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The Batwa or Pygmies of Central Africa are interesting among hunter gatherers, they carry ancient genes(haplogroup B) like other hunter gatherers of Africa, however they speak a language similar to their non hunter gatherer neighbors whereas East African Hadzabe and Sandawe have their own click languages and Southern African Sans have theirs as well clearly distinct from their neighbors...why is that...indeed genetics show that they are quite distinct from other Niger Congo speaking populations except maybe the Tutsis and other population from Central Africa who carry haplogroup B...that's a little bit puzzling...Although phenotype is quite superficial it develops over a long time: Batwa people tend to have an almost mulatto skin and the shape of their nose is very distinct from their other Black African neighbors, it is actually pretty much similar to that of Australian Aborigines or people from Papua Guinea except that their height is very small...Anyone who is familiar with those people can see that they lived isolated from other Africans maybe for hundred years... [img] ttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Baka_dancers_June_2006.jpg [/img] Posts: 461 | From: Kilimanjaro | Registered: Jan 2008
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My opionion is that the two things you mention about the Batwa - their height and their skin color are both characteristic of tropical rain forest living.
We can't assume that all diminuative people - named pygmy for such a reason, are closely related.
Tropical rain forest peoples characteristically are marginal hunter gatherer because there are not large animals to hunt; the soils are rain sogged and so leeched of nutrients thus making for poor farm country; and there is no grass so it is poor cattle country.
Given a hunter gatherer life style in a tropical forest - 'small size' follows naturally, and skin does not need to be as dark as on the equatorial savana either since it is relatively cloudy in these regions.
Posts: 15202 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:We can't assume that all diminuative people - named pygmy for such a reason, are closely related.
Well they live in the same geographical area the equatorial forest up to Gabon...I have few friends who lived in the Northern part of South Africa who told me that the Sans spoke a mix of their language and Afrikaner(but not even a word of English)...at first I was surprised but based of the history of Southern Africa it's quite possible...is it possible that those hunter gatherers from Central Africa picked up naturally the language of their surrounding population as some Sans picked up the Afrikaner language even if they are still hunter gatherers... On top of that it seems that most of the Batwa, Mbuti share the B haplogroup...but we still have to investigate that fact further...
Posts: 461 | From: Kilimanjaro | Registered: Jan 2008
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Rasol, here is another interesting fact: The Twa, also known as Batwa, are a pygmy people who were the oldest recorded inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of central Africa. Current populations are found in the nations of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2000, they numbered approximately 80,000 people, making them significant minority groups in these countries[2].
There are also a number of southern "Twa" populations in Angola, Namibia, Zambia, and Botswana living in swamps and deserts far from the forest. These are little studied, and this article will deal only with the Twa of the Great Lakes region.Posts: 461 | From: Kilimanjaro | Registered: Jan 2008
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I would agree that they are not alldirectly related however many carry haplogroup B which is rarer among other population and they share the same name in large areas of Central Africa...maybe you have more details...
Posts: 461 | From: Kilimanjaro | Registered: Jan 2008
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quote:I would agree that they are not all directly related however many carry haplogroup B
Yes but haplogroup B is very ancient and Pan-African, found in many non "pygmy" populations, including some of the tallest in Africa.
In my opinion - *pygmy* is less about lineage, than it is about adaptation to climate.
The evolutionary [somatic] approach to phenotype as applied by Keita is different than the tautological racial concept in which phenotypes simply 'exist' as static features, out of context of environment, selection, and variation over time, inexplicable except by 'race', which is is then proferred as a buzzword, that does not actually *explain* anything.
Posts: 15202 | Registered: Jun 2004
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There was a recent genetic study I read once which stated that the various 'Pygmy' populations of the equatorial forests are actually more diverse than previously thought and that the different groups are more related to non-Pygmy peoples than to each other. This shows that 'Pygmies' are the result of various populations settling in the rainforests and becoming isolated over time.
I'm not sure, but I believe someone presented such studies here on this forum before. Does anyone have them?
Posts: 26286 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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