Estimating the relative importance of demic and cultural diffusion in the spread of the Neolithic in Scandinavia.

ABSTRACT: Using a database of early farming sites in Scandinavia, we estimate that the spread rate of the Neolithic was in the range 0.44-0.66 km yr-1 This is substantially slower (by about 50%) than the rate in continental Europe. We interpret this result in the framework of a new mathematical model that includes horizontal cultural transmission (acculturation), vertical cultural transmission (interbreeding) and demic diffusion (reproduction and dispersal of farmers). To parametrize the model, we estimate reproduction rates of early farmers using archaeological data (sum-calibrated probabilities for the dates of early Neolithic Scandinavian sites) and use them in a wave-of-advance model for the first time. Comparing the model with the archaeological data, we find that the percentage of the spread r

SUBMITTER: Fort J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6283996 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature