The transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture in Nubia: dental evidence for and against selection, population continuity and discontinuity
The transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture in Nubia: dental evidence for and against selection, population continuity and discontinuity
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2021.0969
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发表时间：
2021-06-09
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Usai, Donatella
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Irish, Joel D.;Usai, Donatella
一些研究人员假设，在晚更新世的旧石器时代晚期狩猎采集者和来自非洲东北部努比亚下部(北部)的全新世农场主之间存在种群连续性。这些时间连续组的显著颅骨差异被认为是原位进化的结果。具体地说，这些人口被认为是全世界向农业转型过程中与生存相关的选择的典范。其他人质疑连续性，研究结果表明，大体上同质的全新世人口与晚更新世下努比亚人有很大不同。如果后者代表了当地民众，则意味着后更新世的间断。那么，谁是全新世农学家的祖先呢？对18个样本(1075个个体)的牙齿形态分析，包括公元前12世纪来自靠近上努比亚边境的Al Khiday的一个样本，可能会给出答案。这是近50年来在该地区发现的第一个旧石器时代晚期样本(n=55)。使用亚利桑那州立大学牙齿人类学系统记录特征和多元统计数据来估计生物亲缘关系，Al Khiday与几个全新世样本相似，但也与同时代的下努比亚人高度不同。因此，毕竟表明了种群的连续性，但在晚更新世的上-而不是最初建议的下努比亚-假设牙齿特征是古代DNA的适当替代品。
Some researchers posit population continuity between Late Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers of the late Pleistocene and Holocene agriculturalists from Lower (northern) Nubia, in northeast Africa. Substantial craniodental differences in these time-successive groups are suggested to result from in situ evolution. Specifically, these populations are considered a model example for subsistence-related selection worldwide in the transition to agriculture. Others question continuity, with findings indicating that the largely homogeneous Holocene populations differ significantly from late Pleistocene Lower Nubians. If the latter are representative of the local populace, post-Pleistocene discontinuity is implied. So who was ancestral to the Holocene agriculturalists? Dental morphological analyses of 18 samples (1075 individuals), including one dated to the 12th millennium BCE from Al Khiday, near the Upper Nubian border, may provide an answer. It is the first Late Palaeolithic sample (n = 55) recovered within the region in approximately 50 years. Using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System to record traits and multivariate statistics to estimate biological affinities, Al Khiday is comparable to several Holocene samples, yet also highly divergent from contemporaneous Lower Nubians. Thus, population continuity is indicated after all, but with late Pleistocene Upper-rather than Lower Nubians as originally suggested-assuming dental traits are adequate proxies for ancient DNA.