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Scheinsohn V, Muñoz AS, Mondini M. Climate change and long-term human behaviour in the Neotropics: an archaeological view from the Global South. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220403. [PMID: 37718601 PMCID: PMC10505852 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 06/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023] Open
Abstract
In this paper, we argue for the inclusion of archaeology in discussions about how humans have contributed to and dealt with climate change, especially in the long term. We suggest Niche Construction Theory as a suitable framework to that end. In order to take into account both human and environmental variability, we also advocate for a situated perspective that includes the Global South as a source of knowledge production, and the Neotropics as a relevant case study to consider. To illustrate this, we review the mid-Holocene Hypsithermal period in the southern Puna and continental Patagonia, both in southern South America, by assessing the challenges posed by this climate period and the archaeological signatures of the time from a Niche Construction Theory perspective. Finally, we emphasize the importance of these considerations for policymaking. This article is part of the theme issue 'Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivian Scheinsohn
- Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano (INAPL)-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), C1246BJN Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Departamento de Ciencias Antropológicas, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1406CQJ Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - A. Sebastián Muñoz
- Laboratorio de Zooarqueología y Tafonomía de Zonas Áridas (LaZTA), Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba (IDACOR), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)-Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, X5000JHO Córdoba, Argentina
- Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, X5000HUA Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Mariana Mondini
- Departamento de Ciencias Antropológicas, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1406CQJ Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Laboratorio de Zooarqueología y Tafonomía de Zonas Áridas (LaZTA), Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba (IDACOR), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)-Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, X5000JHO Córdoba, Argentina
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Silva MACE, Ferraz T, Hünemeier T. A genomic perspective on South American human history. Genet Mol Biol 2022; 45:e20220078. [PMID: 35925590 PMCID: PMC9351327 DOI: 10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2022-0078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
It has generally been accepted that the current indigenous peoples of the Americas are derived from ancestors from northeastern Asia. The latter were believed to have spread into the American continent by the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. In this sense, a joint and in-depth study of the earliest settlement of East Asia and the Americas is required to elucidate these events accurately. The first Americans underwent an adaptation process to the Americas' vast environmental diversity, mediated by biological and cultural evolution and niche construction, resulting in enormous cultural diversity, a wealth of domesticated species, and extensive landscape modifications. Afterward, in the Late Holocene, the advent of intensive agricultural food production systems, sedentism, and climate change significantly reshaped genetic and cultural diversity across the continent, particularly in the Andes and Amazonia. Furthermore, starting around the end of the 15th century, European colonization resulted in massive extermination of indigenous peoples and extensive admixture. Thus, the present review aims to create a comprehensive picture of the main events involved in the formation of contemporary South American indigenous populations and the dynamics responsible for shaping their genetic diversity by integrating current genetic data with evidence from archeology, linguistics and other disciplines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcos Araújo Castro E Silva
- Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Tiago Ferraz
- Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Tábita Hünemeier
- Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
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Climate and demography drive 7000 years of dietary change in the Central Andes. Sci Rep 2022; 12:2026. [PMID: 35132100 PMCID: PMC8821598 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05774-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Explaining the factors that influence past dietary variation is critically important for understanding changes in subsistence, health, and status in past societies; yet systematic studies comparing possible driving factors remain scarce. Here we compile the largest dataset of past diet derived from stable isotope δ13C‰ and δ15N‰ values in the Americas to quantitatively evaluate the impact of 7000 years of climatic and demographic change on dietary variation in the Central Andes. Specifically, we couple paleoclimatic data from a general circulation model with estimates of relative past population inferred from archaeologically derived radiocarbon dates to assess the influence of climate and population on spatiotemporal dietary variation using an ensemble machine learning model capable of accounting for interactions among predictors. Results reveal that climate and population strongly predict diet (80% of δ15N‰ and 66% of δ13C‰) and that Central Andean diets correlate much more strongly with local climatic conditions than regional population size, indicating that the past 7000 years of dietary change was influenced more by climatic than socio-demographic processes. Visually, the temporal pattern suggests decreasing dietary variation across elevation zones during the Late Horizon, raising the possibility that sociopolitical factors overrode the influence of local climatic conditions on diet during that time. The overall findings and approach establish a general framework for understanding the influence of local climate and demography on dietary change across human history.
