Demic Expansions and Human Evolution

Geographic expansions are caused by successful innovations, biological or cultural, that favor local growth and movement. They have had a powerful effect in determining the present patterns of human genetic geography. Modern human populations expanded rapidly across the Earth in the last 100,000 yea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1993-01, Vol.259 (5095), p.639-646
Main Authors: Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi L., Menozzi, Paolo, Piazza, Alberto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Brain
Chromosome Mapping
City squares
Demographics
Evidence
Evolution
Evolutionary genetics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic mapping
Genetic variation
Genetics
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
Geography
growth
Hominidae - genetics
Human
Human evolution
Human genetics
Human population genetics
Humans
Individualized Instruction
man
Migration
Paleontology
Population
Population Density
Population genetics
Population genetics, reproduction patterns
Population Growth
Robustness (Statistics)
Steppes
Verbal Communication
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Summary:Geographic expansions are caused by successful innovations, biological or cultural, that favor local growth and movement. They have had a powerful effect in determining the present patterns of human genetic geography. Modern human populations expanded rapidly across the Earth in the last 100,000 years. At the end of the Paleolithic (10,000 years ago) only a few islands and other areas were unoccupied. The number of inhabitants was then about one thousand times smaller than it is now. Population densities were low throughout the Paleolithic, and random genetic drift was therefore especially effective. Major genetic differences between living human groups must have evolved at that time. Population growths that began afterward, especially with the spread of agriculture, progressively reduced the drift in population and the resulting genetic differentiation. Genetic traces of the expansions that these growths determined are still recognizable.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.8430313