Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel

Farewell to paleodemography

Aging is based upon a good correlation between biological features (cranial sutures, pubic symphysis, humeral and femoral heads, osteons) and age. However it is not possible to estimate the structure of deaths of skeletal population if the correlation coefficient ( r or multiple- R ) between biologicla characteristics and age is lower than 0·9. None of the published age indicators, whether they are used together or separately, reach this required level (about 0·83 for males and 0·8 for females). Therefore all the age distributions currently published emphasize the limitation of a given method. At the present time the use of demographic estimators based on historically known populations is the best approach but it gives little information ( e 0 o =25 years, 1 q 0 =0·25 to 0·3, average number of children per woman=4–6), furthermore it is, to a certain extent, tautological in nature. After devoting a few years to this young, possibly still-born science, the authors bid farewell to paleodemography.

Paleoanthropological Traces of a Neolithic Demographic Transition1

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When the World’s Population Took Off: The Springboard of the Neolithic Demographic Transition

During the economic transition from foraging to farming, the signal of a major demographic shift can be observed in cemetery data of world archaeological sequences. This signal is characterized by an abrupt increase in the proportion of juvenile skeletons and is interpreted as the signature of a major demographic shift in human history, known as the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT). This expresses an increase in the input into the age pyramids of the corresponding living populations with an estimated increase in the total fertility rate of two births per woman. The unprecedented demographic masses that the NDT rapidly brought into play make this one of the fundamental structural processes of human history.

Testing the Hypothesis of a Worldwide Neolithic Demographic Transition Corroboration from American Cemeteries

The signal of a major demographic change characterized by a relatively abrupt increase in the proportion of immature skeletons has been detected in a paleoanthropological database of 38 MesolithicNeolithic cemeteries from Europe and North Africa. From the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, the proportion of immature skeletons increases by 2030% over a period of 500700 years, indicating a notable increase in the crude birth rate. This shift has been called the Neolithic demographic transition. A similar signal has been detected in an independent set of archaeological data, namely, enclosures. This paper presents results from a sample of 62 cemeteries in North America (7,755 BP350 BP) that point to the same transition over a period of 600800 years.The signal of a major demographic change characterized by a relatively abrupt increase in the proportion of immature skeletons has been detected in a paleoanthropological database of 38 MesolithicNeolithic cemeteries from Europe and North Africa. From the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, the proportion of immature skeletons increases by 2030% over a period of 500700 years, indicating a notable increase in the crude birth rate. This shift has been called the Neolithic demographic transition. A similar signal has been detected in an independent set of archaeological data, namely, enclosures. This paper presents results from a sample of 62 cemeteries in North America (7,755 BP350 BP) that point to the same transition over a period of 600800 years.

Neanderthal contraction and modern human colonization of Europe

A complex statistical analysis of 14C dates from European Neanderthal and Early Modern humans has enabled important new understanding of how and when this major population change took place. This data allows the debate on the end of the Neanderthals to continue on much firmer ground. The large dataset may be found at http://intarch.ac.uk/antiquity/additional/bocqtable1.html.

The Agricultural Demographic Transition During and After the Agriculture Inventions

An abrupt increase in fertility has been recorded in data from 200 cemeteries and ethnographic data ranging from the Meso-Neolithic Eurasian center in the Levant to the arctic circle in the North American continent in the twentieth century AD. This shift has been called, synonymously, the Neolithic demographic transition or the agricultural demographic transition (ADT). It is interpreted as the effect on fertility of an abrupt change in maternal energetics that occurs during the transition from a mobile forager economy to a farming economy in any period, whether prehistoric or historical. The primeval prehistoric ADT was a loop of retroactions capable of rapidly raising the rate of population growth and in which the population was both the cause and the effect of the demographic shift. During the eighteenth century AD, new areas of demographic change appeared across this agricultural population area that were characterized by a drop in mortality and then in fertility and were determined by the introduction of new rules of hygiene along with medical and contraceptive techniques. This shift represents the contemporary demographic transition (CDT). The CDT occurred in reverse symmetry with the ADT. A unique phenomenon occurred at the margins of the residual area of the forager system with a quasi coincidence of the effects of both the ADT and the CDT.

Neanderthal Demographic Estimates

This article offers a critical review of population estimates for the Neanderthal metapopulation based on (paleo-) biological, archaeological, climatic, and genetic data. What do these data tell us about putative Neanderthal demography? Biological data suggest a similar demographic frame (life-history traits, such as potential maximum longevity, age at menarche, and duration of gestation) between Neanderthals and modern humans. Archaeological data have revealed a contradiction between the mortality pattern corresponding to 45+ yr in Neanderthals and the longevity displayed by the manifest continuum of extant mammals, including primates. Paleoclimatic data suggest that the demography of Neanderthals, living as they did under highly fluctuating climatic conditions, was subject to frequent bottlenecks. This demographic instability combined with the fragmentation of geographical areas and variations in their distribution and extent could account for the fact that potential for technical creativity in the Neanderthal metapopulation would have been limited precisely because of its small numbers, leading it into what is known as a “Boserupian trap” in macrodemographic theory. Finally, genetic literature reports different—but always very low—estimations of the effective size (Ne) of the Neanderthal metapopulation. It is not easy to relate Ne to the census size of a population, but by combining different demographic values, this study produced nine different scenarios that were used to obtain an order of magnitude ranging from 5,000 to 70,000 individuals. The cause of the cultural limitation of the Neanderthal metapopulation, compared with that of modern humans, may well have resided in its small numbers alone.

The Demographic Impact of the Agricultural System in Human History

Mark Cohen’s instructions for the workshop were to present “the state of work in your field and how work in your field relates to the other areas to be discussed.” This comment therefore focuses on the signal of a major demographic shift during the transition from the forager to the farming system, which has been detected in paleoanthropological cemetery data. This signal is interpreted as having been produced by the Neolithic demographic transition (NDT; Bocquet-Appel 2002, 2008a; Bocquet-Appel and Naji 2006). A demographic transition can be defined as a quantitative leap in the selfregulated flow of population inputs and outputs that is determined by a qualitative change in the causal mechanisms underlying the regulation. Two figures presented during the workshop (figs. 1, 3) are commented on; there follows a short reflection concerning both the link between demographic pressure and cultural change and the significance of the NDT from the perspective of human demographic history, continuing a discussion that initiated 50 years ago (Deevey 1960). We know that the shift from a foraging to a producer economy coincided with an unprecedented increase in the amount of archaeological data in the Levant (Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen 1991; Goring-Morris and Belfer-Cohen 2008) and elsewhere in the world (Bellwood and Oxenham 2008). This increase was interpreted for a long time in terms of demographic growth (Kuijt 2008). But was this growth slow or rapid? Was it due to an increase in fertility and/or a reduction in mortality? What was the intensity of the shift, that is, its level (as plotted in fig. 1) and its speed? Was the intensity the same in the centers of agricultural invention and in their peripheral expansion zones? The signature of the NDT was detected in the paleoanthropological data of cemeteries, but it is not directly visible to archaeologists unless they use an archaeometric procedure that combines the variation in a paleodemographic indicator, represented by the proportion of the immature skeletons in a cemetery (called 15p5), with a specific chronological frame, in relative chronology (called dt; Bocquet-Appel 2002). Figure 1 shows the signature of the NDT obtained from 133 cemeteries containing more than 50 skeletons (5 years old) in the Northern Hemisphere, excluding the Levant. This signature therefore represents an average pattern. It is characterized by a noticeable increase in the proportion of immature skeletons, from 22% to 28%, during the forager/farmer transition. Also noticeable is the weak pre-NDT depression, where the proportion of immature individuals (as well as the birth rate and fertility) decreases, which suggests a population experiencing hardship. During the middle of the forager period ( ) and up p # 100 p 22% 15 5

Technological Responses of Neanderthals to Macroclimatic Variations (240,000–40,000 BP)

Abstract Using a database of 499 archaeological assemblages from 332 sites in Europe, we statistically test a model of the economic reactivity of the hunter-gatherer production system to climatic variations. This model predicts an increase in the diversity of lithic tools during harsh cold periods, in order to maintain carrying capacity, and a reduction during favorable climatic periods. Diversity was measured from the variations in flint tool distributions in traditional Bordes typological categories, using Shannons derived diversity index (D). Reactivity was measured in 190 archaeological assemblages from 103 sites of the Middle Paleolithic in Europe (mainly France). The Neanderthals show technological inertia in the development and use of lithic tools for 200,000 years, despite the four cool to cold macroclimatic periods they experienced.

Classification of ancient mammal individuals using dental pulp MALDI-TOF MS peptide profiling

Background The classification of ancient animal corpses at the species level remains a challenging task for forensic scientists and anthropologists. Severe damage and mixed, tiny pieces originating from several skeletons may render morphological classification virtually impossible. Standard approaches are based on sequencing mitochondrial and nuclear targets. Methodology/Principal Findings We present a method that can accurately classify mammalian species using dental pulp and mass spectrometry peptide profiling. Our work was organized into three successive steps. First, after extracting proteins from the dental pulp collected from 37 modern individuals representing 13 mammalian species, trypsin-digested peptides were used for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis. The resulting peptide profiles accurately classified every individual at the species level in agreement with parallel cytochrome b gene sequencing gold standard. Second, using a 279–modern spectrum database, we blindly classified 33 of 37 teeth collected in 37 modern individuals (89.1%). Third, we classified 10 of 18 teeth (56%) collected in 15 ancient individuals representing five mammal species including human, from five burial sites dating back 8,500 years. Further comparison with an upgraded database comprising ancient specimen profiles yielded 100% classification in ancient teeth. Peptide sequencing yield 4 and 16 different non-keratin proteins including collagen (alpha-1 type I and alpha-2 type I) in human ancient and modern dental pulp, respectively. Conclusions/Significance Mass spectrometry peptide profiling of the dental pulp is a new approach that can be added to the arsenal of species classification tools for forensics and anthropology as a complementary method to DNA sequencing. The dental pulp is a new source for collagen and other proteins for the species classification of modern and ancient mammal individuals.