Genes, Peoples, and Languages

Rating:
Summary: A summary of human genetic and linguistic evolution
Review: Cavalli-Sforza's invaluable contribution to the understanding of why, before the more recent diasporas, we lived were we lived, spoke what we spoke and looked like what we looked like, was made concrete with the publication, in 1994, of the excellent "The History and Geography of Human Genes". Much less complete than this book were the more recent "The Great Human Diasporas" and Sforza's last book, "Genes, Peoples and Languages". These somewhat summarize what can be found in the pages of "The History and Geography of Human Genes", by the same author,with which they share several maps and tables.

Nevertheless, "Genes, Peoples and Languages" was worth reading, since it incorporates more recent genetic data and linguistic research, and this is what you are looking for if you want to keep up with the advances in this field. A more comprehensive explanation to statistical methods used to define genetic trees and to draw principal component maps, plus an interesting chapter on cultural transmission explaining how, in the microsphere, it helps to operate genetic and linguistic evolution, are novelties in this publication.

Putting aside race and its seemingly subjective definitions, racism and its definetely scientifically undermined fundaments, I would like to recommend this book to those who, like myself, are curious laymen fascinated by the matter of human biological and cultural origins. A more thorough approach to the subject(more maps, tables, trees, drawings and text)you'll find in "The History and Geography of Human Genes, though.

Rating:
Summary: pretty technical but still provides a good background
Review: Cavlli-Sforza presents a history of the human race looking at how humanity spread out of Africa and has changed and evolved. He looks at things such as blood types and proteins explaining why differences might arise between different groups of people. He looks at different of primates such as neanderthals showing how modern man arose. He also gives reasons for genetic variation such as drift and chance. He also looks at groups such as the Basque and Lapps in Europe who have unique genetic makeups and languages that seperate themselves from other Europeans. One impressive thing that is dealt with in the book was the link between language and evolution. He shows how groupings of languages can show how humans spread through time.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Pencilling Out of 1980 ideas - SEMINAL WORK
Review: Even though this is a slim volume it is deceptively rich in content.
Although a bit jaded and written from the perspectives of the late 1980's it is still a unique and rewarding book.
I am surprised that no book has been written to date including more updated / symbiotic topics.
It covers some of the history of 'modern man', the title subjects and more, focusing on last 3-5,000 years before present (kYrs bp). We currently only know selective fragmented sections of modern man's history (< 3%).

Defragmentation:
Although two of the specialism, linguistics and genetics, are united there are still a lot more topic areas to unite in order to provide a fuller map to ancient prehistory, namely climate habitats over time, domesticated animals (their migration & diseases), crops, ancient astronomical/calendar knowledge analysis, seafaring, folklore and cave art.
Maybe then, we will be in a position to use more than conjecture to fill the gaps by using under-utilised or ignored artefacts to see the overlays of the various subject areas thro' time.

Short Comings:
I enjoyed his use of PCA, however this should be moved to the appendices to minimise the disruption to the flow.
Although it is well known that climate is the principal force on evolution, effecting the pulses and rhythms of crops/migrations there is no review of the climates over the period in question.
Thus snapshots thro' time showing different habitat zones, groupings ( for hunters, grazers/nomads and agriculturists) and impact on cultures would be of great use.
The analysis of agriculture and Mesolithic/pastoral nomads is scattered and fragmented over the pages.
Unsettlingly maps of Eurasia were provided showing the migrations and influence over time there was no such map provided for Africa and Oceania/Australia.
The author refers to Neanderthals and states that there was no interbreeding with modern man ? No mention is made of Java man in terms of the significance of this region, nor little reference to the, South Asian and Australian Aborigines.

The author accepts that the Australian Aborigines sailed there approx 50-60kyrs bp. Tie this into the fact that the most interesting human explorers, the Polynesian , explored and traded from Madagascar, off the coast of Africa, in the West to Rapa Nui ('Easter' Island) in the East, only 2,000 from Chile. There is no analysis of their influence in Latin America. With the Humboldt current from Peru & Chile would have brought this island within a week or two sailing.
Witness the Palaeolithic rock art and Aborigine remains found by Dr. Walter Neves (Univ. of Sao Paulo) and Marcello Caosta Souza in Brazil and Tierra del Fuego-Chile, see also 'Man Across the Sea' (Univ. of Texas ) by Riley, Kelley, Pennington.

Only one and a bit paragraphs are focused to the Dravidians of South India, recognised as having one of the oldest linguistic branches (older than the Eurasiatic languages at least).
Is it because of our Westerncentric bias, we can only see a cave-man culture in Eurasia, in Late Palaeolithic, and can't seem to enter into our 'Neanderthal' like skulls, that there were other distinctive and hospitable / tropical climates elsewhere, (e.g. Oceania, India, Middle East, Australia, etc), during the ice-age ?
I was disappointed in the blind adoption of current dogma as the earliest migrations of the modern humans into the Americas via the Bering straight ? Similarly the author contends that agriculture only came about in the last 10 ky bp (page 160).
To 'nit pick' further, the book refers the family structure favoured by the Celts in France as 'patriarchal', however anybody who is familiar with Celtic society would recognise that women ARE accepted as 'chief of the household' and one only has to look to female chieftain warriors such as Queen Bodica, who fought the authors compatriots in Roman times, to answer that view.

Unanswered Questions:-
Little or no mention was made to the hypothesis that mankind migrated on coastal routes, with it's adequate supply of food, similar habitats and fresh water supplied by river sources. Only later was the interior explored, along river routes. This provided food, water and transport mechanism, hence navigation, even to cross rivers, was an early not later skill as indicated in the book.
Were there distinct patterns to distinguish hunter-gathers, nomadic herders and farmers. Such that hunter gathers were early domesticators of dogs, while nomadic herders adopted horses and farmers held pigs ?
Very interestingly he indicated strongly that the Basques/Euskera were related to early Cro-Magnion Europeans and possibly related to the Hunza people speaking Burushaski language in Pakistan, this was all too brief and sketchy.

Conflicting Images:
I found the section the Turkish colonisation of Byzantium very interesting. What struck me was the statement that there was little genetic trace of the original conquerors, all that really changed was the 'software' (language, culture and religion).
It is a young science, but it struck me how this might effect the human discourse in the trouble spots of our 'intelligent' species
Lounes Chikhi, (UCL UK), and colleagues, are looking for markers/tracers by analysing Y mutations, Unique Event Polymorphism's (UEPs).

Future Research:-
Can we find out a bit more information on earlier and later population contacts for the Basques, Indian Dravidians, PNG, the Guanche of Canary islands and Negritos/Aborigines of Asia.
More linguistic research work of the type carried out by Joseph Greenberg on the Papua New Guneans, Aborigines of Oceania-Australia-SE Asia, and of course the Dravidians.
Research into the flow of domesticated animals, such as pigs, dogs, goats, horses etc or fruit, rice, cereals, sugar cane and sweat potatoes needs to be carried out. Witness techniques such as RAPYD (Randomly Polymorphised DNA) and plant finger-printing being carried out by Dr. Paul Keim, USA.

There was an all too brief section on Cultural Transmissions/Imprinting. How are old native cultures to survive in the hegemony of the dominant cultures, assist in conserving cultures and languages such as Basque/Euskera. inEurope and ? elsewhere !

Rating:
Summary: Not well-written, not worth buying
Review: Granted, the author is a respectable scholar in historical genetics. And the topic is interesting. However, this book is poorly written:

1) Translation is generally sloppy. The English text is often funny, e.g. not sure which nouns a dangling clause actually refer to in running sentences. Either the original text is sloppy, or the translation is, or both.

2) Lack of information. Not a lot of actual scientific info is presented. E.g. Maps for principal component analysis for Asia genes would be of interest I think

3) Big gaps in the whole picture: the origins of both Chinese and Indians are poorly explained. It might reflect low level of scientific research in those countries; but from the writing itself, it seems the author does not really care about these people which account for ~45% of the world's population; at the same time, the author keeps pointing out that the Basques are unique.

4) Putting my Chinese head on here:
The language family that includes Na-Dene (in N. America), Caucasian (mainly Georgian), and Sino-Tibetan languages is called the 'Dene-Caucasian' family. I just can't help wondering how the scientific community name things. How can the Chinese language, with at least 800MM native speakers, not part of the name of the language family? It is probably not the author's fault, but as a founding scientist in the inquiry of human origins from genetic & linguistic point of view, the author has some responsibity for the bias I think.

5) Is the scientific evidence robust? In the early section on genetic mapping, each of the dots showing 'races' such as 'Basques', 'South Chinese', 'Dravidians', etc. are defined using considerations in 'location and languages' of the human samples. Makes me wonder whether the whole correlation between races and languages is just a convoluted tautology.

6) Lack of "so what". The book has no thesis. On this, Jared Diamond's Gun, Germs & Steel written in 1998 is a much more interesting read, using mostly the same pool of literature.

My advice: save the money, buy something else!

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating read....
Review: I found GENES, PEOPLES, LANGUAGES, by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza a fascinating read by a noted scholar who has apparently made a significant contribution concerning the role the study of genetics can play in interpreting past and current social patterns. Sforza links what scholars currently know about the genetic composition of various population groups with what contemporary linguists understand to be historical language patterns. He also brings some archeological information into the equation. In all three cases he relies on the syntheses of other researchers, such as J.P. Mallory. to complete his triangulation of perspectives: geneology-linguistics-archeology.

All three disciplines suggest change occurs, if by change you mean that various genes, pots, and ways of speaking evolve, or are overrun by others or overrun others themselves. What is of interest to Cavalli-Sforza is this: What can gentics tell us about change as well as its various outcomes?

All the evidence seems to point to two possible causes of change, the first demic, the second cultural transmission. Demic change occurs when one group physically displaces another though migration or differential reproduction (births). Groups with violent ways may replace more passive groups. Groups with higher fertility may replace those with lower fertility. The second method of change, cultural transmission occurs when Group B adopts Group A's cultural practices - way of speaking, making pots, burial practices, and the like.

Although he looks at change throughout the world, like many scholars, he focuses on the Indo-Europeans more than any other group. Cavalli-Sforza's theory regarding them (which he supports to some extent with detail from various scholars) suggests Renfrew and Gimbutas might both be right. Renfrew apparently links the distribution of Indo-European languages with the spread of farming practices making it a Neolithic event originating from Anatolia around 10,000 years ago. If Cavalli-Sforza is correct, 5,000 years later the Kurgan Bronze-Age culture described by Gimbutus which some scholars suggest probably spoke a proto-Indo-European language overran agricultural areas settled by their own ancestors.

Cavalli-Sforza's book is a fascinating study that those interested in the links between linguistics and geneology might consider reading.

Rating:
Summary: Genes, People, & Languages, not Race, Culture, or Politics
Review: It's difficult to review a book by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, not because he's obtuse and overly technical - in fact his writing is very readable by non biologists - but because of the fact that this pioneer in population genetics has so much to say about so many fields in modern science drawing from a lifetime of experiences in the field. This is particularly true of GENES, PEOPLES, AND LANGUAGES which is based on lectures that summarize his lifework and theories. The man delves into biology, anthropology, lingustics, statistics, serology, evolution, and of course, genetics. He touches on culture, race, religion, and language; he has theories about human origins, migrations, adaptations, and the switch from hunter gatherers to agriculture. In short in the field of science, when Cavalli-Sforza writes or speaks, people tend to listen and read. We don't necessarily always agree with him, but we'll get to that in a minute.

From the early 1950's Cavalli-Sforza says he wondered "whether it was possible to reconstruct the history of human evolution using genetic data from living populations." This epiphany is significant for two reasons. Firstly that he followed up on it and obtained sufficient blood samples and has compiled a massive data base of human genetic data, is incredible in its own right. Secondly it is such a paradigm shift in the way science has studied human evolution and history. No longer were researchers restricted to the slim pickings from archaelogy, anthropology and history, namely: relics, human bones, and ancient documents. Cavalli-Sforza has made three major contributions to science using his genetic data on human migrations: (1) he was one of the first scientists to develop an "evolutionary tree" of human origins (2) he susequently mapped our migrations and (3) he showed that agriculture was transmitted around the world, not by transfer of cultural traits, but by movement of actual people.

More than half (4 out of 6 chapters) of GENES, PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES is devoted to looking at human population genetics. There are two other chapters; one each on the relationship between genes and language and the influence of genetics on cultural evolution. These last two chapters although interesting in their own right don't flow with the rest of the book, nor are they as well written; they could definitely have done with more editing.

Back to the first 4 chapters and my earlier point that some people disagree with Cavalli-Sforza's opinions. He is a major proponent of the view that there is no biological basis for human races. He would definitely be one who would quote the oft heard refrain that "race is only skin deep", and he provides a wealth of genetic data to prove this point. Race however is a lot deeper than skin, it is in the bones. Ask most anthropologists who deal with the human skeleton, or a forensic expert, and they will probably agree that they can differentiate between races. But wait, ask any biologist who looks at humans through a microscope and studies blood, and they will admit they have no idea what race they're looking at. This difficulty in arriving at a definitive statement on the reality of races is just one of the many debates in science. Cavalli-Sforza's opinion is just that - his view. The same is true for his support for the linear descent of human evolution, or the "African Eve" theory, which argues that we can all supposedly trace our beginnings to a single female hominid. The differences between anthroplogists known as "splitters" and "lumpers" is what you'll have to refer to in order to sort out that debate. Also what about Cavalli-Sforza's view that only cultural evolution is now taking place in mankind; contrast this with those who say human evolution is in fact speeding up.

All of this is housekeeping among biologists. Non biologists (myself included) need only be aware of these differences of opinion. This book is not argumentative, so it's not a polemic about race, culture, or politics. As a well written general introduction to some of the more interesting topics in human genetics, by someone universally recognized as a true pioneer in the field, this is a good place to start.

