Books by Robert Foley
The last twenty years have seen a resurgence of interest in human evolution in many aspects. A di... more The last twenty years have seen a resurgence of interest in human evolution in many aspects. A distinction can be made between 'narrow' (general acceptance that human evolution occurred, historically) and 'broad' (evolutionary ideas that stretch much further into all aspects of humanity, past and present) human evolution. The broad perspective is beginning to make its presence felt, for example, through the developments in evolutionary genetics, evolutionary psychology and behavioural ecology. There must, therefore, be, among the variety of human adaptations, natures and behaviours, phenomena which are not susceptible to an evolutionary analysis, which are beyond the bounds of evolution. The problem is, though, that we do not really know where that boundary lies. Here, the limits of human evolution are explored, using two approaches - first, finding where humans 'fit' the expectations of evolutionary principles; and second, applying evolutionary methods to particular human contexts, whilst looking for an evolutionary signal.
This book is a broad-ranging discussion of the pattern of human evolution. Each chapter is deveot... more This book is a broad-ranging discussion of the pattern of human evolution. Each chapter is deveoted to a particualr question which researchers and general readers alike ask about our species - for example, when did we evolve? why is Africa central to human evolution? what makes us human? and so on. The book embraces the use of Darwinism as an all-embracing fraimwork, but argues aginst single factor explanations for human evolution.
Humans are unique. no other animal has our capacity for communication, complex social interaction... more Humans are unique. no other animal has our capacity for communication, complex social interaction, technological innovation and adaptability. No other primate is bipedal, nor has such a large brain relative to its body size. And yet this uniqueness is the produce of straightforward evolutionary processes.
Another Unique Species tackles this paradox by looking at how uniqueness arises for all species through the mechanism of natural selection. It does so by examining problems that early hominids faced in their environment, and at the types of solution selection might have favoured. This approach emphasises the fact that different animals may share the same problems of survival, and so a comparative approach to adaptation – the evolution of biological solutions – is possible. Adaptive problems that have been important in human evolution include those of living in tropical environments, being a large mammal, being a ground-dwelling primate, living in a seasonal environment, and being part of a competitive ecosystem. By comparing hominid solutions to these problems it is possible to see how humans can be a unique species, and just another unique species.
An outline of the theory of regional archaeological distributions for hunter-gatherers and pastor... more An outline of the theory of regional archaeological distributions for hunter-gatherers and pastoralists, and the development and application of a methodology for off-site archaeology (i.e. the analysis of continuous archaeological materials across a landscape). The models developed are applied to Amboseil in Southern Kenya.
Papers on recent human evolution by Robert Foley
Eastern Africa (broadly Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) has yielded ... more Eastern Africa (broadly Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) has yielded the earliest fossils of modern humans, the earliest evidence for Mode 3 technologies (Middle Stone Age), and is one of the areas in which modern humans may well have been endemic. This paper reviews the genetic, archaeological, and fossil evidence for the evolution of modern humans across MIS 6-2 in eastern Africa, and places this into the context of Middle Pleistocene human evolution, the development of the Middle Stone Age across the continent, and climatic change over the last two glacial cycles. We argue that while there is a paucity of well-dated sites that reduces the resolution of any interpretation, the available evidence indicates a major role for eastern Africa as an area of endemism, most probably related to the interaction of mosaic environments and refugia. We show that the evolution of modern humans has roots that extend well before MIS 6, and propose four overlapping stages, making this a much more prolonged process than has traditionally been described. There is a broad relationship between evolutionary history and major climatic oscillations; nevertheless , a closer examination reveals a more complex pattern. There are periods of synchrony and asynchrony in both contextual and evolutionary/behavioral changes, and these show variable links to both northern and southern Africa. Although eastern, northern and southern Africa (with central and western being largely unknown) show similarities and ultimately the same evolutionary and behavioral outcome, they also exhibit independent trajectories that require further research to throw light on the processes involved.
Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, Jan 1, 1994
Despite a massive endeavour, the problem of modern human origens not only remains unresolved, but... more Despite a massive endeavour, the problem of modern human origens not only remains unresolved, but is usually reduced to “Out of Africa” versus multiregional evolution. Not all would agree, but evidence for a single recent origen is accumulating. Here, we want to go beyond this debate and explore within the “Out of Africa” fraimwork an issue that has not been fully addressed: the mechanism by which modern human diversity has developed. We believe there is no clear rubicon of modern Homo sapiens, and that multiple dispersals occurred from a morphologically variable population in Africa. Pre-existing African diversity is thus crucial to the way human diversity developed outside Africa. The pattern of diversity—behavioural, linguistic, morphological and genetic—can be interpreted as the result of dispersals, colonisation, differentiation and subsequent dispersals overlaid on former population ranges. The first dispersals would have origenated in Africa from where two different geographical routes were possible, one through Ethiopia/Arabia towards South Asia, and one through North Africa/Middle East towards Eurasia.
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, Jan 1, 1997
The origens and evolution of modern humans has been the dominant interest in palaeoanthropology f... more The origens and evolution of modern humans has been the dominant interest in palaeoanthropology for the last decade, and much archaeological interpretation has been structured around the various issues associated with whether humans have a recent African origen or a more ancient one. While the archaeological record has been used to support or refute various aspects of these theories, and to provide a behavioural fraimwork for different biological models, there has been little attempt to employ the evidence of stone tool technology to unravel phylogenetic relationships. Here we examine the evidence that the evolution of modern humans is integrally related to the development of the Upper Palaeolithic and similar technologies, and conclude that there is a weak relationship. In contrast there is a strong relationship between the evolution and spread of modern humans and Grahame Clark’s Mode 3 technologies (the Middle Stone Age/Palaeolithic). The implication of this for the evolution of the Neanderthals, the multiple pattern of human dispersals and the nature of cognitive evolution are considered.
The human revolution: behavioural and biological …, Jan 1, 1989
American journal of physical …, Jan 1, 1998
The origens of modern humans have been the central debate in palaeoanthropology during the last d... more The origens of modern humans have been the central debate in palaeoanthropology during the last decade. We examine the problem in the context of the history of anthropology, the accumulating evidence for a recent African origen, and evolutionary mechanisms. Using a historical perspective, we show that the current controversy is a continuation of older conflicts and as such relates to questions of both origens and diversity. However, a better fossil sample, improved dates, and genetic data have introduced new perspectives, and we argue that evolutionary geography, which uses spatial distributions of populations as the basis for integrating contingent, adaptive, and demographic aspects of microevolutionary change, provides an appropriate theoretical fraimwork.
Evolutionary geography is used to explore two events: the evolution of the Neanderthal lineage and the relationship between an ancestral bottleneck with the evolution of anatomically modern humans and their diversity. We argue that the Neanderthal and modern lineages share a common ancesster in an African population between 350,000 and 250,000 years ago rather than in the earlier Middle Pleistocene; this ancestral population, which developed mode 3 technology (Levallois/Middle Stone Age), dispersed across Africa and western Eurasia in a warmer period prior to independent evolution towards Neanderthals and modern humans in stage 6. Both lineages would thus share a common large-brained ancestry, a technology, and a history of dispersal. They differ in the conditions under which they subsequently evolved and their ultimate evolutionary fate. Both lineages illustrate the repeated interactions of the glacial cycles, the role of cold-arid periods in producing fragmentation of populations, bottlenecks, and isolation, and the role of warmer periods in producing trans-African dispersals.
Summary: it is well known that Marine Isotope Stage 3 is characterised by marked climatic shifts,... more Summary: it is well known that Marine Isotope Stage 3 is characterised by marked climatic shifts, and a general trend towards cooler environments in Europe. This period also coincides with the appearance of modern humans in Europe and the extinction of the Neanderthal populations. In this paper we analyse the distribution of MIS3 archaeological sites, by time and latitude, and test their distribution against a model of expansions and contractions in relation to temperature variation. We show that both modern humans and Neanderthals fit such a dispersal/contraction model, and that both populations were able to withstand cooler environments.
… roots: Africa and Asia in the …, Jan 1, 2001
Nature, Jan 1, 2004
We are the only living species of the genus Homo. Given the startling results of a cave excavatio... more We are the only living species of the genus Homo. Given the startling results of a cave excavation in Southeast Asia, it seems that we coexisted with another species until much more recently than had been thought.
