ArticlePloS one2014
Modelling the spread of farming in the Bantu-speaking regions of Africa: an archaeology-based phylogeography.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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26 citing papers in PubMed.
- Insights into human history and complex traits from the genomes of African populations.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Review
- Spatiotemporal reconstruction of Corded Ware and Bell Beaker burial rituals reveals complex dynamics divergent from steppe ancestry.Science advances · 2025Article
- A dataset of scientific dates from archaeological sites in eastern Africa spanning 5000 BCE to 1800 CE.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Environmental constraints and diffusion shaped the global transition to food production.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Cultural, economic, and settlement shifts over the last 9,000 years at Kakapel Rockshelter, Western Kenya.PloS one · 2025Article
- Early agriculture and crop transitions at Kakapel Rockshelter in the Lake Victoria region of eastern Africa.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
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- Genome-wide variation in the Angolan Namib Desert reveals unique pre-Bantu ancestry.Science advances · 2023Article
- Article
- Reassessing the role of climate change in the Tupi expansion (South America, 5000-500 BP).Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2021Article
- Population collapse in Congo rainforest from 400 CE urges reassessment of the Bantu Expansion.Science advances · 2021Article
- Can Bayesian phylogeography reconstruct migrations and expansions in linguistic evolution?Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Isotopic and microbotanical insights into Iron Age agricultural reliance in the Central African rainforest.Communications biology · 2020Article
- Article
- Archaeological expansions in tropical South America during the late Holocene: Assessing the role of demic diffusion.PloS one · 2020Article
- Population Structure and Implications on the Genetic Architecture of HIV-1 Phenotypes Within Southern Africa.Frontiers in genetics · 2019Review
- Assessing the importance of cultural diffusion in the Bantu spread into southeastern Africa.PloS one · 2019Article
- Early anthropogenic impact on Western Central African rainforests 2,600 y ago.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Article
- The archaeological evidence for the appearance of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa.PloS one · 2018Article
- Article
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3 authors.
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Abstract
We use archaeological data and spatial methods to reconstruct the dispersal of farming into areas of sub-Saharan Africa now occupied by Bantu language speakers, and introduce a new large-scale radiocarbon database and a new suite of spatial modelling techniques. We also introduce a method of estimating phylogeographic relationships from archaeologically-modelled dispersal maps, with results produced in a format that enables comparison with linguistic and genetic phylogenies. Several hypotheses are explored. The 'deep split' hypothesis suggests that an early-branching eastern Bantu stream spread around the northern boundary of the equatorial rainforest, but recent linguistic and genetic work tends not to support this. An alternative riverine/littoral hypothesis suggests that rivers and coastlines facilitated the migration of the first farmers/horticulturalists, with some extending this to include rivers through the rainforest as conduits to East Africa. More recently, research has shown that a grassland corridor opened through the rainforest at around 3000-2500 BP, and the possible effect of this on migrating populations is also explored. Our results indicate that rivers and coasts were important dispersal corridors, but do not resolve the debate about a 'Deep Split'. Future work should focus on improving the size, quality and geographical coverage of the archaeological (14)C database; on augmenting the information base to establish descent relationships between archaeological sites and regions based on shared material cultural traits; and on refining the associated physical geographical reconstructions of changing land cover.
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