settlement and demography in southeastern Norway: Comparing distribution of radiocarbon dates and shoreline-dated sites, 8500–2000 cal. BCE

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Early and mid-Holocene coastal settlement and demography in southeastern Norway: Comparing distribution of radiocarbon dates and shoreline-dated sites, 8500–2000 cal. BCE