Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets.

ABSTRACT: Human-mediated biological exchange has had global social and ecological impacts. In sub-Saharan Africa, several domestic and commensal animals were introduced from Asia in the pre-modern period; however, the timing and nature of these introductions remain contentious. One model supports introduction to the eastern African coast after the mid-first millennium CE, while another posits introduction dating back to 3000 BCE. These distinct scenarios have implications for understanding the emergence of long-distance maritime connectivity, and the ecological and economic impacts of introduced species. Resolution of this longstanding debate requires new efforts, given the lack of well-dated fauna from high-precision excavations, and ambiguous osteomorphological identifications. We analysed faunal

SUBMITTER: Prendergast ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5560628 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature