Reconstruction of human evolution: Bringing together genetic, archaeological, and linguistic data

Journal Article · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.85.16.6002· OSTI ID:5563933

Cavalli-Sforza, L L; Piazza, A; Menozzi, P; Mountain, J ^[1]

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1. Stanford Univ., CA (USA)

The genetic information for this work came from a very large collection of gene frequencies for classical (non-DNA) polymorphisms of the world aborigines. The data were grouped in 42 populations studied for 120 alleles. The reconstruction of human evolutionary history thus generated was checked with statistical techniques such as boot-strapping. It changes some earlier conclusions and is in agreement with more recent ones, including published and unpublished DNA-marker results. The first split in the phylogenetic tree separates Africans from non-Africans, and the second separates two major clusters, one corresponding to Caucasoids, East Asians, Arctic populations, and American natives, and the other to Southeast Asians (mainland and insular), Pacific islanders, and New Guineans and Australians. Average genetic distances between the most important clusters are proportional to archaeological separation times. Linguistic families correspond to groups of populations with very few, easily understood overlaps, and their origin can be given a time frame. Linguistic superfamilies show remarkable correspondence with the two major clusters, indicating considerable parallelism between genetic and lingustic evolution. The latest step in language development may have been an important factor determining the rapid expansion that followed the appearance of modern humans and the demise of Neanderthals.

• OSTI ID: 5563933
• Journal Information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (USA), Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (USA) Vol. 85:16; ISSN 0027-8424; ISSN PNASA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550400* -- Genetics
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
AFRICA
ANIMALS
ANTHROPOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY
AUSTRALASIA
AUSTRALIA
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
BIOLOGY
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GENETICS
HUMAN POPULATIONS
MAMMALS
MAN
MATHEMATICS
MUTATION FREQUENCY
POPULATION DYNAMICS
POPULATIONS
PRIMATES
RFLPS
STATISTICS
VERTEBRATES