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Early dispersals across Asia and adjacent regions
Quaternary International 285 (2013) 193e199
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint
People colonizing New Worlds: Abstracts of Symposium papers
For the Symposium each presenter was asked to provide an abstract and three references relevant to the paper as well as a biographical summary. The biographic summaries have not been included here. SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE PEOPLING OF THE AUSTRALIAN NEW WORLD Iain Davidson In this paper I will set out the background that led to this symposium. Following the recognition that the emergence of modern cognition was probably essential for the initial colonization of the greater Australian continent, Sahul, a number of questions emerge. How did the diversity of languages in Sahul emerge when the archaeological record is relatively undifferentiated? What is the relation between the symbolism evident in rock art regionalisation and other archaeological evidence? How does archaeology contribute distinctive interpretations of behaviour to a story that might otherwise be told from genetic studies? Are the apparently different trajectories of the archaeological histories of Australia and the Americas only a result of environmental differences or can we identify key social and behavioural choices that produced the distinctive outcomes seen at the time of arrival of Europeans?
Davidson, I., 2008. “The colonisation of Sunda and Sahul and the evolution of modern cognition.” Precirculated paper for Wenner-Gren Symposium 139: “Working Memory and the Evolution of Modern Thinking”, Cascais, Portugal, 2008. (Published as Davidson, I., 2010. The colonization of Australia and its adjacent islands and the evolution of modern cognition. Current Anthropology 51, s177es189.) Davidson, I., Cook, N.D.J., Fischer, M., Ridges, M., Ross, J., Sutton, S.A., 2005. Archaeology in another country: exchange and symbols in North West Central Queensland. In: Macfarlane, I., Mountain, M.-J., Paton, R. (Eds.), Many exchanges. Aboriginal History Monographs 11, Aboriginal History Inc., pp. 101e128. Davidson, I., Noble, W., 1992. Why the first colonisation of the Australian region is the earliest evidence of modern human behaviour. Archaeology in Oceania 27, pp. 135e142.
EARLY DISPERSALS ACROSS ASIA AND ADJACENT REGIONS Ofer Bar-Yosef The dispersal routes of modern humans are not well known beyond Western Asia and Europe. In the northern parts of Western Asia and Siberia there is some evidence that indicates that the colonization of humans, who were the bearers of the Upper Paleolithic typical tool-kits, reached these regions. Their identification is based on prismatic blade production, bone, antler and ivory objects, use of ornaments, and assumed communications over large distances in order to maintain their mating systems. The
penetration of modern humans to Eastern Asia is a more complicated subject due to paucity of human fossils, disagreements among geneticists, and different opinions on the interpretation of the archaeological finds. It is not impossible, though it needs to be supported by solid dates from the Indian sub-continent, that the dispersal through the ‘southern route’ took place earlier than the colonization of western Eurasia and involved users of ‘core and flake’ tool kits. Some time around 45 5 ka Australia as well as Borneo were colonized by bearers of ‘core and flake’ industries that were the common lithics in South China. However, similar industries were already in use during the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic across East Asia. We should note that although ‘core and flake’ industries are dominant in South China, the sudden appearance of bone tools ca. 30 ka, and later shell and antler tools, reflect additional traits of the Upper Paleolithic. This period also witnessed the evolution of river and coastal navigation that facilitated the colonization of Australia. As the basic technology for seafaring was already established by 45e40 ka, the human contacts along the coast of the western Pacific, such as the distribution of early pottery making to the Japanese archipelago, probably had major additional impacts, possibly on the colonization of the Americas.
Bar-Yosef, O., 2007. The dispersal of modern humans in Eurasia: a cultural interpretation (Chapter 18). In: Mellars, P., Boyle, K., Bar-Yosef, O., Stringer, C. (Eds.), Rethinking the Human Revolution: New Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins and Dispersal of Modern Humans. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, pp. 207e217. Weiss, E., Wetterstrom, W., Nadel, D., Bar-Yosef, O., 2004. The broad spectrum revisited: evidence from plant remains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, 9551e9555. Bar-Yosef, O., 1998. On the nature of transitions: the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Revolution. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 8, 141e163.
GENETIC EVIDENCE FOR THE COLONIZATION OF AUSTRALIA Sheila van Holst Pellekaan Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome studies from living people have produced powerful evidence for the dispersal of human populations. Assuming an African origin, Sahul and the Americas represent some of the extremes of human migration, though the relative timing of dispersal events remains debatable. Here, a focus on Australia discusses currently available haplotype (mtDNA, Y-chromosome) and, briefly, nuclear DNA (nDNA) evidence from Australia. Haplotype data indicate deep ancestry for both Australia and New Guinea peoples, with evidence for limited, shared genetic connection and ancient matrilines specific to both places. Migration by northern as well as a southern coastal route remain possible scenarios, raising the question of possible common ancestry for some Australian and American peoples. Although current dating methods for genetic diversity rely heavily on several assumptions, best estimates provide support for archaeological dates, indicating that,
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint
People colonizing New Worlds: Abstracts of Symposium papers
For the Symposium each presenter was asked to provide an abstract and three references relevant to the paper as well as a biographical summary. The biographic summaries have not been included here. SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE PEOPLING OF THE AUSTRALIAN NEW WORLD Iain Davidson In this paper I will set out the background that led to this symposium. Following the recognition that the emergence of modern cognition was probably essential for the initial colonization of the greater Australian continent, Sahul, a number of questions emerge. How did the diversity of languages in Sahul emerge when the archaeological record is relatively undifferentiated? What is the relation between the symbolism evident in rock art regionalisation and other archaeological evidence? How does archaeology contribute distinctive interpretations of behaviour to a story that might otherwise be told from genetic studies? Are the apparently different trajectories of the archaeological histories of Australia and the Americas only a result of environmental differences or can we identify key social and behavioural choices that produced the distinctive outcomes seen at the time of arrival of Europeans?
Davidson, I., 2008. “The colonisation of Sunda and Sahul and the evolution of modern cognition.” Precirculated paper for Wenner-Gren Symposium 139: “Working Memory and the Evolution of Modern Thinking”, Cascais, Portugal, 2008. (Published as Davidson, I., 2010. The colonization of Australia and its adjacent islands and the evolution of modern cognition. Current Anthropology 51, s177es189.) Davidson, I., Cook, N.D.J., Fischer, M., Ridges, M., Ross, J., Sutton, S.A., 2005. Archaeology in another country: exchange and symbols in North West Central Queensland. In: Macfarlane, I., Mountain, M.-J., Paton, R. (Eds.), Many exchanges. Aboriginal History Monographs 11, Aboriginal History Inc., pp. 101e128. Davidson, I., Noble, W., 1992. Why the first colonisation of the Australian region is the earliest evidence of modern human behaviour. Archaeology in Oceania 27, pp. 135e142.
EARLY DISPERSALS ACROSS ASIA AND ADJACENT REGIONS Ofer Bar-Yosef The dispersal routes of modern humans are not well known beyond Western Asia and Europe. In the northern parts of Western Asia and Siberia there is some evidence that indicates that the colonization of humans, who were the bearers of the Upper Paleolithic typical tool-kits, reached these regions. Their identification is based on prismatic blade production, bone, antler and ivory objects, use of ornaments, and assumed communications over large distances in order to maintain their mating systems. The
penetration of modern humans to Eastern Asia is a more complicated subject due to paucity of human fossils, disagreements among geneticists, and different opinions on the interpretation of the archaeological finds. It is not impossible, though it needs to be supported by solid dates from the Indian sub-continent, that the dispersal through the ‘southern route’ took place earlier than the colonization of western Eurasia and involved users of ‘core and flake’ tool kits. Some time around 45 5 ka Australia as well as Borneo were colonized by bearers of ‘core and flake’ industries that were the common lithics in South China. However, similar industries were already in use during the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic across East Asia. We should note that although ‘core and flake’ industries are dominant in South China, the sudden appearance of bone tools ca. 30 ka, and later shell and antler tools, reflect additional traits of the Upper Paleolithic. This period also witnessed the evolution of river and coastal navigation that facilitated the colonization of Australia. As the basic technology for seafaring was already established by 45e40 ka, the human contacts along the coast of the western Pacific, such as the distribution of early pottery making to the Japanese archipelago, probably had major additional impacts, possibly on the colonization of the Americas.
Bar-Yosef, O., 2007. The dispersal of modern humans in Eurasia: a cultural interpretation (Chapter 18). In: Mellars, P., Boyle, K., Bar-Yosef, O., Stringer, C. (Eds.), Rethinking the Human Revolution: New Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins and Dispersal of Modern Humans. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, pp. 207e217. Weiss, E., Wetterstrom, W., Nadel, D., Bar-Yosef, O., 2004. The broad spectrum revisited: evidence from plant remains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, 9551e9555. Bar-Yosef, O., 1998. On the nature of transitions: the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Revolution. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 8, 141e163.
GENETIC EVIDENCE FOR THE COLONIZATION OF AUSTRALIA Sheila van Holst Pellekaan Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome studies from living people have produced powerful evidence for the dispersal of human populations. Assuming an African origin, Sahul and the Americas represent some of the extremes of human migration, though the relative timing of dispersal events remains debatable. Here, a focus on Australia discusses currently available haplotype (mtDNA, Y-chromosome) and, briefly, nuclear DNA (nDNA) evidence from Australia. Haplotype data indicate deep ancestry for both Australia and New Guinea peoples, with evidence for limited, shared genetic connection and ancient matrilines specific to both places. Migration by northern as well as a southern coastal route remain possible scenarios, raising the question of possible common ancestry for some Australian and American peoples. Although current dating methods for genetic diversity rely heavily on several assumptions, best estimates provide support for archaeological dates, indicating that,