Skull and limb morphology differentially track population history and environmental factors in the transition to agriculture in Europe
Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel1, Jay T. Stock2 and Ron Pinhasi3 1Department of Anthropology, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR, UK 2Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QG, UK 3School of Archaeology and Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Republic of Ireland 2018
1. Introduction The transition from a hunter – gatherer – forager mode of subsistence (Epipalaeolithic and Mesolithic) to one based largely on domesticated animals and plants (Neolithic) occurred approximately 10 000 years ago, and marks a major demographic shift in the population history of Europe, the Near East and North Africa [1–7]. In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that this transition was the result of a mosaic process [8], comprising the movement of farming populations from the Near East and Anatolia (demic diffusion) [9–16] alongside cultural adoption of farming practices by some indigenous hunter – gatherer populations [2,17 – 20]. Collectively, these processes combined to recalibrate the genetic, morphological and cultural landscape of western Eurasia. Craniometric data have proved a useful genetic proxy for studying this popu- lation history empirically, given that the available cranial data have much higher spatial and chronological coverage than the currently available ancient DNA data from pre- and post-transition individuals [21]. Using skeletal metrics as a means of modelling past population history provides the opportunity to compare directly the populations of interest [16,20 – 22] rather than relying on modern genetic data from living populations, which may be affected by subsequent The Neolithic transition in Europe was a complex mosaic spatio-temporal pro- cess, involving both demic diffusion from the Near East and the cultural adoption of farming practices by indigenous hunter–gatherers. Previous analyses of Mesolithic hunter–gatherers and Early Neolithic farmers suggest that cranial shape variation preserves the population history signature of the Neolithic transition. However, the extent to which these same demographic processes are discernible in the postcranium is poorly understood. Here, for the first time, crania and postcranial elements from the same 11 prehistoric populations are analysed together in an internally consistent theoretical and methodological framework. Results show that while cranial shape reflects the population history differences between Mesolithic and Neolithic lineages, relative limb dimensions exhibit significant congruence with environmental variables such as latitude and temperature, even after controlling for geo- graphy and time. Also, overall limb size is found to be consistently larger in hunter – gatherers than farmers, suggesting a reduction in size related to factors other than thermoregulatory adaptation. Therefore, our results suggest that relative limb dimensions are not tracking the same demographic population history as the cranium, and point to the strong influence of climatic, dietary and behavioural factors in determining limb morphology, irrespective of underlying neutral demographic processes.
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