scholarly journals Massive Migrations? The Impact of Recent aDNA Studies on our View of Third Millennium Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Furholt
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Traditional Culture ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Population History ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Impact

New human aDNA studies have once again brought to the forefront the role of mobility and migration in shaping social phenomena in European prehistory, processes that recent theoretical frameworks in archaeology have downplayed as an outdated explanatory notion linked to traditional culture history. While these new genetic data have provided new insights into the population history of prehistoric Europe, they are frequently interpreted and presented in a manner that recalls aspects of traditional culture-historical archaeology that were rightly criticized through the 1970s to the 1990s. They include the idea that shared material culture indicates shared participation in the same social group, or culture, and that these cultures constitute one-dimensional, homogeneous, and clearly bounded social entities. Since the new aDNA data are used to create vivid narratives describing ‘massive migrations’, the so-called cultural groups are once again likened to human populations and in turn revitalized as external drivers for socio-cultural change. Here, I argue for a more nuanced consideration of molecular data that more explicitly incorporates anthropologically informed mobility and migration models.

THE TRADITIONAL CULTURAL CHANGE OF MUONG PEOPLE IN HOA BINH PROVINCE TODAY

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinh Thi Thanh Minh
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Traditional Culture ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Social Culture ◽  
Culture Material ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Hoa Binh

In the process of development, every culture has its absorption, influence and change due to the impact of certain socio-economic conditions. Culture of ethnic minorities in general and traditional culture of Muong people in Hoa Binh province in particular, are also undergoing constant changes under the impact of economic, political and cross-cultural factors. In the context of the dramatic change of the country’s economy, the traditional culture of Muong people in Hoa Binh province also has profound changes on all aspects of life, such as spiritual culture, material culture, social culture... This transformation manifests itself on both positive and negative sides. Therefore, studying and pointing out problems arising in the process of cultural exchange and acculturation will help to give solutions, plans and orientations for the preservation and promotion of traditional culture of Muong ethnic group in Hoa Binh province in the near future.

Cultural change and population dynamics during the Bronze Age: Integrating archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence for Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1607-1621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta Kneisel ◽  
Walter Dörfler ◽  
Stefan Dreibrodt ◽  
Stefanie Schaefer-Di Maida ◽  
Ingo Feeser
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Northern Germany ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Boom And Bust ◽  
The Bronze Age

In archaeology, change in material culture is viewed as indicating social or cultural transformation and is the basis of our typo-chronological classification of phases and periods. The material culture from northern Germany reveals both quantitative and qualitative changes during the Bronze Age. At the same time, there is also evidence for ‘boom and bust’ cycles in population density/size, as indicated by changing human impact on the environment in several Bronze Age palaeoenvironmental records. These demographic fluctuations may relate to the observed changes in social phenomena in aspects of ideology, technology, food production and habitation. For example, innovations in food production, such as the adoption of new crops and agricultural techniques, could have led to population growth. While usually viewed by archaeologists as a ‘negative’ development, population stress or collapse may have favoured the emergence of new cultural phenomena. In order to test the cause-and-effect relationship between population dynamics and sociocultural change, we synthesise the archaeological evidence – qualitative and quantitative information from settlements, deposition finds (hoards), burials, material culture and architectural remains – for the Bronze Age in northern Germany, mainly Schleswig-Holstein, and compare it with the boom and bust pattern seen in the palaeoenvironmental record. The synchronicity of changes at ca. 1500 BC and ca. 1100 BC reflects the relationship between phases of major sociocultural transformation in the archaeological datasets and booms and busts in the palaeoenvironmental record of the region seen as a proxies for palaeo-demography. This sets the stage for a better understanding of the transformation of practices and relationships in the Bronze Age communities of the region.

scholarly journals The impact of recent population history on the deleterious mutation load in humans and close evolutionary relatives

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuval B. Simons ◽  
Guy Sella
Keyword(s):  
Demographic History ◽  
Population History ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Mutation Load ◽  
Synonymous Mutations ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Out Of Africa ◽  
The Impact

AbstractOver the past decade, there has been both great interest and confusion about whether recent demographic events—notably the Out-of-Africa-bottleneck and recent population growth—have led to differences in mutation load among human populations. The confusion can be traced to the use of different summary statistics to measure load, which lead to apparently conflicting results. We argue, however, that when statistics more directly related to load are used, the results of different studies and data sets consistently reveal little or no difference in the load of non-synonymous mutations among human populations. Theory helps to understand why no such differences are seen, as well as to predict in what settings they are to be expected. In particular, as predicted by modeling, there is evidence for changes in the load of recessive loss of function mutations in founder and inbred human populations. Also as predicted, eastern subspecies of gorilla, Neanderthals and Denisovans, who are thought to have undergone reductions in population sizes that exceed the human Out-of-Africa bottleneck in duration and severity, show evidence for increased load of non-synonymous mutations (relative to western subspecies of gorillas and modern humans, respectively). A coherent picture is thus starting to emerge about the effects of demographic history on the mutation load in populations of humans and close evolutionary relatives.

scholarly journals Cultural Innovations Influence Patterns of Genetic Diversity in Northwestern Amazonia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Arias ◽  
Roland Schröder ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
Guillermo Barreto ◽  
Mark Stoneking ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Native American ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Population History ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTHuman populations often exhibit contrasting patterns of genetic diversity in the mtDNA and the non-recombining portion of the Y-chromosome (NRY), which reflect sex-specific cultural behaviors and population histories. Here, we sequenced 2.3 Mb of the NRY from 284 individuals representing more than 30 Native-American groups from Northwestern Amazonia (NWA) and compared these data to previously generated mtDNA genomes from the same groups, to investigate the impact of cultural practices on genetic diversity and gain new insights about NWA population history. Relevant cultural practices in NWA include postmarital residential rules and linguistic-exogamy, a marital practice in which men are required to marry women speaking a different language.We identified 2,969 SNPs in the NRY sequences; only 925 SNPs were previously described. The NRY and mtDNA data showed that males and females experienced different demographic histories: the female effective population size has been larger than that of males through time, and both markers show an increase in lineage diversification beginning ~5,000 years ago, with a male-specific expansion occurring ~3,500 years ago. These dates are too recent to be associated with agriculture, therefore we propose that they reflect technological innovations and the expansion of regional trade networks documented in the archaeological evidence. Furthermore, our study provides evidence of the impact of postmarital residence rules and linguistic exogamy on genetic diversity patterns. Finally, we highlight the importance of analyzing high-resolution mtDNA and NRY sequences to reconstruct demographic history, since this can differ considerably between males and females.

scholarly journals Developmental Changes in Morphology of the Middle and Posterior External Cranial Base in ModernHomo sapiens

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Deepal H. Dalal ◽  
Heather F. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Tandem Repeats ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Genetic Distances ◽  
Population History ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
The Impact

The basicranium has been described as phylogenetically informative, developmentally stable, and minimally affected by external factors and consequently plays an important role in cranial size and shape in subadult humans. Here basicranial variation of subadults from several modern human populations was investigated and the impact of genetic relatedness on basicranial morphological similarities was investigated. Three-dimensional landmark data were digitized from subadult basicrania from seven populations. Published molecular data on short tandem repeats were statistically compared to morphological data from three ontogenetic stages. Basicranial and temporal bone morphology both reflect genetic distances in childhood and adolescence (5–18 years), but not in infancy (<5 years). The occipital bone reflects genetic distances only in adolescence (13–18 years). The sphenoid bone does not reflect genetic distances at any ontogenetic stage but was the most diagnostic region evaluated, resulting in high rates of correct classification among populations. These results suggest that the ontogenetic processes driving basicranial development are complex and cannot be succinctly summarized across populations or basicranial regions. However, the fact that certain regions reflect genetic distances suggests that the morphology of these regions may be useful in reconstructing population history in specimens for which direct DNA evidence is unavailable, such as archaeological sites.

scholarly journals Governing Migration through COVID-19? Dutch Political and Media Discourse in Times of a Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 379
Author(s):  
Maartje Van Der Van Der Woude ◽  
Nanou Van Van Iersel
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Strong Emphasis ◽  
Migration Control ◽  
And Migration

This article explores the political and media discourse in The Netherlands around COVID-19 and migration. In so doing, it asks to what extent the dynamics of ‘governing COVID-19 through migration’ are visible in this discourse. By asking this question, the article builds upon the theoretical frameworks of ‘governing through crime’ and ‘governing through migration control’. Both theoretical frameworks place a strong emphasis on the role of discourse in framing certain social phenomena as a threat, concern or risk. By carrying out a discourse analysis on Dutch political and media debates around COVID-19 and migration in the period 1 January 2020–1 November 2021, the article illustrates that despite the linking of migration and crime not only being very visible but also seemingly normalized in this discourse, the links made between COVID-19 and migration were much more nuanced. Furthermore, although COVID-19 and migration were discussed together, the discourse does not show any evidence of governing COVID-19 through migration by using the pandemic to push for very restrictive migration laws targeting only ‘vagabonds’ while still allowing the mobility of ‘tourists’).

scholarly journals JC Virus Evolution and Its Association with Human Populations

2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (20) ◽  
pp. 9928-9933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Shackelton ◽  
Andrew Rambaut ◽  
Oliver G. Pybus ◽  
Edward C. Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Nucleotide Substitution ◽  
Jc Virus ◽  
Population History ◽  
Human Polyomavirus ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Nucleotide Substitution Rate ◽  
Limited Sampling ◽  
Reconciliation Analysis ◽  
And Migration

ABSTRACT The ubiquitous human polyomavirus JC (JCV) is a small double-stranded DNA virus that establishes a persistent infection, and it is often transmitted from parents to children. There are at least 14 subtypes of the virus associated with different human populations. Because of its presumed codivergence with humans, JCV has been used as a genetic marker for human evolution and migration. Codivergence has also been used as a basis for estimating the rate of nucleotide substitution in JCV. We tested the hypothesis of host-virus codivergence by (i) performing a reconciliation analysis of phylogenetic trees of human and JCV populations and (ii) providing the first estimate of the evolutionary rate of JCV that is independent from the assumption of codivergence. Strikingly, our comparisons of JCV and human phylogenies provided no evidence for codivergence, suggesting that this virus should not be used as a marker for human population history. Further, while the estimated nucleotide substitution rate of JCV has large confidence intervals due to limited sampling, our analysis suggests that this virus may evolve nearly two orders of magnitude faster than predicted under the codivergence hypothesis.

scholarly journals Differences in local population history at the finest level: the case of the Estonian population

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 1580-1591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasili Pankratov ◽  
Francesco Montinaro ◽  
Alena Kushniarevich ◽  
Georgi Hudjashov ◽  
Flora Jay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Genetic Structure ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Population History ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Estonian Population

Abstract Several recent studies detected fine-scale genetic structure in human populations. Hence, groups conventionally treated as single populations harbour significant variation in terms of allele frequencies and patterns of haplotype sharing. It has been shown that these findings should be considered when performing studies of genetic associations and natural selection, especially when dealing with polygenic phenotypes. However, there is little understanding of the practical effects of such genetic structure on demography reconstructions and selection scans when focusing on recent population history. Here we tested the impact of population structure on such inferences using high-coverage (~30×) genome sequences of 2305 Estonians. We show that different regions of Estonia differ in both effective population size dynamics and signatures of natural selection. By analyzing identity-by-descent segments we also reveal that some Estonian regions exhibit evidence of a bottleneck 10–15 generations ago reflecting sequential episodes of wars, plague and famine, although this signal is virtually undetected when treating Estonia as a single population. Besides that, we provide a framework for relating effective population size estimated from genetic data to actual census size and validate it on the Estonian population. This approach may be widely used both to cross-check estimates based on historical sources as well as to get insight into times and/or regions with no other information available. Our results suggest that the history of human populations within the last few millennia can be highly region specific and cannot be properly studied without taking local genetic structure into account.

Information and Communication Technology and Cultural Change

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 222-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Hansen ◽  
Tom Postmes ◽  
Nikita van der Vinne ◽  
Wendy van Thiel
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Information And Communication Technology ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Self Construal ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ict For Development ◽  
Practical Implications

This paper studies whether and how information and communication technology (ICT) changes self-construal and cultural values in a developing country. Ethiopian children were given laptops in the context of an ICT for development scheme. We compared children who used laptops (n = 69) with a control group without laptops (n = 76) and a second control group of children whose laptop had broken down (n = 24). Results confirmed that after 1 year of laptop usage, the children’s self-concept had become more independent and children endorsed individualist values more strongly. Interestingly, the impact of laptop usage on cultural values was mediated by self-construal (moderated mediation). Importantly, modernization did not “crowd out” traditional culture: ICT usage was not associated with a reduction in traditional expressions (interdependent self-construal, collectivist values). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Syrian Crisis and Migration

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pinar Yazgan ◽  
Deniz Eroglu Utku ◽  
Ibrahim Sirkeci
Keyword(s):  
Human Mobility ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Europe Today ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future

With the growing insurrections in Syria in 2011, an exodus in large numbers have emerged. The turmoil and violence have caused mass migration to destinations both within the region and beyond. The current "refugee crisis" has escalated sharply and its impact is widening from neighbouring countries toward Europe. Today, the Syrian crisis is the major cause for an increase in displacement and the resultant dire humanitarian situation in the region. Since the conflict shows no signs of abating in the near future, there is a constant increase in the number of Syrians fleeing their homes. However, questions on the future impact of the Syrian crisis on the scope and scale of this human mobility are still to be answered. As the impact of the Syrian crisis on host countries increases, so does the demand for the analyses of the needs for development and protection in these countries. In this special issue, we aim to bring together a number of studies examining and discussing human mobility in relation to the Syrian crisis.

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