Department of Anthropology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14261, USA
Department of Anthropology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14261, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2018 Apr 5;373(1743). doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0054.
In the study of cultural evolution, observed among-group affinity patterns reflect the effects of processes such as mutation (e.g. innovation and copying error), between-group interaction (culture flow), drift and selection. As in biology, cultural affinity patterns are often spatially correlated, making it difficult to distinguish between the opposing geographically mediated forces of divergence and interaction, which cause groups to become more distinct or similar over time, respectively. Analogous difficulties are faced by evolutionary biologists examining the relationship between biological affinity and geography, particularly at lower taxonomic levels where the potential for gene flow between lineages is greatest. Tree models are generally used to assess the fit between affinity patterns and models of historical divergence. However, factors driving lineage divergence are often spatially mediated, resulting in tree models that are themselves geographically structured. Here, we showcase a simple method drawn from evolutionary ecology for assessing the relative impact of both geographically mediated processes simultaneously. We illustrate the method using global human craniometric diversity and material culture from the northern coast of New Guinea as example case studies. This method can be employed to quantify the relative importance of history (divergence) and geographically mediated between-group interaction (culture flow) in explaining observed cultural affinity patterns.This article is part of the theme issue 'Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution'.
在文化进化的研究中，观察到的群体间亲和模式反映了突变（如创新和复制错误）、群体间相互作用（文化流动）、漂移和选择等过程的影响。与生物学一样，文化亲和模式通常具有空间相关性，这使得很难区分导致群体随时间变得更加不同或相似的相反的地理介导的发散和相互作用力量，分别。研究生物亲和性与地理之间关系的进化生物学家也面临着类似的困难，特别是在分类学水平较低的情况下，谱系之间的基因流动潜力最大。树模型通常用于评估亲和模式与历史分歧模型之间的拟合度。然而，驱动谱系分歧的因素往往是空间介导的，导致树模型本身具有地理结构。在这里，我们展示了一种来自进化生态学的简单方法，用于同时评估地理介导过程的相对影响。我们使用全球人类颅骨形态多样性和新几内亚北部沿海地区的物质文化作为示例案例研究来说明该方法。该方法可用于量化历史（分歧）和地理介导的群体间相互作用（文化流动）在解释观察到的文化亲和模式方面的相对重要性。本文是主题为“弥合文化差距：人类文化进化的跨学科研究”的一部分。
