Evidence for declines in human population densities during the early Upper Paleolithic in western Europe
In western Europe, the Middle to Upper Paleolithic (M/UP) transition, dated between ≈35,000 and ≈40,000 radiocarbon years, corresponded to a period of major human biological and cultural changes. However, information on human population densities is scarce for that period. New faunal data from the h...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:2224228 2023-05-15T18:04:20+02:00 Evidence for declines in human population densities during the early Upper Paleolithic in western Europe Morin, Eugène 2008-01-08 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2224228 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18172204 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0709372104 en eng National Academy of Sciences http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2224228 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18172204 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0709372104 © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA Social Sciences Text 2008 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0709372104 2013-09-01T14:19:31Z In western Europe, the Middle to Upper Paleolithic (M/UP) transition, dated between ≈35,000 and ≈40,000 radiocarbon years, corresponded to a period of major human biological and cultural changes. However, information on human population densities is scarce for that period. New faunal data from the high-resolution record of Saint-Césaire, France, indicate an episode of significant climatic deterioration during the early Upper Paleolithic (EUP), which also was associated with a reduction in mammalian species diversity. High correlations between ethnographic data and mammalian species diversity suggest that this shift decreased human population densities. Reliance on reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), a highly fluctuating resource, would also have promoted declines in human population densities. These data suggest that the EUP represented for humans a period of significant niche contraction in western Europe. In this context, the possibility that a modern human expansion occurred in this region seems low. Instead, it is suggested that population bottlenecks, genetic drift, and gene flow prevailed over human population replacement as mechanisms of evolution in humans during the EUP. Text Rangifer tarandus PubMed Central (PMC) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 1 48 53 |
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Social Sciences |
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Social Sciences Morin, Eugène Evidence for declines in human population densities during the early Upper Paleolithic in western Europe |
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Social Sciences |
description |
In western Europe, the Middle to Upper Paleolithic (M/UP) transition, dated between ≈35,000 and ≈40,000 radiocarbon years, corresponded to a period of major human biological and cultural changes. However, information on human population densities is scarce for that period. New faunal data from the high-resolution record of Saint-Césaire, France, indicate an episode of significant climatic deterioration during the early Upper Paleolithic (EUP), which also was associated with a reduction in mammalian species diversity. High correlations between ethnographic data and mammalian species diversity suggest that this shift decreased human population densities. Reliance on reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), a highly fluctuating resource, would also have promoted declines in human population densities. These data suggest that the EUP represented for humans a period of significant niche contraction in western Europe. In this context, the possibility that a modern human expansion occurred in this region seems low. Instead, it is suggested that population bottlenecks, genetic drift, and gene flow prevailed over human population replacement as mechanisms of evolution in humans during the EUP. |
format |
Text |
author |
Morin, Eugène |
author_facet |
Morin, Eugène |
author_sort |
Morin, Eugène |
title |
Evidence for declines in human population densities during the early Upper Paleolithic in western Europe |
title_short |
Evidence for declines in human population densities during the early Upper Paleolithic in western Europe |
title_full |
Evidence for declines in human population densities during the early Upper Paleolithic in western Europe |
title_fullStr |
Evidence for declines in human population densities during the early Upper Paleolithic in western Europe |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence for declines in human population densities during the early Upper Paleolithic in western Europe |
title_sort |
evidence for declines in human population densities during the early upper paleolithic in western europe |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2224228 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18172204 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0709372104 |
genre |
Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Rangifer tarandus |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2224228 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18172204 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0709372104 |
op_rights |
© 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0709372104 |
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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105 |
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1 |
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48 |
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53 |
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1766175680458915840 |