Complex Systems Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Girona, ES-17071 Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Nov 13;109(46):18669-73. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1200662109. Epub 2012 Oct 29.
There is a long-standing controversy between two models of the Neolithic transition. The demic model assumes that the Neolithic range expansion was mainly due to the spread of populations, and the cultural model considers that it was essentially due to the spread of ideas. Here we integrate the demic and cultural models in a unified framework. We show that cultural diffusion explains ∼40% of the spread rate of the Neolithic transition in Europe, as implied by archaeological data. Thus, cultural diffusion cannot be neglected, but demic diffusion was the most important mechanism in this major historical process at the continental scale. This quantitative approach can be useful also in regional analysis, the description of Neolithic transitions in other continents, and models of many human spread phenomena.
新石器时代转型存在两种长期存在争议的模式。扩散模型认为新石器时代的扩张主要是由于人口的扩散，而文化模型则认为它主要是由于思想的传播。在这里，我们在一个统一的框架内整合了扩散模型和文化模型。我们表明，文化扩散解释了考古数据所暗示的欧洲新石器时代转型传播率的约 40%。因此，文化扩散不容忽视，但在大陆尺度上的这一重大历史进程中，扩散模型才是最重要的机制。这种定量方法在区域分析、其他大陆的新石器时代转型描述以及许多人类扩散现象的模型中也可能是有用的。
