Genetic and Cultural Diversity in Europe

Abstract

The modern genetics of Europe can be conveniently described by means of special statistical methods of analysis. A geographic analysis by principal components is particularly useful in detecting hidden genetic patterns determined by ancient population expansions. The five statistically most important patterns identified in Europe correspond with archaeologically, linguistically, or historically known demographic expansions. These expansions were most probably determined by known technological innovations (in order of importance, the first four are the development of agriculture and animal breeding in the Middle East, adaptations to northern conditions in the Ural region, pastoral nomadism linked with domestication of the horse in the steppe, and nautical developments favoring Mediterranean trade and colonizations). The remote origins of Europeans from neighboring populations and the replacement of Neandertals, the effect of geographic distance on genetic distance, the major isolates, and the nature and meaning of existing genetic boundaries are also briefly discussed. The pattern of cultural differentiation, including linguistics, shows similarities with the genetic one, because the mechanisms of transmission are at least in part similar. However, recent changes in the patterns of communication and cultural transmission are causing profound changes which tend to destroy this similarity. The linguistic picture of Europe, its relations with genetics and history, and in general with cultural diversity are summarized. Apart from it, European cultural diversity is unfortunately not well studied, although it is clear to living observers. There is considerable historical knowledge, including the pattern of communication routes through the centuries, which is of major help for the study of cultural transmission and evolution. But the very rapid pace of cultural change in modern Europe implies that much knowledge, currently entrusted to the memory of living people, will soon disappear. The need to collect this information and make it available for present and future study seems a highly desirable scope for research in European countries. Apart from China, which has had a very different history, Europe is unique in the depth and extension of diachronic knowledge available, and useful, for the study of cultural and genetic coevolution.