Craniometric evidence for South African Later Stone Age herders and hunter–gatherers being a single biological population

Later Stone Age (LSA) hunter–gatherers and herders co-existed in South Africa during the last 2000 years. In spite of being the focus of intensive research over the years, the biological status and origins of the herders are still unclear. Did they represent a genetically distinct immigrant population who remained separate from the indigenous hunter–gatherers, or where they indigenous hunter–gatherers who took up herding after contact with herders, probably in northern Botswana? Here, this issue is investigated using craniometric data collected on a large sample of individually dated human crania from coastal LSA context. Mahalanobis distances (D), calculated from the raw metric data, show that there was a small increase in inter-individual craniofacial variation after the introduction of herding at ca. 2000 BP. Here it is argued that this small increase in variation is neither consistent with a large-scale immigration of genetically distinct herders into South Africa, or the long-term co-existence of two genetically distinct populations. Two alternative explanations fit the data better: (1) herding entered South Africa via the small-scale immigration of genetically distinct herders; and (2) local hunter–gatherer populations adopted herding after coming in contact with herders in northern Botswana. While small-scale immigration would not have had a major influence on the local gene pool, it would have increased variation to some extent as immigrants mixed with local populations. If small-scale external gene flow was not a factor in the introduction of herding, secular issues related to the introduction of herding could explain the increased variation in post-2000 BP populations.     

Lewis

EUROPE.

Spanish Summer. By George Craig Stewart. Milwaukee : Morehouse Publishing Company, 1928. Price 5 dollars.

Travels in France during the years 1787, 1788, and 1789. By Arthur Young. Edited by Constantia Maxwell, Lecturer in Modern History, Trinity College, Dublin. Cambridge : University Press, 1929. Price 12s. 6d.

French France. By Oliver Maddox Hueffer. London : Ernest Benn Ltd., 1929. Price 10s. 6d.

Things Seen in Sicily. By Isabel Emerson. London : Seeley, Service, and Co. Ltd., 1929. Price 3s. 6d.

A Wayfarer in the Pyrenees. By E. I. Robson. With 12 Illustrations by J. R. E. Howard, and a Map. London : Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1929. Price 7s. 6d.

ASIA.

In Java and the Neighbouring Islands of the Dutch East Indies. By John C. Van Dyke. London : Charles Scribners Sons, 1929. Price 8s. 6d.

Express to Hindustan. By M. H. Ellis. London: John Lane (The Bodley Head Ltd.), 1929. Price 12s. 6d.

From Leipsig to Cabul. By G. Stratil‐Sauer. Translated by Frederic Whyte. London : Hutchinson and Co. Ltd., 1929. Price 18s.

A Persian Caravan. By A. Cecil Edwards. London : Duckworth and Co. Ltd., 1928. Price 8s. 6d.

Bush Whacking and Other Tales from Malaya. By Sir Hugh Clifford. London : William Heinemann Ltd., 1929. Price 10s. 6d.

Asie des Moussons. Tome IX. Par Jules Sion. Première Partie, Chine‐Japon, 1928. Deuxième Partie, Inde‐Indochine‐Insulinde, 1929. Paris: Armand Colin. Price 70 francs each part.

AFRICA.

Kirk on the Zambesi: A Chapter of African History. By R. Coupland, M.A., C.I.E., Beit Professor of Colonial History, Oxford. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928. Price 18s. net.

Lion: African Adventure with the King of Beasts. By Martin Johnson. New York and London : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1929. Price 21s.

AMERICA.

The South American Handbook, 1929. Edited by J. A. Hunter. Founded upon The Anglo‐South American Handbook of the late W. H. Koebel. London : South American Publications Ltd. Price 2s. 6d.

Géographie Universelle, publiée sous la direction de R. Vidal de la Blache et L. Gallois. Tome XV. Amérique du Sud. Par P. Denis. Première Partie, Prix 50 francs ; Deuxième Partie, Prix 70 francs. Paris: Armand Colin, 1927.

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High Pressure: Being some Record of Activities in the Service of "The Times” Newspaper. By Colonel Lionel James, C.B.E., D.S.O. London: John Murray, 1929. Price 12s. net.

On Mediterranean Shores. By Emil Ludwig. Translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul. With Illustrations. London : George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1929. Price 10s. 6d.

Anson's Voyage round the World. By Richard Walter, M.A., Captain to the Flagship Centurion. A New Edition with Prefatory Notes by G. S. Laird Clowes. London: Martin Hopkinson. Boston : Charles E. Lauriat Co., 1928. Price £1, 11s. 6d.

Buccaneers of the Pacific. By George Wycherley. London: John Lane (The Bodley Head Ltd.,) 1929. Price 21s.

Astronomy and Cosmogony. By J. H. Jkans, M.A., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S. London : Cambridge University Press, 1928. Price 31s. 6d. net.

Europa. 3 Auflage. Europa ausser Deutschland. Von Professor Dr. Alfred Philippson. Price 22 RM. Afrika. 3 Auflage. Von Professor Dr. Fritz Jaeger. Price 20 RM. Allgemeiner Länderkunde, begründet von Professor Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, neu herausgegeben von Professor Dr. Hans Meyer. Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut A.G., 1928.

EDUCATIONAL.

The Trade of the Indian Ocean. By V. Anstey, B.Sc. “The University Geography” Series. London: Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1929 Price 8s. 6d.     

COIN SCALES IN LATE PRE-ROMAN IRON AGE BRITAIN

A survey of excavation reports for sixty-one LPRIA sites in Britain reveals five 'fine' balances and objects possibly representing seven more. This paper describes the scales and discusses their use in Iron Age Britain.     

The Colonial Roots of Forest Extraction: Rosewood Exploitation in Southern Belize

In 2013 there was a spike in the illegal export of rosewood, a highly‐valued tropical hardwood, from Belize. Hewn by Maya workers at night, logs were sold to Chinese buyers. Although protected by international conservation agreements, container‐loads of rosewood were exported unprocessed, unmarked and untaxed. This article examines the rosewood exports, providing a critical analysis that seeks its underlying causes and lessons for development. Drawing on extensive archival research, interviews with multiple actors, and data on China's rosewood imports, the authors show that the exports reflect a long‐standing pattern: the extraction and export of unprocessed primary commodities from Belize's forests. However, contemporary patterns are not simply repeating colonial history. On the demand side, the recent rosewood boom was triggered by a rapid rise in demand from urban, middle‐class consumers in China, stimulating a new commodity chain. On the supply side, the ‘rosewood crisis’ was facilitated by a peculiar legal‐political conjuncture: it occurred during a period after the Maya communities had won legal rights to their forests through the courts, but before the state had recognized those rights. Thus the incomplete recognition of indigenous land rights collided with long‐standing patterns of forest extractivism and explosive demand in China.