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Palaeodemographic modelling supports a population bottleneck during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Iberia.

Fernández-López de Pablo, J., Gutiérrez-Roig, M., Gómez-Puche, M., McLaughlin, R., Parracho Silva, F. and Lozano, S., 2019. Palaeodemographic modelling supports a population bottleneck during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Iberia. Nature Communications, 10, 1872.

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09833-3

Abstract

Demographic change lies at the core of debates on genetic inheritance and resilience to climate change of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Here we analyze the radiocarbon record of Iberia to reconstruct long-term changes in population levels and test different models of demographic growth during the Last Glacial-Interglacial transition. Our best fitting demographic model is composed of three phases. First, we document a regime of exponential population increase during the Late Glacial warming period (c.16.6-12.9 kya). Second, we identify a phase of sustained population contraction and stagnation, beginning with the cold episode of the Younger Dryas and continuing through the first half of the Early Holocene (12.9-10.2 kya). Finally, we report a third phase of density-dependent logistic growth (10.2-8 kya), with rapid population increase followed by stabilization. Our results support a population bottleneck hypothesis during the Last Glacial-Interglacial transition, providing a demographic context to interpret major shifts of prehistoric genetic groups in south-west Europe.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:2041-1723
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:32192
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:24 Apr 2019 08:38
Last Modified:14 Mar 2022 14:15

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