| 1. |
- Fortes-Lima, Cesar A., PhD, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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The genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 625:7995, s. 540-547
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The expansion of people speaking Bantu languages is the most dramatic demographic event in Late Holocene Africa and fundamentally reshaped the linguistic, cultural and biological landscape of the continent1-7. With a comprehensive genomic dataset, including newly generated data of modern-day and ancient DNA from previously unsampled regions in Africa, we contribute insights into this expansion that started 6,000-4,000 years ago in western Africa. We genotyped 1,763 participants, including 1,526 Bantu speakers from 147 populations across 14 African countries, and generated whole-genome sequences from 12 Late Iron Age individuals8. We show that genetic diversity amongst Bantu-speaking populations declines with distance from western Africa, with current-day Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo as possible crossroads of interaction. Using spatially explicit methods9 and correlating genetic, linguistic and geographical data, we provide cross-disciplinary support for a serial-founder migration model. We further show that Bantu speakers received significant gene flow from local groups in regions they expanded into. Our genetic dataset provides an exhaustive modern-day African comparative dataset for ancient DNA studies10 and will be important to a wide range of disciplines from science and humanities, as well as to the medical sector studying human genetic variation and health in African and African-descendant populations.
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| 2. |
- Meyer, Anja, et al.
(författare)
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A reassessment of archaeological human remains recovered from rock shelters in Cathkin Peak, South Africa
- 2021
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Ingår i: Azania. - : Routledge. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 56:4, s. 508-538
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Various skeletons from the uThukela region of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa were excavated from rock shelters there during the early part of the twentieth century, with limited accompanying data or analysis. This paper analyses and reports on nine such graves (eight of which contained human remains), excavated during 1931 near Cathkin Peak. The remains are currently housed in the Raymond A. Dart Archaeological Human Remains Collection, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Most of the skeletons were radiocarbon-dated to between the fourteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries, but one is older and dates to between the seventh and ninth centuries AD. Remains recovered from the various shelters included those of both adults and children, males and females, indicating that these rock shelters were used for the burials of, and were possibly occupied by, a wide variety of individuals over a long period of time. Skeletal analyses revealed several signs of disease and trauma, attesting to some hardships living in this region of South Africa. Stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen indicate a predominantly plant-based diet. Originally it was thought that these individuals’ remains represented those of the historic amaZizi people, however, radiocarbon dates indicate that they are contemporaneous with the Moor Park phase of the Blackburn branch, which predates the amaZizi by several decades. Of interest is the fact that one individual predates the Moor Park phase. This is significant and sheds some light on the movement of people from KwaZulu-Natal into the interior. Future ancient DNA analysis will provide more information on the origin and genetic relationship of these individuals.
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| 3. |
- Schlebusch, Carina, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Southern African ancient genomes estimate modern human divergence to 350,000 to 260,000 years ago
- 2017
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 358:6363, s. 652-655
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Southern Africa is consistently placed as a potential region for the evolution of Homo sapiens We present genome sequences, up to 13x coverage, from seven ancient individuals from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The remains of three Stone Age hunter-gatherers (about 2000 years old) were genetically similar to current-day southern San groups, and those of four Iron Age farmers (300 to 500 years old) were genetically similar to present-day Bantu-language speakers. We estimate that all modern-day Khoe-San groups have been influenced by 9 to 30% genetic admixture from East Africans/Eurasians. Using traditional and new approaches, we estimate the first modern human population divergence time to between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago. This estimate increases the deepest divergence among modern humans, coinciding with anatomical developments of archaic humans into modern humans, as represented in the local fossil record.
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| 4. |
- Steyn, Maryna, et al.
(författare)
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African Farmers, Not Stone Age Foragers : Reassessment of Human Remains from the Mumbwa Caves, Zambia
- 2023
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Ingår i: African Archaeological Review. - : Springer Nature. - 0263-0338 .- 1572-9842. ; 40:1, s. 53-72
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, we reassess the human remains from the Mumbwa Caves housed in the Raymond A. Dart Archaeological Human Remains Collection at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Based on new radiocarbon dates from human bone collagen and stable isotope analysis, our results revealed that the poorly preserved remains, comprising mostly crania and teeth, represent at least 16 individuals. Some of them have culturally modified anterior teeth. Enamel hypoplastic lesions were seen in a few individuals, which indicates disease and malnutrition during childhood. Radiocarbon dating revealed that all the individuals were buried at Mumbwa sometime between the late tenth and early twentieth century CE, with most dates clustering between the early sixteenth and the late nineteenth century. With the exception of a single individual who seems to have had a hunter-gatherer/forager diet, the carbon and nitrogen isotope values of others are consistent with what would be expected from a low-trophic farmer diet based on foodplants with C4 photosynthetic pathways. It is, therefore, our contention that, rather than being associated with the Stone Age as previously suggested, these individuals lived in more recent agricultural communities around the Mumbwa Caves.
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| 5. |
- Steyn, Maryna, et al.
(författare)
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Four Iron Age women from KwaZulu-Natal : biological anthropology, genetics and archaeological context
- 2019
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Ingår i: Southern African Humanities. - 1681-5564 .- 2305-2791. ; 32:1, s. 23-56
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report further details on four partial human skeletons from KwaZulu-Natal previously selected for genetic analysis. Dating and genetic results indicate that they derived from agriculturist communities of the mid-second millennium AD. Morphological and genetic analysis shows that three individuals were female; identification of the fourth as female comes from genetic analysis only. All four were adults at death, three older adults and one younger. Genetically, all four individuals cluster strongly with Bantu-speaking populations with West African roots, a result supported by craniometric data for the one individual with a complete and well-preserved cranium. All nevertheless display some admixture with Khoe-San populations. We show that three of the women, and probably the fourth, carried genetic resistance to the Plasmodium vivax malaria parasite, while two had some protection against Trypanosoma brucei gambiense-induced sleeping sickness. The unusual rock-shelter burial locations of three of the women suggest that their deaths required ritual "cooling"€™. Lightning and violence are possible causes. We argue that this multipronged approach is necessary for the development of detailed and nuanced understandings of the past and of the individuals who lived in the region centuries ago.
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