Modeling Niche Construction in Neolithic Europe

Abstract

In modeling ancient Neolithic societies over many generations, it is essential to consider how cultural knowledge is inherited, including specific transmission pathways, often directed by kinship systems, and their feedback. The transmission of cultural knowledge, by effecting behavior, subsequently feeds back into itself in subsequent generations. This is niche construction—a process by which humans and domesticated plants and animals, through their metabolism, activities, and choices, modify natural selection, which can have significant evolutionary repercussions for subsequent generations. Here we discuss the evolution of dairying by Neolithic groups in Europe, with emphasis on specific intergenerational cultural-transmission pathways and how Granger causality and pathway analysis might be applied to modeling the Neolithic transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture.