Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T12:55:17.575Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

RETURNING TO THE RATE OF SPREAD OF EARLY FARMING IN EUROPE: COMMENT ON THE ARTICLE BY MANEN ET AL. (2019) IN RADIOCARBON

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2021

Albert J Ammerman*
Affiliation:
Colgate University – Classics, 13346 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY13346-1338, USA
*
Corresponding author. Emails: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

The aim of the comment is to address the misrepresentations of our work on the Neolithic transitions that are found in a recent article by Manen and coauthors in Radiocarbon. There are a fair number of them as indicated in the comment. The purpose of the comment is (1) to set the record straight, (2) to clarify several misconceptions that have persisted in the literature for some time, and (3) to comment briefly on the convergence between our own recent regional modeling of the spread of early farming along the north coast of the West Mediterranean and the position currently held by Manen and coauthors.

Type
Commentary
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press for the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ammerman, AJ. 2003. Introduction. In: Ammerman, AJ, Biagi, P, editors. The widening harvest. The Neolithic Transition in Europe: looking back, looking forward. Boston: Archaeological Institute of America, Colloquia and Conference Papers 4. p. 323.Google Scholar
Ammerman, AJ. 2010. The first Argonauts: toward the study of the earliest seafaring in the Mediterranean. In: Anderson, A, Barret, JH, Boyle, KV, editors. The global origins and development of seafaring. Cambridge: McDonald Institute. p. 8192.Google Scholar
Ammerman, AJ. 2019. Cyprus: the submerged Final Palaeolithic of Apros Dive Site C. In: Bailey, G, Galanidou, N, Peeters, H, Jons, H, Mennenga, M, editors. The archaeology of Europe’s drowned landscapes. Coastal Research Library 35. Springer Open. p. 429442.Google Scholar
Ammerman, AJ. 2020. The Neolithic Transition in Europe at 50 years: working draft. Available at arXiv:2012.11713.Google Scholar
Ammerman, AJ. In press. The Neolithic transition in Europe at 50 years. In: Grygiel M, Obst PJ, editors. Feschrift in Honor of Ryszard Grygiel and Peter Bogucki. Krakow Poland. To be completed.Google Scholar
Ammerman, AJ, Biagi, P, editors. 2003. The widening harvest. The Neolithic Transition in Europe: looking back, looking forward. Boston Archaeological Institute of America, Colloquia and Conference Papers 4. Boston.Google Scholar
Ammerman, AJ, Cavalli-Sforza, LL. 1971. Measuring the rate of spread of early farming in Europe. Man 6:675688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ammerman, AJ, Cavalli-Sforza, LL. 1973. A population model for the diffusion of early farming in Europe. In: Renfrew, C, editor. The explanation of culture change. London: Duckworth. p. 343357.Google Scholar
Ammerman, AJ, Cavalli-Sforza, LL. 1984. The Neolithic Transition and the genetics of populations in Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ammerman, AJ, Davis, TW, editors. 2013–2014. Island archaeology and the origins of seafaring in the Eastern Mediterranean, Proceedings of the Wenner Gren Workshop held at Reggio Calabria on October 19–21, 2012. Eurasian Prehistory 1011.Google Scholar
Bramanti, B, et al. 2009. Genetic discontinuity between local hunter-gatherers and central Europe’s first farmers. Science 326:137140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brunel, S, et al. 2020. Ancient genomes from present-day France unveil 7,000 years of its demographic history. PNAS. doi/10.1073/pmas.1918034117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisher, RA. 1937. The wave of advance of advantageous genes. Annals of Eugenics, London 7: 355369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fort, J, Mendez, V. 1999. Time-delayed theory of the Neolithic transition in Europe. Physical Review Letters 82:867870.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fu, Q, Rudan, P, Pääbo, S, Krause, J. 2012. Complete mitochondrial genomes reveal Neolithic expansion into Europe. PLoS One 7(3): 332473.Google ScholarPubMed
Haak, W, et al. 2010. Ancient DNA from European early Neolithic farmers reveals their Near Eastern affinities. PLoS Biology 8:e10000536.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hofmanova, Z, et al. 2016. Early farmers from across Europe directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 113(25): 68866891.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Isern, N, Zilhão, J, Fort, J, Ammerman, AJ. 2017. Modeling the role of voyaging in the coastal spread of the Early Neolithic in the West Mediterranean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. doi/10.1073/pnas.1613413114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Landes, DS. 1969. The unbound Prometheus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Manen, C, Perrin, T, Guilaine, J, Bouby, L, Bréhard, S, Briois, F, Durand, F, Marinval, P, Vigne, J-D. 2019. The Neolithic Transition in the Western Mediterranean: a complex and non-linear diffusion process—the radiocarbon record revisited. Radiocarbon 61(2):531571. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2018.98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathieson, I, et al. 2015. Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians. Nature. doi: 10.1038/nature16152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olalde, I, et al. 2019. The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years. Science 363:1233012334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pinhasi, R, Fort, J, Ammerman, AJ. 2005. Tracing the origin and spread of agriculture in Europe. PLoS Biology 3(12)e410:1–9.10.1371/journal.pbio.0030410CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skellam, J. 1951. Random dispersals in theoretical populations. Biometrika 38:196218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szécsényi-Nagy, A, Keeri, V, Jakucs, J, Brandt, G, Banffy, E, Alt, K. 2014. Ancient DNA evidence for a homogeneous maternal gene pool in sixth millennium cal BC Hungary and the Central European LBK. In: Whittle, A, Bickle, P, editors. Early farmers: the view from archaeology and science. Oxford: Proceedings of the British Academy 198. p. 7193.Google Scholar
Zilhäo, J. 2011. Time is on my side. In: Hadjikoumis, A, Robinson, E, Viner, S, editors. The dynamics of Neolithisation in Europe. Studies in honour of Andrew Sherratt. Oxford: Oxbow Books. p. 4665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar