Stephen Shennan

Bio: Stephen Shennan is an academic researcher from University College London. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Prehistory. The author has an hindex of 52, co-authored 192 publications receiving 10207 citations. Previous affiliations of Stephen Shennan include Massachusetts Institute of Technology & Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The spread of farming into Central Europe and its consequences: evolutionary models

Abstract: Introduction The use of Darwinian evolutionary models to understand patterns of social, economic and cultural change in the prehistoric past is becoming increasingly well established [e.g. 35, 22, 11, 21, 23, 15, 32]. However, it remains the subject of many misconceptions [e.g. 19], both because of the erroneous assumptions that those unfamiliar with evolutionary theory bring to their reading of the evolutionary literature, and also because of the inherent complexity of the whole endeavour. The complexity is unsurprising in the light of the history of biology over the past 150 years where the substantive and philosophical implications of Darwinism continue to ramify [e.g. 16]. In the case of the application of these ideas to the study of human societies and their history we are far nearer the beginning of the process of developing appropriate theory and the subject matter is more complex (although there are increasing suggestions that the complexity of inheritance in animal populations has been underestimated [e.g. 20, 10, 16]. Moreover, different topics call on different aspects of evolutionary theory.

Ranking, Resource and Exchange

Abstract: Ranked societies are characterized by disparities in personal status that are often accompanied by the concentration of power and authority in the hands of a few dominant individuals. They stand between the sophistication of developed, states and the relative simplicity of most hunter-gatherer groups and early agriculturalists. In some places and times they represented relatively brief phases of transition to more complex forms of organization; in others they existed as stable forms of adaptation for thousands of years. They are thus of great interest for archaeologists seeking to understand the dynamics of cultural evolution.

Population Processes and Their Consequences in Early Neolithic Central Europe

Abstract: On the basis of premises derived from behavioural ecology and life history theory, the chapter proposes a demographically based model for the spread of farming into Central Europe and the social and economic trajectory subsequently followed by the early farming groups of this region. It is entirely predictable that people would take reproductive advantage of the dispersal opportunities provided by the cereals–domestic animals package in a sub-continent with low population densities, while the ideal despotic distribution provides a basis for understanding the subsequent emergence of social inequalities and higher order social entities apparent from the archaeological record. The argument is illustrated with data from the western LBK region. From the archaeological point of view the reconstruction of changing population densities is central to developing explanations of the social, economic and cultural changes associated with the Neolithic Demographic Transition and its consequences, since absolute population levels are as important as growth rates.

Archaeology as archaeology or as anthropology? Clarke's Analytical archaeology and the Binfords’New perspectives in archaeology 21 years on

Abstract: Archaeological Reports [International Series 472); ISBN 0-86054-606-3 paperback €52. Lindsay Allason-Jones. Ear-rings in Roman Britain. 154 pages, 36 plates, 4figures, 24 maps. 1989. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports [British Series 201 1; ISBN 0-86054-605-5 paperback €16. Richard N. Bailey & Rosemary Cramp. Corpus of Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture 11: Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North-of-the-Sands. 279 pages, 704 illustrations. 1988. Oxford: Oxford University Press for the British Academy; ISBN 0-10726036-5 hardback €75. J.J. North. Edwardian English silver coins 1279-1351. Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles 39: The J.J. North Collection. vi + 278 pages, tables. 46 plates. 1989. Oxford: 0xfard.University Press; ISBN 0-19-7260756 hardback.

The Web of Human Sexual Contacts

Abstract: Many ``real-world'' networks are clearly defined while most ``social'' networks are to some extent subjective. Indeed, the accuracy of empirically-determined social networks is a question of some concern because individuals may have distinct perceptions of what constitutes a social link. One unambiguous type of connection is sexual contact. Here we analyze data on the sexual behavior of a random sample of individuals, and find that the cumulative distributions of the number of sexual partners during the twelve months prior to the survey decays as a power law with similar exponents $\alpha \approx 2.4$ for females and males. The scale-free nature of the web of human sexual contacts suggests that strategic interventions aimed at preventing the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases may be the most efficient approach.

Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe

Abstract: We generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost 400,000 polymorphisms. Enrichment of these positions decreases the sequencing required for genome-wide ancient DNA analysis by a median of around 250-fold, allowing us to study an order of magnitude more individuals than previous studies and to obtain new insights about the past. We show that the populations of Western and Far Eastern Europe followed opposite trajectories between 8,000-5,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Neolithic period in Europe, ∼8,000-7,000 years ago, closely related groups of early farmers appeared in Germany, Hungary and Spain, different from indigenous hunter-gatherers, whereas Russia was inhabited by a distinctive population of hunter-gatherers with high affinity to a ∼24,000-year-old Siberian. By ∼6,000-5,000 years ago, farmers throughout much of Europe had more hunter-gatherer ancestry than their predecessors, but in Russia, the Yamnaya steppe herders of this time were descended not only from the preceding eastern European hunter-gatherers, but also from a population of Near Eastern ancestry. Western and Eastern Europe came into contact ∼4,500 years ago, as the Late Neolithic Corded Ware people from Germany traced ∼75% of their ancestry to the Yamnaya, documenting a massive migration into the heartland of Europe from its eastern periphery. This steppe ancestry persisted in all sampled central Europeans until at least ∼3,000 years ago, and is ubiquitous in present-day Europeans. These results provide support for a steppe origin of at least some of the Indo-European languages of Europe.

A cross-cultural analysis of the behavior of women and men: implications for the origins of sex differences.

Abstract: This article evaluates theories of the origins of sex differences in human behavior. It reviews the cross-cultural evidence on the behavior of women and men in nonindustrial societies, especially the activities that contribute to the sex-typed division of labor and patriarchy. To explain the cross-cultural findings, the authors consider social constructionism, evolutionary psychology, and their own biosocial theory. Supporting the biosocial analysis, sex differences derive from the interaction between the physical specialization of the sexes, especially female reproductive capacity, and the economic and social structural aspects of societies. This biosocial approach treats the psychological attributes of women and men as emergent given the evolved characteristics of the sexes, their developmental experiences, and their situated activity in society.