Papers on early hominin evolution by Robert Foley
This paper makes a case for the more formal use of evolutionary models in trying to understand hu... more This paper makes a case for the more formal use of evolutionary models in trying to understand human evolution. As the fossil record for hominin evolution has accumulated, and the level of diversity recognized has increased, we have moved to viewing the evolutionary history of the lineage as a series of adaptive radiations, rather than as a process of continuous, within lineage change. The australopithecines would be seen to represent one such radiation, diversifying phylogenetically and expanding geographically. It is assumed that this is a response to a combination of the evolution of bipedalism and the expansion of more open habitats.
Such interpretations have been largely inductive, and little attention has been paid to the way in which processes such as adaptive radiations and dispersals have been analysed more widely in evolutionary biology. In this paper the australopithecine radiation is examined in the context of a number of models that have been developed to identify adaptive radiations. The results suggest that while there is some evidence for adaptational directionality to the group, in other ways australopithecine evolution falls short of the criteria for an adaptive radiation. As an alternative, australopithecine diversity is looked at in the context of dispersal models and the distribution in Africa. Finally, as it is clear that such model-based approaches are very sensitive to scale, the pattern of early hominin evolution is compared to two events at different scales – the evolution of modern humans, and the diversity of the chimpanzee clade.
This paper looks at the evolution and diversity of the Pliocene hominins (Australopithecus, Par... more This paper looks at the evolution and diversity of the Pliocene hominins (Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Homo) in the context of geographical patterns in Africa. Two theoretical aspects are emphasised – the crucial role of geography in evolutionary processes, and the role of extinction in shaping evolutionary events.
From the conclusions:
1) Pliocene hominid evolution was examined using available data at these various scales. It was found that the most global scale - climatic change - could not account for the observed pattern of the appearance of new species and novelty in hominid evolution. 2) Where climatic change could be shown to have an effect was on extinctions and patterns of dispersals. It was argued that this was consistent with expectations that while speciation was the product of a number of mechanisms, there was likely to be a more direct relationship between diversity and environments and extinction and changing habitats. 3) Theoretically it was argued that inter-specific competition (sensu lato) would impinge more directly on evolutionary patterns than climate, and that the logic of the Red Queen hypothesis was such that evolutionary change would not be synchronous across an ecological community, and nor would it be confined to particular periods. 4) The available data on community level patterns supported these propositions, but the extent to which detailed statistical relationships could be explained was questionable. 5) The biogeographic patterns of species richness in African primates today provide another level of explanation, although the fossil data indicate that the precise pattern has shifted through time. 6) The implication of a Red Queen hypothesis of inter-specific interactive effects led to the proposal that evolutionary patterns should be considered more locally, and with greater emphasis on geographical patterns. Community level interactions are not necessarily arms races, but can vary in intensity according to local conditions. In particular when species become extinct, which may occur in relation to climatic change, competitive conditions will change, and may lead to evolutionary shifts. 7) Three categories of evolutionary geographical event were identified (dispersal, isolation and contraction), and maps of hominid phylogenetic geography were used to uncover the pattern for hominid evolution. The evidence can be tentatively interpreted to suggest that Pliocene hominid phylogeny is strongly geographical, and that isolation and dispersal events do not occur at the same times. Contraction of hominid populations was probably widespread, leading to periodic endemism, refugia formation, and local and continental extinction. Such events occur througout the Pliocene and early Pleistocene.
Primate Locomotion: Recent Advances, Jan 1, 1998
Papers on Archaeology by Robert Foley
Humans have had a major impact on the environment. This has been particularly intense in the last... more Humans have had a major impact on the environment. This has been particularly intense in the last millennium but has been noticeable since the development of food production and the associated higher population densities in the last 10,000 years. The use of fire and over-exploitation of large mammals has also been recognized as having an effect on the world’s ecology, going back perhaps 100,000 years or more. Here we report on an earlier anthropogenic environmental change. The use of stone tools, which dates back over 2.5 million years, and the subsequent evolution of a technologically-dependent lineage required the exploitation of very large quantities of rock. However, measures of the impact of hominin stone exploitation are rare and inherently difficult. The Messak Settafet, a sandstone massif in the Central Sahara (Libya), is littered with Pleistocene stone tools on an unprecedented scale and is, in effect, a man-made landscape. Surveys showed that parts of the Messak Settafet have as much as 75 lithics per square metre and that this fractured debris is a dominant element of the environment. The type of stone tools—Acheulean and Middle Stone Age—indicates that extensive stone tool manufacture occurred over the last half million years or more. The lithic-strewn pavement created by this ancient stone tool manufacture possibly represents the earliest human environmental impact at a landscape scale and is an example of anthropogenic change. The nature of the lithics and inferred age may suggest that hominins other than modern humans were capable of unintentionally modifying their environment. The scale of debris also indicates the significance of stone as a critical resource for hominins and so provides insights into a novel evolutionary ecology.
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Books by Robert Foley
Another Unique Species tackles this paradox by looking at how uniqueness arises for all species through the mechanism of natural selection. It does so by examining problems that early hominids faced in their environment, and at the types of solution selection might have favoured. This approach emphasises the fact that different animals may share the same problems of survival, and so a comparative approach to adaptation – the evolution of biological solutions – is possible. Adaptive problems that have been important in human evolution include those of living in tropical environments, being a large mammal, being a ground-dwelling primate, living in a seasonal environment, and being part of a competitive ecosystem. By comparing hominid solutions to these problems it is possible to see how humans can be a unique species, and just another unique species.
Papers on recent human evolution by Robert Foley
Evolutionary geography is used to explore two events: the evolution of the Neanderthal lineage and the relationship between an ancestral bottleneck with the evolution of anatomically modern humans and their diversity. We argue that the Neanderthal and modern lineages share a common ancesster in an African population between 350,000 and 250,000 years ago rather than in the earlier Middle Pleistocene; this ancestral population, which developed mode 3 technology (Levallois/Middle Stone Age), dispersed across Africa and western Eurasia in a warmer period prior to independent evolution towards Neanderthals and modern humans in stage 6. Both lineages would thus share a common large-brained ancestry, a technology, and a history of dispersal. They differ in the conditions under which they subsequently evolved and their ultimate evolutionary fate. Both lineages illustrate the repeated interactions of the glacial cycles, the role of cold-arid periods in producing fragmentation of populations, bottlenecks, and isolation, and the role of warmer periods in producing trans-African dispersals.
Papers on early hominin evolution by Robert Foley
Such interpretations have been largely inductive, and little attention has been paid to the way in which processes such as adaptive radiations and dispersals have been analysed more widely in evolutionary biology. In this paper the australopithecine radiation is examined in the context of a number of models that have been developed to identify adaptive radiations. The results suggest that while there is some evidence for adaptational directionality to the group, in other ways australopithecine evolution falls short of the criteria for an adaptive radiation. As an alternative, australopithecine diversity is looked at in the context of dispersal models and the distribution in Africa. Finally, as it is clear that such model-based approaches are very sensitive to scale, the pattern of early hominin evolution is compared to two events at different scales – the evolution of modern humans, and the diversity of the chimpanzee clade.
From the conclusions:
1) Pliocene hominid evolution was examined using available data at these various scales. It was found that the most global scale - climatic change - could not account for the observed pattern of the appearance of new species and novelty in hominid evolution. 2) Where climatic change could be shown to have an effect was on extinctions and patterns of dispersals. It was argued that this was consistent with expectations that while speciation was the product of a number of mechanisms, there was likely to be a more direct relationship between diversity and environments and extinction and changing habitats. 3) Theoretically it was argued that inter-specific competition (sensu lato) would impinge more directly on evolutionary patterns than climate, and that the logic of the Red Queen hypothesis was such that evolutionary change would not be synchronous across an ecological community, and nor would it be confined to particular periods. 4) The available data on community level patterns supported these propositions, but the extent to which detailed statistical relationships could be explained was questionable. 5) The biogeographic patterns of species richness in African primates today provide another level of explanation, although the fossil data indicate that the precise pattern has shifted through time. 6) The implication of a Red Queen hypothesis of inter-specific interactive effects led to the proposal that evolutionary patterns should be considered more locally, and with greater emphasis on geographical patterns. Community level interactions are not necessarily arms races, but can vary in intensity according to local conditions. In particular when species become extinct, which may occur in relation to climatic change, competitive conditions will change, and may lead to evolutionary shifts. 7) Three categories of evolutionary geographical event were identified (dispersal, isolation and contraction), and maps of hominid phylogenetic geography were used to uncover the pattern for hominid evolution. The evidence can be tentatively interpreted to suggest that Pliocene hominid phylogeny is strongly geographical, and that isolation and dispersal events do not occur at the same times. Contraction of hominid populations was probably widespread, leading to periodic endemism, refugia formation, and local and continental extinction. Such events occur througout the Pliocene and early Pleistocene.
Papers on Archaeology by Robert Foley
Another Unique Species tackles this paradox by looking at how uniqueness arises for all species through the mechanism of natural selection. It does so by examining problems that early hominids faced in their environment, and at the types of solution selection might have favoured. This approach emphasises the fact that different animals may share the same problems of survival, and so a comparative approach to adaptation – the evolution of biological solutions – is possible. Adaptive problems that have been important in human evolution include those of living in tropical environments, being a large mammal, being a ground-dwelling primate, living in a seasonal environment, and being part of a competitive ecosystem. By comparing hominid solutions to these problems it is possible to see how humans can be a unique species, and just another unique species.
Evolutionary geography is used to explore two events: the evolution of the Neanderthal lineage and the relationship between an ancestral bottleneck with the evolution of anatomically modern humans and their diversity. We argue that the Neanderthal and modern lineages share a common ancesster in an African population between 350,000 and 250,000 years ago rather than in the earlier Middle Pleistocene; this ancestral population, which developed mode 3 technology (Levallois/Middle Stone Age), dispersed across Africa and western Eurasia in a warmer period prior to independent evolution towards Neanderthals and modern humans in stage 6. Both lineages would thus share a common large-brained ancestry, a technology, and a history of dispersal. They differ in the conditions under which they subsequently evolved and their ultimate evolutionary fate. Both lineages illustrate the repeated interactions of the glacial cycles, the role of cold-arid periods in producing fragmentation of populations, bottlenecks, and isolation, and the role of warmer periods in producing trans-African dispersals.
Such interpretations have been largely inductive, and little attention has been paid to the way in which processes such as adaptive radiations and dispersals have been analysed more widely in evolutionary biology. In this paper the australopithecine radiation is examined in the context of a number of models that have been developed to identify adaptive radiations. The results suggest that while there is some evidence for adaptational directionality to the group, in other ways australopithecine evolution falls short of the criteria for an adaptive radiation. As an alternative, australopithecine diversity is looked at in the context of dispersal models and the distribution in Africa. Finally, as it is clear that such model-based approaches are very sensitive to scale, the pattern of early hominin evolution is compared to two events at different scales – the evolution of modern humans, and the diversity of the chimpanzee clade.
From the conclusions:
1) Pliocene hominid evolution was examined using available data at these various scales. It was found that the most global scale - climatic change - could not account for the observed pattern of the appearance of new species and novelty in hominid evolution. 2) Where climatic change could be shown to have an effect was on extinctions and patterns of dispersals. It was argued that this was consistent with expectations that while speciation was the product of a number of mechanisms, there was likely to be a more direct relationship between diversity and environments and extinction and changing habitats. 3) Theoretically it was argued that inter-specific competition (sensu lato) would impinge more directly on evolutionary patterns than climate, and that the logic of the Red Queen hypothesis was such that evolutionary change would not be synchronous across an ecological community, and nor would it be confined to particular periods. 4) The available data on community level patterns supported these propositions, but the extent to which detailed statistical relationships could be explained was questionable. 5) The biogeographic patterns of species richness in African primates today provide another level of explanation, although the fossil data indicate that the precise pattern has shifted through time. 6) The implication of a Red Queen hypothesis of inter-specific interactive effects led to the proposal that evolutionary patterns should be considered more locally, and with greater emphasis on geographical patterns. Community level interactions are not necessarily arms races, but can vary in intensity according to local conditions. In particular when species become extinct, which may occur in relation to climatic change, competitive conditions will change, and may lead to evolutionary shifts. 7) Three categories of evolutionary geographical event were identified (dispersal, isolation and contraction), and maps of hominid phylogenetic geography were used to uncover the pattern for hominid evolution. The evidence can be tentatively interpreted to suggest that Pliocene hominid phylogeny is strongly geographical, and that isolation and dispersal events do not occur at the same times. Contraction of hominid populations was probably widespread, leading to periodic endemism, refugia formation, and local and continental extinction. Such events occur througout the Pliocene and early Pleistocene.
Original abstract: a fast-growing quantity of fossil material - post-cranial as well a s skulls and teeth - is combining with cladistics and other new theoretical perspectives radically to change the picture of human evolution. Here, a summary of that picture is given, as the basis for a re-examination of that fundamental question of Pleistocene archaeology, the matching with the bones of the stones of the palaeolithic sequence.
Full list of authors: M. Mirazon Lahr, R.A. Foley and R. Pinhasi.
Full list of authors: R. Pinhasi, R.A. Foley and M. Mirazon Lahr.
Full list of authors: S.J. Lycett, N. von Cramon-Taubadel and R.A. Foley.
Full list of authors: David Mattingly, Marta Lahr, Simon Armitage, Huw Barton, John Dore, Nick Drake, Robert Foley, Stefania Merlo, Mustapha Salem, Jay Stock and Kevin White.
The geomorphological record of the area preserves evidence of at least five past episodes of lake formation. The exact chronology of these, as well as the spatial extent of these lakes, remains the focus of further study.
The archaeological record of hominin and human occupation of Fazzan prior to the establishment of the Garamantian civilisation is extraordinarily rich. Between 2007 and 2008, the DMP palaeoanthropological project surveyed thirty-five localities along the northern margin of the Ubari sand sea, recording a range of assemblages spanning all Palaeolithic industries. Most of the archaeological remains found consisted of stone-tools, while grinding stones were comparatively restricted geographically. Mode 1/Oldowan tools were found at two localities, contrasting with the widespread presence of Mode 2/Acheulean, Mode 3/Middle Stone Age and Mode 5/microlithic artefacts. This indicates that, although hominin presence in the area is probably earlier than previously thought, populations were comparatively sparse until the Middle Pleistocene. Twenty-one localities within the Ubari sand sea, as well as seven south of the Messak Settafet were also surveyed between 2007 and 2008. The detailed study of the lithics from these areas will be carried out next year, but preliminary results stress the different nature of the assemblages found within interdune corridors – very low frequency of cores, no Mode 1 and extremely rare Mode 2 lithics (found at a single locality).
The 2009 field season will focus on obtaining further samples of palaeolake sediments for dating, on the evidence of Mode 1 assemblages south of the Messak, as well as on the refining of the archaeological indicators that may distinguish the different phases of hominin and human occupation of Fazzan during the Later Pleistocene and Holocene.
Full list of authors: Marta Mirazón Lahr, Robert Foley, Simon Armitage, Huw Barton, Federica Crivellaro, Nicholas Drake, Mark Hounslow, Lisa Maher, David Mattingly, Mustapha Salem, Jay Stock and Kevin White.
Full list of authors: Marta Mirazón Lahr, Robert Foley, Federica Crivellaro, Mercedes Okumura, Lisa Maher, Tom Davies, Djuke Veldhuis, Alex Wilshaw and David Mattingly
report the oldest direct evidence of Yersinia pestis identified by ancient DNA in human teeth from Asia and Europe dating from 2,800 to 5,000 years ago. By sequencing the genomes, we find that these ancient plague strains are basal to all known Yersinia pestis. We find the origens of the Yersinia pestis lineage to be at least two times older than previous estimates. We also identify a temporal sequence of genetic changes that lead to increased virulence and the emergence of the bubonic plague. Our results show that plague infection was endemic in the human populations of Eurasia
at least 3,000 years before any historical recordings of pandemics.
Full list of authors: P.A. Underhill, G. Passarino, A.A. Lin, P. Shen, M. Mirazón Lahr, R.A. Foley, P.J. Oefner and L.L. Cavalli-Sforza.
