title: Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals.
abstract: Unlike most other biological species, humans can use cultural innovations to occupy a range of environments, raising the intriguing question of whether human migrations move relatively independently of habitat or show preferences for familiar ones. The Bantu expansion that swept out of West Central Africa beginning ∼5,000 y ago is one of the most influential cultural events of its kind, eventually spreading over a vast geographical area a new way of life in which farming played an increasingly important role. We use a new dated phylogeny of ∼400 Bantu languages to show that migrating Bantu-speaking populations did not expand from their ancestral homeland in a "random walk" but, rather, followed emerging savannah corridors, with rainforest habitats repeatedly imposing temporal barriers to movement. When populations did move from savannah into rainforest, rates of migration were slowed, delaying the occupation of the rainforest by on average 300 y, compared with similar migratory movements exclusively within savannah or within rainforest by established rainforest populations. Despite unmatched abilities to produce innovations culturally, unfamiliar habitats significantly alter the route and pace of human dispersals.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6BX, England; m.pagel@reading.ac.uk r.b.grollemund@reading.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grollemund
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6BX, England;
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Branford
authors.affiliation: KongoKing Research Group, Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bostoen
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6BX, England;
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meade
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6BX, England;
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Venditti
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6BX, England; The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501 m.pagel@reading.ac.uk r.b.grollemund@reading.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pagel
mesh_terms: D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003468:Cultural Evolution; D017753:Ecosystem; D049690:History, Ancient; D063426:Human Migration / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language / Q000266:history; D008957:Models, Genetic; D058974:Phylogeography; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Bantu; human dispersal; languages; phylogenetics; phylogeography