1. Inferring patterns of folktale diffusion using genomic data
- Author
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Alessio Boattini, Chiara Barbieri, Sara Silva, Donata Luiselli, Enrico R. Crema, Mait Metspalu, Marco Sazzini, Luca Pagani, Eugenio Bortolini, Stefania Sarno, Gessica Martini, Davide Pettener, Jamshid J. Tehrani, Bortolini, Eugenio, Pagani, Luca, Crema, Enrico R., Sarno, Stefania, Barbieri, Chiara, Boattini, Alessio, Sazzini, Marco, da Silva, Sara Graça, Martini, Gessica, Metspalu, Mait, Pettener, Davide, Luiselli, Donata, Tehrani, Jamshid J., Crema, Enrico [0000-0001-6727-5138], and Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Asia ,Whole-genome sequences ,Demic diffusion ,Genomic data ,European Regional Development Fund ,01 natural sciences ,Cultural diffusion ,Eurasia ,Folktales ,Multidisciplinary ,010104 statistics & probability ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cultural Evolution ,Regional science ,media_common.cataloged_instance ,Humans ,Letters ,0101 mathematics ,Diffusion (business) ,European union ,Folklore ,media_common ,Geography ,Linguistics ,Genomics ,Biological Sciences ,Models, Theoretical ,Biological Evolution ,Europe ,030104 developmental biology ,Genetics, Population ,Economy ,cultural diffusion, demic diffusion, whole-genome sequences, folktales, Eurasia ,Africa ,Christian ministry - Abstract
Observable patterns of cultural variation are consistently intertwined with demic movements, cultural diffusion, and adaptation to different ecological contexts [Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman (1981) Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approach; Boyd and Richerson (1985) Culture and the Evolutionary Process]. The quantitative study of gene–culture coevolution has focused in particular on the mechanisms responsible for change in frequency and attributes of cultural traits, the spread of cultural information through demic and cultural diffusion, and detecting relationships between genetic and cultural lineages. Here, we make use of worldwide whole-genome sequences [Pagani et al. (2016) Nature 538:238–242] to assess the impact of processes involving population movement and replacement on cultural diversity, focusing on the variability observed in folktale traditions (n = 596) [Uther (2004) The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson] in Eurasia. We find that a model of cultural diffusion predicted by isolation-by-distance alone is not sufficient to explain the observed patterns, especially at small spatial scales (up to ~4,000 km). We also provide an empirical approach to infer presence and impact of ethnolinguistic barriers preventing the unbiased transmission of both genetic and cultural information. After correcting for the effect of ethnolinguistic boundaries, we show that, of the alternative models that we propose, the one entailing cultural diffusion biased by linguistic differences is the most plausible. Additionally, we identify 15 tales that are more likely to be predominantly transmitted through population movement and replacement and locate putative focal areas for a set of tales that are spread worldwide., E.B. is supported by SimulPast Consolider Ingenio Project CSD2010-00034 funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness. L.P. is supported by the European Union through European Regional Development Fund Projects 2014-2020.4.01.16-0030 and 2014-2020.4.01.15-0012.
- Published
- 2017