Neolithic Populations Research Articles

Archaeological Research on Neolithic China

Previous articleNext article No AccessReportsArchaeological Research on Neolithic ChinaAn ZhiminAn Zhimin Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 29, Number 5Dec., 1988 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/203698 Views: 26Total views on this site Citations: 15Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1988 The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological ResearchPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Xingqiang Du Auditor-CEO Surname Sharing and Financial Misstatement, (Jan 2021): 13–80.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4462-4_2Chao Zhao The Climate Fluctuation of the 8.2 ka BP Cooling Event and the Transition into Neolithic Lifeways in North China, Quaternary 3, no.33 (Aug 2020): 23.https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030023Tingting Wang, Dong Wei, Xien Chang, Zhiyong Yu, Xinyu Zhang, Changsui Wang, Yaowu Hu, Benjamin T Fuller Tianshanbeilu and the Isotopic Millet Road: reviewing the late Neolithic/Bronze Age radiation of human millet consumption from north China to Europe, National Science Review 6, no.55 (Feb 2017): 1024–1039.https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwx015Xingqiang Du What’s in a Surname? The Effect of Auditor-CEO Surname Sharing on Financial Misstatement, Journal of Business Ethics 158, no.33 (Dec 2017): 849–874.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3762-5Ye Zhang, Jiawei Li, Yongbin Zhao, Xiyan Wu, Hongjie Li, Lu Yao, Hong Zhu, Hui Zhou Genetic diversity of two Neolithic populations provides evidence of farming expansions in North China, Journal of Human Genetics 62, no.22 (Sep 2016): 199–204.https://doi.org/10.1038/jhg.2016.107Naomi F Miller, Robert N Spengler, Michael Frachetti Millet cultivation across Eurasia: Origins, spread, and the influence of seasonal climate, The Holocene 26, no.1010 (Oct 2016): 1566–1575.https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683616641742Katrinka Reinhart Religion, Violence, and Emotion: Modes of Religiosity in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Northern China, Journal of World Prehistory 28, no.22 (Jul 2015): 113–177.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-015-9086-4Cheng-Bang An, Weimiao Dong, Hu Li, Pingyu Zhang, Yongtao Zhao, Xueye Zhao, Shi-Yong Yu Variability of the stable carbon isotope ratio in modern and archaeological millets: evidence from northern China, Journal of Archaeological Science 53 (Jan 2015): 316–322.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.11.001Loukas Barton, Seth D. Newsome, Fa-Hu Chen, Hui Wang, Thomas P. Guilderson, Robert L. Bettinger Agricultural origins and the isotopic identity of domestication in northern China, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, no.1414 (Apr 2009): 5523–5528.https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0809960106Robert L. Bettinger, Loukas Barton, Peter J. Richerson, Robert Boyd, Hui Wang, Won Choi The transition to agriculture in northwestern China, (Jan 2007): 83–101.https://doi.org/10.1016/S1571-0866(07)09008-2Cheng-Bang An, Lingyu Tang, Loukas Barton, Fa-Hu Chen Climate change and cultural response around 4000 cal yr B.P. in the western part of Chinese Loess Plateau, Quaternary Research 63, no.33 (Jan 2017): 347–352.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2005.02.004Peter N. Peregrine Daxi, (Jan 2001): 16–17.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1189-2_3Anne P. Underhill Current issues in Chinese Neolithic archaeology, Journal of World Prehistory 11, no.22 (Jun 1997): 103–160.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02221203David N. Keightley Neolithic and Shang Periods, The Journal of Asian Studies 54, no.11 (Mar 2010): 128–145.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911800021604 Annual Bibliography, Early China 14 (Mar 2015): 293–305.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0362502800002832

Second symposium on Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic Populations of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin

Second symposium on Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic Populations of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin

Human Dental Remains From Early Neolithic Levels at Mehrgarh, Baluchistan

Previous articleNext article No AccessResearch ConclusionsHuman Dental Remains From Early Neolithic Levels at Mehrgarh, BaluchistanJohn R. LukacsJohn R. Lukacs Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 24, Number 3Jun., 1983 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/203015 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 13Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1983 The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological ResearchPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Sujitha P, R. Bhavyaa, Muthu M S, Latha Nirmal, Sneha S. Patil Crown dimensions of primary teeth—A systematic review and meta‐analysis, Journal of Forensic Sciences 67, no.44 (Mar 2022): 1348–1356.https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.15015Hameem Bin Hameed, Yousaf Ali, Amin Ullah Khan Regional Development through Tourism in Balochistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Journal of China Tourism Research 18, no.11 (Jul 2020): 1–19.https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2020.1787910Bahata A. Mukhopadhyay Metal-smithy, Bead-making, Jeweler’s weight, Trade-permit, Tax-stamp: Indus Script’s Semasiography Partly Decoded, SSRN Electronic Journal 2 (Jan 2021).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3778943Bahata Ansumali Ancient Tax Tokens, Trade Licenses and Metrological Records?: Making Sense of Indus Inscribed Objects Through Script-Internal, Contextual, Linguistic, and Ethnohistorical Lenses., SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2018).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3189473Kenneth A.R. Kennedy Paleoanthropology of South Asia, Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 8, no.55 (Jan 1999): 165–185.https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1999)8:5<165::AID-EVAN5>3.0.CO;2-0Kurt W. Alt, C. Loring Brace, Jens C. Türp The History of Dental Anthropology, (Jan 1998): 15–39.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-7496-8_3John R. Lukacs Dental paleopathology and agricultural intensification in South Asia: New evidence from Bronze Age Harappa, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 87, no.22 (Feb 1992): 133–150.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330870202Kenneth A. R. Kennedy Skeletons in the Closet: Recent Recovery of Lost Human Remains from Iron Age Raigir, Andhra Pradesh, South Asian Studies 6, no.11 (Jan 1990): 201–226.https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.1990.9628412Roberto Macchiarelli Prehistoric “fish-eaters” along the eastern Arabian coasts: Dental variation, morphology, and oral health in the Ra's al-Hamra community (Qurum, Sultanate of Oman, 5th-4th millennia BC), American Journal of Physical Anthropology 78, no.44 (Apr 1989): 575–594.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330780411C. Loring Brace, Karen R. Rosenberg, Kevin D. Hunt GRADUAL CHANGE IN HUMAN TOOTH SIZE IN THE LATE PLEISTOCENE AND POST-PLEISTOCENE, Evolution 41, no.44 (May 2017): 705–720.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1987.tb05847.xKenneth A. R. Kennedy, Siran U. Deraniyagala, William J. Roertgen, John Chiment, Todd Disotell Upper pleistocene fossil hominids from Sri Lanka, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 72, no.44 (Apr 1987): 441–461.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330720405Kenneth A. R. Kennedy, John Chiment, Todd Disotell, David Meyers Principal-components analysis of prehistoric South Asian crania, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 64, no.22 (Jun 1984): 105–118.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330640203John R. Lukacs Dental Anthropology of South Asian Populations: A Review, (Jan 1984): 133–157.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-5001-7_7

Les Néolithiques du Sahara central et l'histoire générale de l'Afrique

SUMMARY In the general history of Africa, a privileged position is held by the Neolithic populations of Central Sahara (0° to 20° East) due to the existence of rock-paintings in the naturalistic style in the mountain ranges of the Algerian Tassili n'Ajjer and the Lybian Tadrart-Acacus in particular. These rock- paintings represent not only the largest and most beautiful prehistoric museum in the world but also a truly historical source of information. Besides, there is almost positive proof today that those Central Sahara mountain ranges harboured two essential elements of the Neolithic culture -pottery and cattle domestication. Pottery evolved probably in the early seventh millennium, when an abundance of food caused fishermen-gatherers to become sedentary. The cattle-farming organised in the mountain ranges in the sixth millennium had been preceded by a lengthy period of « preliminaries » to such an activity, linked with the food scarcity due to the dessication of Northern Sahara from 14,000 B.P. onwards. Though any definite conclusion is made impossible by the scarcity of archaeological data, it seems justified to argue about the possibility of agriculture in Southern Central Sahara from 5,000 to 3,500 B.P., when evidence of organised and hierarchised cultures appears. Climatologists have been able to establish that the dessication of the Sahara varied considerably in places. In the whole Southern Sahara one can distinguish five waves of migration towards the present Sahel, ranging from 4,400 B.P. to 1,800 B.P. (second century A.D.) -and these migrations are directly related to the protohistoric settlement of West Africa. For some years inter-disciplinary research connected with the mining of uranium has been undertaken in Niger, more particularly east, south-west and south of the Air range. From 1979 published 14 С datations, one can infer that in the Agades area copper metallurgy existed as early as the 14th century B.C., while iron metallurgy existed from the 10th century B.C. Those exceptionally early datations remain to be confirmed yet they appear perfectly plausible when one bears in mind the remarkable inventiveness of the neolithic populations of Central Sahara in fields as varied as pottery, rock art, cattle domestication, the organisation of sedentary societies and perhaps agriculture.

Sedentism and changing fertility patterns in a Northern athapascan isolate

In an attempt to determine the demographic consequences of sedentism for the Kutchin Athapascans of Old Crow Village, Yukon Territory, genealogical data spanning the recent transition to sedentism for these previously hunting-fishing people were analyzed with regard to historic fertility and mortality patterns. The results of this analysis are discussed in the light of data gathered for current hunter-gatherers and previous models of the Neolithic population expansion.

On the Socioeconomic System of European Neolithic Populations

On the Socioeconomic System of European Neolithic Populations

The Socioeconomic System of European Neolithic Populations

The Socioeconomic System of European Neolithic Populations

More on the Kadero Neolithic Human Remains

Previous articleNext article No AccessDiscussion and CriticismMore on the Kadero Neolithic Human RemainsTadeusz Dzierzykray-Rogalski and Lech KrzyzaniakTadeusz Dzierzykray-Rogalski Search for more articles by this author and Lech Krzyzaniak Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 19, Number 3Sep., 1978 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/202168 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1978 The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological ResearchPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Maria Kaczmarek Discrete and metric dental variations of the Neolithic population of Kadero (Central Sudan), (Jan 2010).https://doi.org/10.31338/uw.9788323533344.pp.311-318Aleksandra Pudło Population of Nubia up to the 16th century BC, Anthropological Review 62 (Dec 1999): 57–66.https://doi.org/10.18778/1898-6773.62.07

New Light on Early Food-Production in the Central Sudan

The excavations in the Central Sudanese Neolithic settlement at Kadero resulted in the discovery of a large amount of skeletal remains of domestic animals: cattle, sheep, goats and dogs. Cattle pastoralism was of great economic importance for the Kadero population and it was supplemented by the herding of sheep and goats; the presence of dogs is closely associated with this pastoralism. Preliminary examination of plant impressions on potsherds reveals the presence almost exclusively of sorghum and two kinds of millet, which were most probably cultivated. This may explain the large number of grindstones found in the Kadero settlement. The pastoralism and possible cultivation at Kadero point to a much more developed food-producing economy practised by the Central Sudanese Neolithic population, compared to that of the Esh Shaheinab settlement. Food-production at Kadero was supplemented by food-gathering activities, among which the collecting of molluscs predominated, with hunting and fishing playing a less significant role.The data yielded by the burial ground at Kadero, where the heavily prognathous inhabitants of the local settlement were buried, seem to indicate that the Neolithic Kadero population was an autochthonous one on the Upper (main) Nile. It is assumed that the domestic animals and, perhaps, also the cultivated cereals of the Neolithic Kaderans, as well as of other Central Sudanese populations, were adopted by the local food-gathering human groups following contact with other and alien peoples.

The Human Skeletal Remains from Bozuyama in Central Hokkaido

Six human skeletal remains, excavated by late Prof. H. KONO from Eneolithic pit-graves at Bozuyama in Ebetsu (about 20km northeast of Sapporo), were measur-ed (Tables 1-3) and described. All skeletons were found in extremely flexed position, with their heads turned to south or southeast, and lying on their backs. The graves contained potsherds of Kohoku and Hokudai types, which represent epi-Jomon culture of northeast half of Hokkaido in early and middle parts of first millennium A. D.Measurements of best preserved adult male skull from burial No. VI-2 (Fig. 1-3, Table 1) were compared with those of adjacent racial groups of Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Japan proper. The Bozuyama VI-2 skull showed closest resem-blance to contemporary Onkoromanai remains (YAMAGUCHI, 1963) from northern Hokkaido (Table 4 and Fig. 5 and 6). The author gave a common provisional des-ignation the Onkoromanai to these two Eneolithic groups from central and northern parts of Hokkaido.The Onkoromanai type, which was tentatively represented by average of three male skulls of Bozuyama and Onkoromanai (Table 4), was compared with various recent and prehistoric races of Oceania, Far East, Northern Asia and Europe, by means of shape distance of L. S. PENROSE (1954). The closest distances from Onkoromanai type were found in northern and eastern groups of Hokkaido Ainu, Kuril Ainu, Neolithic populations of Japanese mainland, and cromagnonoid types of Bronze Age southwestern Siberia and Neolithic Ukraina. On other hand, remotest distances were shown by Mongoloid races of northeastern Asia, including Sakhalin Gilyak. The Ainu of Sakhalin and southern Hokkaido, recent Japanese, and many Oceanian groups showed intermediate distances (Table 5).In addition, reciprocal distances among eight representative groups were calcula-ted and illustrated (Table 6, Fig. 7). Remarkable mutual resemblances were found among four of them, i. e. Onkoromanai type, Kitami Ainu (northeast Hok-kaido), Yoshiko (Neolithic shellmound of Japan), and Andronovo (Bronze Age Minusinsk basin).

CONGENITAL DEFECTS OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM ASSOCIATED WITH HYPERENDEMIC GOITER IN A NEOLITHIC HIGHLAND SOCIETY OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA

A recently discovered, isolated, and still neolithic population in the interior Highlands of Netherlands New Guinea has been studied, in which most, and perhaps all, of the members suffer from varying degrees of congenital central nervous system damage. This damage ranges from subtle degrees of mental subnormality to severe feeble-mindedness often associated with deafness or deaf-mutism. In this region about one-fourth of the males and two-thirds of the females are found to have goiter. In some hamlets the incidence reaches 100% among the adult females. Many of these goiters are among the largest reported in world literature. The extreme isolation and the high incidence of this congenital goitrous cretinism of varying degrees of severity make this region ideally suited for studies of both the genetic and environmental factors which determine the defects in this population. Similarly, they offer an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the etiology and pathogenesis of central nervous system defect associated with endemic goiter. The possibility that an unusual use of sweet potato leaves as a dietary staple in a region wherein the total nutritional balance is marginally adequate may play a role in the medical situation is under investigation. Metabolic and biochemical studies will be reported in subsequent papers in this series. Other medical problems of the area are briefly discussed and the distribution of goitrous areas in New Guinea is reviewed.

Iberian Beakers

The idea that the Beaker ware found over a large part of western and central Europe was Spanish in origin was made popular by the writings of Alberto del Castillo and Bosch Gimpera some thirty years ago. Although others have argued that the greater density of Beaker finds in central Europe makes that region a more likely homeland for the pottery, the Spanish theory is still the more generally accepted. Its implications for European prehistory are obvious: for if Beaker ware evolved from local Spanish traditions, then it is events in Spain which determine the terminus post quern for its appearance in Europe. Moreover, Castillo and Bosch Gimpera propose even more precise starting-points for different varieties of Beaker ware in Europe, since in the Peninsula they interpret different styles as stages in the development of the pottery, and therefore regard them as necessarily consecutive. At the same time if, as Castillo maintained, Beaker ware represents an evolution of early Spanish pottery, then its inventors, as descendants of the original neolithic population, might well be distinct from the later metal-using peoples in the Peninsula, among whom the pottery is found. It would therefore be plausible to suggest that Beaker ware was diffused in the Peninsula by the movements of a separate (basically neolithic) group; and the existence of such a group south of the Pyrenees would strengthen the hypothesis that in Europe also the pottery was spread by the migrations of a separate ‘People.’

Research Items

FORERUNNEBS OF THE ROMANS.—Under this title Dr. D. Randall-Maclver continues in Antiquity for June the study of the early civilisations of Italy, which he began in the issue of that periodical for June 1927. At about 1000 B.C., that is, about the beginning of the Iron Age and two centuries before the effective coming of the Etruscans, northern and central Italy may be partitioned into five distinct spheres. The north-west is occupied by the Comacines, part of Venetia by the Atestines, the Bolognese region by the northern Villanovans, Tuscany and a part of Latium by the southern Villanovans, east of the Apennines, from Rimini to Aufideua, the Adriatic coast, and the central Apennines are held by the Picenes, including some of the Samnites and some Umbrians. The first four are related and practise cremation; but the Picenes are of wholly different origin and practise inhumation. In several parts of the country these civilisations maintained an independent existence down to the fourth century B.C. The most important contribution to the early Iron Age culture of Italy was undoubtedly that of the two Villanovan nations, and in Etruria the Etruscans owed more to them than has been appreciated. They were the pioneers in metal-working, and it was to their coppersmiths that the Etruscans owed their supremacy in the metal trade of the Mediterranean. The highest point of the Atestine culture of Venetia is between the seventh and fifth centuries. They were probably the latest of the cremating nations to settle in Italy. Originally they were closely related to the Villanovans and kept in close touch with them. The Picenes, it is suggested, are the descendants of the original neolithic population, who above all were warriors—a reef against which Villanovan and Atestine migration beat in vain.

Research Items

THE AMORITES.—In the current issue of Ancient Egypt, Prof. Sayce adduces further arguments for identifying the Amorites with the Mitanni rather than with the Western Semites as usually assumed. The geographical evidence is that the early Babylonians called the inhabitants of the plateau on both sides of the Tigris Subaru—“The Highlander,” and that a portion of this territory came to be called the land of the Murru after the Mitannian occupation. The historical evidence is that the earliest known king of the Amorites, Aqwaruwas, bears a Mitannian name. In the Tel el-Amarna age, Mitannian names are still used mixed with Semitic. The philological argument is based upon the identity of Murru as used by Sumerians for “Amorite “on one hand, and by the Mitannians and Hittites on the other, as the name of the Mitanni country, Amurru with the prothetic a appearing only in the Semitic languages. The argument from ethnology is that the Mitannians, speaking an Asianic language, originated in Asia Minor and belonged to the white races of Asia Minor and Europe. Hence they appear in the Egyptian monuments as blond, tall, long-skulled, with blue eyes and black or red-brown hair; they may be connected with the Libyans, the Berbers of to-day. They were the precursors of the Hittites in Palestine and Syria, and possibly represent the dolichocephalic neolithic population of Palestine. Their penetration to Babylonia in the semi-mythical age may explain why the Sumerians distinguish themselves from the earlier inhabitants as “the black-headed “race.