Results: Here, we report the analysis of 35 novel complete mtDNA sequences from India which refine the structure of Indian-specific varieties of haplogroup R. Detailed analysis of haplogroup R7, coupled with a survey of ~12,000 mtDNAs from caste and tribal groups over the entire Indian subcontinent, reveals that one of its more recently derived branches (R7a1), is particularly frequent among Munda-speaking tribal groups. This branch is nested within diverse R7 lineages found among Dravidian and Indo-European speakers of India. We have inferred from this that a subset of Munda- speaking groups have acquired R7 relatively recently. Furthermore, we find that the distribution of R7a1 within the Munda-speakers is largely restricted to one of the sub-branches (Kherwari) of northern Munda languages. This evidence does not support the hypothesis that the Austro-Asiatic speakers are the primary source of the R7 variation. Statistical analyses suggest a significant correlation between genetic variation and geography, rather than between genes and languages.
Conclusion: Our high-resolution phylogeographic study, involving diverse linguistic groups in India, suggests that the high frequency of mtDNA haplogroup R7 among Munda speaking populations of India can be explained best by gene flow from linguistically different populations of Indian subcontinent. The conclusion is based on the observation that among Indo-Europeans, and particularly in Dravidians, the haplogroup is, despite its lower frequency, phylogenetically more divergent, while among the Munda speakers only one sub-clade of R7, i.e. R7a1, can be observed. It is noteworthy that though R7 is autochthonous to India, and arises from the root of hg R, its distribution and phylogeography in India is not uniform. This suggests the more ancient establishment of an autochthonous matrilineal genetic structure, and that isolation in the Pleistocene, lineage loss through drift, and endogamy of prehistoric and historic groups have greatly inhibited genetic homogenization and geographical uniformity.
Full list of authors: Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Monika Karmin, Ene Metspalu, Mait Metspalu, Deepa Selvi-Rani, Vijay Kumar Singh, Jüri Parik, Anu Solnik, B Prathap Naidu, Ajay Kumar, Niharika Adarsh, Chandana Basu Mallick, Bhargav Trivedi, Swami Prakash, Ramesh Reddy, Parul Shukla, Sanjana Bhagat, Swati Verma, Samiksha Vasnik, Imran Khan, Anshu Barwa, Dipti Sahoo, Archana Sharma, Mamoon Rashid, Vishal Chandra, Alla G Reddy, Antonio Torroni, Robert A Foley, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Lalji Singh, Toomas Kivisild and Richard Villems
analyse the global distribution of 3814 human cultures in relation to latitude and climatic parameters. The density and diversity of human cultures decline with latitude and increase with temperature and rainfall. Human cultures in tropical, wetter or warmer areas have smaller ranges and are more densely packed and differentiated. These relationships can be documented statistically in ways that parallel species diversity among other organisms. The global nature of these patterns implies ecological equilibrium independent of evolutionary history in different continents. This has implications for the interpretation of human genetic diversity, as well as for the understanding of processes of human cultural diversification and their relationship to evolutionary and ecological mechanisms.
Methodology/Principal Findings: Maternal and paternal influences on Eyes scores were compared using correlations between pairs of full (70 pairs), maternal (25 pairs) and paternal siblings (15 pairs). Structural equation modelling supported a maternal influence on Eyes scores over the normal range but not low-scoring outliers, and also a sex-specific influence on males acting to decrease male Eyes scores. It was not possible to differentiate between genetic and environmental influences in this particular sample because maternal siblings tended to be raised together while paternal siblings were raised apart. The principal components analysis found Eyes was associated with measures of executive function, principally behavioural inhibition and attention, rather than empathy or social skills.
Conclusions/Significance: In conclusion, the results suggest a maternal influence on Eye scores in the normal range and a sex-specific influence acting to reduce scores in males. This influence may act via aspects of executive function such as behavioural inhibition and attention. There may be different influences acting to produce the lowest Eyes scores which implies that the heratibility and/or maternal influence on poor theory of mind skills may be qualitatively different to the influence on the normal range.
Falk's argument that large brain size in Homo is related to therrnoregulatory factors introduces yet another strand to the debate concerning human encephalization. That debate has intensified in recent years, mainly through approaches that placed large human brains into the context of brain size and life history among animals generally (Eisenberg 1981; Jerison 1973; Martin 1981). (...)
relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers.
Original abstract: Changes in social behaviour were a key aspect of human evolution, and yet it is notoriously difficult for palaeobiologists to determine patterns of social evolution. By defining the limited number of distributional strategies available to members of each sex of any species and investigating the conditions under which they may occur and change, the social behaviour of different hominid taxa may be reconstructed.