Rating:
Summary: Unfocused work covering an uneven scope.
Review: Like its title, this book is a disjointed work. There is no central thesis in this work. Narratively, it is modeled like how "101 {Concepts|Mechanisms|Analyses|Facts} of Evolution" would be organized. Nevertheless, there are some interesting ideas and data presented, like the correlation of language classification and genetic groupings, or the possible (and probable) outgrowth and expansions of human settlements, arising from Africa. Less interesting, but worth a look, is the narrative on transmission of culture.

However, this is a work best avoided, if only in favour of the abridged version of the same author's History and Geography of Human Genes.

Rating:
Summary: Unfocused work covering an uneven scope.
Review: Like its title, this book is a disjointed work. There is no central thesis in this work. Narratively, it is modeled like how "101 {Concepts|Mechanisms|Analyses|Facts} of Evolution" would be organized. Nevertheless, there are some interesting ideas and data presented, like the correlation of language classification and genetic groupings, or the possible (and probable) outgrowth and expansions of human settlements, arising from Africa. Less interesting, but worth a look, is the narrative on transmission of culture.

However, this is a work best avoided, if only in favour of the abridged version of the same author's History and Geography of Human Genes.

Rating:
Summary: Much information, but little detail. Disappointing.
Review: Perhaps I was hoping for too much from this book, in which Prof. Cavalli-Sforza attempts to present the current state of knowledge about the prehistory and orgins of all of the peoples of the entire world on the basis of the combined fields of genetics and linguistics -- all in a mere 200 pages.

Unfortunately, due to the vastness of this topic I found the quality of information on each point to be quite superficial and unsatisfying for my needs. For example, about the Japanese he merely states that the genetics and linguistics indicate that the modern Japanese are believed to be the product of the combination of the original Jomon people represented by today's Ainu and Okinawans, and the later Yayoi people who crossed over from Korea. And on the Hungarians, he merely says that research reflects their origins in Asia. Well, anyone with even the most basic of knowledge about the early history of these peoples already KNOWS this information and it is hardly anything new. I would be more interested in learning for example whether the genetic results on the Hungarians indicate any sort of genetic input from neighbouring non-Finno-Ugrians, etc. But none of this sort of detail is ever provided.

As I read this book over the Christmas vacation, I found myself likening the experience to eating a piece of traditional Christmas fruitcake. In one paragraph, Cavalli-Sforza might begin talking about a topic of particular interest to me that I found particularly "delicious", and I would say "mmm" in anticipation. But I was then disappointed to find that by the next paragraph (or "mouthful" of information, to continue the Christmas cake analogy), he had already rushed onto another unrelated topic of a different flavour. On the whole, I found the book to be quite uneven (--or should I say "lumpy"?).

This book basically condenses the information contained in Cavalli-Sforza's classic 1994 work "The History and Geography of Human Genes", and mixes it with a dose of basic linguistics. The only new information is data on the genetics of the populations of the Caucasus region, which was previously unavailable. For me, the most useful part of the book has turned out to be its up-to-date bibliography which will directly me to the more detailed information I seek, much of it hidden away in obscure journal articles.

If you are brand new to the area of origins of peoples, this book is probably just right for you. But if you have any knowledge about prehistory or linguistics you will probably find this book as unsatisfying as I have. Overall, I'd recommend spending the extra bucks and getting the original work mentioned above. This is what I will now have to do.

Rating:
Summary: African Eve undermines valuable research work
Review: Reviewer: Adam Chou from Flemington, N.J.

Cavalli-Sforza's book on genes is very well written and interesting. The topics discussed in his book are challenging. I like his use of "Culture" as being broadly defined. In this manner, a single word, without the complication of different words for the different stages of human evolution, describes the evolutionary progression of hominid life styles. From biped, use of stone tools, development of society to current technology, it is all inclusively named as cultural development of the human race.

His work on establishing the genetic tree of the world human population is an important contribution to our understanding of our ancestry. Unfortunately, his theory of "African Eve" clouds the work and muddies the text of the book. Fixing the biological time clock to fit the African Eve theory has weakened the value of the genetic tree. It is well known that genetic mutation is sporadic and initiated by ecological and environmental conditions. It does not occur at some regular intervals of time as assumed by him. In other words, it is not a linear function of time. In my paper titled "Two Genetic Traits in East Asia", I demonstrated that this genetic tree fit perfectly with the evolutionary process as hypothesized by the multi-regional theory where homo erectus evolved to be homo sapiens sapiens worldwide. The map on p. 94 in his book very accurately describes the migration paths of these hominids. In spite some shortcomings, the book is well worthwhile for any one interested in human evolution to possess as a reference.