Ancient Human Migrations

A Multidisciplinary Approach

The study of human migration is integral to the understanding of essential features of human experience. Many ancient civilizations were created and modified through migrations, and migrations of later periods gave rise to the modern ethnic map of the world, affecting ideology, economy and politics. Historically, most human migration studies have taken a more specialized approach, often focusing on archaeology or linguistics. Ancient Human Migrations collects outstanding papers from internationally renowned scholars to clarify the need for multidisciplinary approaches to the topic of human migration.

This collection of papers, worldwide in scope, originated from a working conference at the Santa Fe Institute. Admixture is a common outcome of migration, and human populations are all amalgams of ancestors, neighbors, and others. As a result, the volume argues, no “pure” races, cultures, or languages can exist. The very original analyses and discussions presented here return the concept of migration to its rightful place among the known processes of human evolutionary change and variation.

Peter N. Peregrine is professor and chair of anthropology at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. He is coeditor of the Encyclopedia of Prehistory and has authored or coauthored eleven books, five edited volumes, and over 100 articles, chapters, and reviews.

Ilia Peiros is a research associate at the Santa Fe Institute and an affiliate of the Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is a historical and comparative linguist.

Marcus W. Feldman is professor of biology at Stanford University. He is managing editor of Theoretical Population Biology and associate editor of Genetics, Human Genetics, Annals of Human Genomics, Annals of Human Biology, and Complexity.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface - Murray Gell-Mann

1. Ancient Human Migrations: A Multidisciplinary Approach - Peter N. Peregrine, Ilia Peiros, and Marcus Feldman
2. The Multidisciplinary Study of Human Migration: Problems and Principles - Dean R. Snow
3. Theory of Migration: Implications for Linguistic Evolution - Sohini Ramachandran and Marcus W. Feldman
4. Cross-Cultural Research in the Study of Migration: Cultural Features and Language - Peter N. Peregrine, Carol R. Ember, and Melvin Ember
5. Languages and Migrations: What Can Linguistics Tell Us About Prehistory and Prehistoric Migrations? - Ilia Peiros
6. Humanity at the Last Glacial Maximum: A Cultural Crisis - Henry T. Wright
7. Why Are People Mortal? World Mythology and the "Out-of-Africa" Scenario - Yuri E. Berezkin
8. Neolithic Migrations in the Near East and the Aegean: Linguistic and Genetic Correlates - Roy King
9. Migratory Mechanism: Rus' and the Magyars in the Ninth Century - Vladimir Petrukhin
10. Migrations to the Americas - Merritt Ruhlen
11. The Peopling of the Americas as Viewed from the Y Chromosome - Stephen L. Zegura, Tatiana M. Karafet, and Michael F. Hammer
12. Y-Chromosome Japanese Roots - Tatiana M. Karafet, Stephen L. Zegura, and Michael F. Hammer
13. Towards an Integrated Theory about the Indonesian Migrations to Madagascar - Alexander Adelaar
14. Problems and Prospects in the Study of Ancient Human Migrations - Peter N. Peregrine, Ilia Peiros, and Marcus Feldman