| Title: |
Genes, fossils, and culture.
|
| Subtitle: |
An overview of the evidence for Neandertal--modern human interaction and admixture |
| Issue: |
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 72 |
| Series: |
The Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
|
| Volume: |
72
|
| Page Start/End: |
1 - 20 |
| Biblio Note |
Please note that this is a bibliographic record only, as originally entered into the BIAB database.
The ADS have no files for download, and unfortunately cannot advise further on where to access hard copy or digital versions.
|
| Publication Type: |
Journal
|
| Abstract: |
Paper re-examining current arguments concerning the evidence for Neandertal--modern human interaction and admixture, and the issues that remain to be resolved about the tempo and mode of early modern human dispersal and interaction with archaic humans. The author focuses on what happened at the time of contact in Europe, and assesses the level of admixture that may have occurred, as well as the extent to which this level may have varied in both time and space. It explains how the available mtDNA evidence does not preclude admixture at the time of contact, and is in fact consistent, depending on a number of parameters, with a possibly substantial Neandertal contribution to the initial modern human population of Europe. It is argued that the absence of Neandertal mtDNA lineages among present Europeans is likely, on dating evidence, to be simply a particular case of generalised loss of Pleistocene mtDNA lineages. The author suggests that although the full range of interaction types (mutual avoidance, hostile confrontation, full integration) is conceivable, there is plenty of archaeological evidence to suggest that admixture must have been the general rule, and that the palaeontological evidence for the generalised presence of archaic traits among Europe's earliest moderns implies the transmission of genes, and indicates that mixed groups should have been reproductively viable. In this context, it would seem that the most parsimonious explanation for the disappearance of the Neandertal mtDNA lineage is genetic swamping. French, German and Spanish summaries provided. |
| Year of Publication: |
2006
|
| Subjects / Periods: |
|
|
| Human Dispersal (Auto Detected Subject) |
| Pleistocene (Auto Detected Temporal) |
|
| Source: |
BIAB
(The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))
|
| Created Date: |
30 Jan 2007 |
