Collaborative Research: Multi-Ancestor Coalescent Theory For Cultural Evolution

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What are the origins of our culture, customs, and traditions? Who were our ancestors? These questions arouse great interest in the public, and are also debated among scientists and humanists. In the last 50 years, genetics has yielded numerous insights into human prehistory and history. Events such as migrations and epidemics leave traces in the DNA that can be decoded with the help of modern biological and mathematical methods. Humans, however, possess cultural heritage as well as genetic heritage, and cultural histories may differ radically from genetic histories: Genes come from just two parents, but ideas can come from anyone. This project will extend mathematical methods used in genetics so that they can be applied to study the cultural history of populations. In a similar way that biologists use genetic differences between individuals and groups to estimate their genetic histories, the new theory will use cultural differences to deduce cultural histories. This will allow to address such question as: How long ago did the cultural ancestors of a population live? How much contact has there been with other cultures? Is culture transmitted mostly by elites or by the general population? The project will thus add powerful instruments to the toolboxes of such disciplines as archeology, anthropology, history, and linguistics, advancing understanding of human history and helping to integrate science with the humanities. The work will be carried out by a diverse team of evolutionary biologists, physicists, and experts in the mathematical theory of cultural change, including key personnel and research assistants from underrepresented minorities.