Comments on: The great northern culture war

By: Marnie

Marnie — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:24:18 +0000

The Shape of the Neolithic Transition: Populations Under Space Competition

http://linearpopulationmodel.blogspot.com/2010/12/shape-of-neolithic-transition.html

By: The men of the north: the Sami | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine

The men of the north: the Sami | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:20:03 +0000

[...] and, the provenance and character of the Sami speak to broader questions about the emergence of the modern European gene pool. More precisely questions about the Sami are relevant to the broader nature of the Finnic presence [...]

By: Tom Bri

Tom Bri — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 20:23:50 +0000

Two other possibilities. Fishing is cold, dangerous and unpleasant work, especially in the long cold months of northern Europe. If land animals provided an equivalent # of calories or greater, the transition might be swift, a few generations for the animals to breed up to large numbers. Most livestock farmers enjoy caring for the animals.

More lightheartedly, fish stink. Just about any culture with good land would make the switch just to escape the foul stench of cooking fish and rotting fish guts.

By: Georg

Georg — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 15:36:42 +0000

Hello Bob,
where do You live?
I doubt whether there is a second coast like Dutch,
German, Danish and east English coasts to compete in “shallowness”.
Georg

By: bob sykes

bob sykes — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 13:19:57 +0000

Where was the actual shoreline during this time. There may have been much more shallow and estuarine environments that would support large scale fishing.

By: Georg

Georg — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 11:03:43 +0000

One has
to include thoughts about the “know how” of the neolithic farmers.
The first wave in Germany/France occupied light soils only,
which the farmers could work with their wooden “ploughs”.
The “technology” to make use of eg. marsh lands was developed
in Frisia and arrived in Germany as late as the medieval times
(brought in by settlers from Frisia).
Another factor was the plants/animals the farmers had, and
whether they were useful in the moist northern climate.
Georg

By: bioIgnoramus

bioIgnoramus — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:34:44 +0000

I’m looking at the five sizeable light blue blobs in Britain. Two of them are in the only two parts of the island with noticeable chinook/fohn winds i.e. North Wales and Moray. What can it signify?

By: Tweets that mention The great northern culture war | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine -- Topsy.com

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 23:02:13 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ron Simon, TimeTrekker, Archaeology, Michael Stryder, Geoffrey Dyson and others. Geoffrey Dyson said: The great northern culture war | Gene Expression: A new paper in The New Journal of Physics shows that a relativ… http://bit.ly/ejKDJ8 [...]

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:36:15 +0000

biology too.

By: Daniel Kuehn

Daniel Kuehn — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:30:11 +0000

Diffusion models are used all the time in economics (which is essentially what this is… Neolithic production behavior). So it’s not surprising they find a decent fit here.

Very interesting! Thanks!