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Timpson A, Barberena R, Thomas MG, Méndez C, Manning K. Directly modelling population dynamics in the South American Arid Diagonal using 14C dates. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 376:20190723. [PMID: 33250032 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Large anthropogenic 14C datasets are widely used to generate summed probability distributions (SPDs) as a proxy for past human population levels. However, SPDs are a poor proxy when datasets are small, bearing little relationship to true population dynamics. Instead, more robust inferences can be achieved by directly modelling the population and assessing the model likelihood given the data. We introduce the R package ADMUR which uses a continuous piecewise linear (CPL) model of population change, calculates the model likelihood given a 14C dataset, estimates credible intervals using Markov chain Monte Carlo, applies a goodness-of-fit test, and uses the Schwarz Criterion to compare CPL models. We demonstrate the efficacy of this method using toy data, showing that spurious dynamics are avoided when sample sizes are small, and true population dynamics are recovered as sample sizes increase. Finally, we use an improved 14C dataset for the South American Arid Diagonal to compare CPL modelling to current simulation methods, and identify three Holocene phases when population trajectory estimates changed from rapid initial growth of 4.15% per generation to a decline of 0.05% per generation between 10 821 and 7055 yr BP, then gently grew at 0.58% per generation until 2500 yr BP. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Timpson
- UCL Genetics Institute, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.,Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Ramiro Barberena
- Instituto Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Básicas (ICB), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Laboratorio de Paleoecología Humana, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Padre Jorge Contreras 1300, Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Mark G Thomas
- UCL Genetics Institute, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - César Méndez
- Centro de Investigación en Ecosistemas de la Patagonia, Moraleda 16, Coyhaique, Aisén, Chile
| | - Katie Manning
- Department of Geography, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK
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Riris P, Arroyo-Kalin M. Widespread population decline in South America correlates with mid-Holocene climate change. Sci Rep 2019; 9:6850. [PMID: 31073131 PMCID: PMC6509208 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-43086-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2018] [Accepted: 04/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Quantifying the impacts of climate change on prehistoric demography is crucial for understanding the adaptive pathways taken by human populations. Archaeologists across South America have pointed to patterns of regional abandonment during the Middle Holocene (8200 to 4200 cal BP) as evidence of sensitivity to shifts in hydroclimate over this period. We develop a unified approach to investigate demography and climate in South America and aim to clarify the extent to which evidence of local anthropic responses can be generalised to large-scale trends. We achieve this by integrating archaeological radiocarbon data and palaeoclimatic time series to show that population decline occurred coeval with the transition to the initial mid-Holocene across South America. Through the analysis of radiocarbon dates with Monte Carlo methods, we find multiple, sustained phases of downturn associated to periods of high climatic variability. A likely driver of the duration and severity of demographic turnover is the frequency of exceptional climatic events, rather than the absolute magnitude of change. Unpredictable levels of tropical precipitation had sustained negative impacts on pre-Columbian populations lasting until at least 6000 cal BP, after which recovery is evident. Our results support the inference that a demographic regime shift in the second half of the Middle Holocene were coeval with cultural practices surrounding Neotropical plant management and early cultivation, possibly acting as buffers when the wild resource base was in flux.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip Riris
- UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WCH1 0PY, United Kingdom.
| | - Manuel Arroyo-Kalin
- UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WCH1 0PY, United Kingdom
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French KE. The Contribution of 21stCentury Pastoralists to Biodiversity Conservation and Emerging Bioeconomies. J ETHNOBIOL 2017. [DOI: 10.2993/0278-0771-37.3.514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Williams AC, Hill LJ. Meat and Nicotinamide: A Causal Role in Human Evolution, History, and Demographics. Int J Tryptophan Res 2017; 10:1178646917704661. [PMID: 28579800 PMCID: PMC5417583 DOI: 10.1177/1178646917704661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2016] [Accepted: 03/15/2017] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Hunting for meat was a critical step in all animal and human evolution. A key brain-trophic element in meat is vitamin B3 / nicotinamide. The supply of meat and nicotinamide steadily increased from the Cambrian origin of animal predators ratcheting ever larger brains. This culminated in the 3-million-year evolution of Homo sapiens and our overall demographic success. We view human evolution, recent history, and agricultural and demographic transitions in the light of meat and nicotinamide intake. A biochemical and immunological switch is highlighted that affects fertility in the 'de novo' tryptophan-to-kynurenine-nicotinamide 'immune tolerance' pathway. Longevity relates to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide consumer pathways. High meat intake correlates with moderate fertility, high intelligence, good health, and longevity with consequent population stability, whereas low meat/high cereal intake (short of starvation) correlates with high fertility, disease, and population booms and busts. Too high a meat intake and fertility falls below replacement levels. Reducing variances in meat consumption might help stabilise population growth and improve human capital.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian C Williams
- Department of Neurology, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK
| | - Lisa J Hill
- Neuroscience and Ophthalmology Research Group, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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