Modelling the spread of farming in the Bantu-speaking regions of Africa: an archaeology-based phylogeography.

ABSTRACT: We use archaeological data and spatial methods to reconstruct the dispersal of farming into areas of sub-Saharan Africa now occupied by Bantu language speakers, and introduce a new large-scale radiocarbon database and a new suite of spatial modelling techniques. We also introduce a method of estimating phylogeographic relationships from archaeologically-modelled dispersal maps, with results produced in a format that enables comparison with linguistic and genetic phylogenies. Several hypotheses are explored. The 'deep split' hypothesis suggests that an early-branching eastern Bantu stream spread around the northern boundary of the equatorial rainforest, but recent linguistic and genetic work tends not to support this. An alternative riverine/littoral hypothesis suggests that rivers and coas

SUBMITTER: Russell T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3909244 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature