%0 Journal Article
%A Fehn, Anne-Maria
%A Amorim, Beatriz
%A Rocha, Jorge
%+ Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
%T The linguistic and genetic landscape of southern Africa : 
%G eng
%U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000C-832C-F
%R 10.4436/jass.10008
%7 2022
%D 2022
%* Review method: peer-reviewed
%X The present-day diversity of southern African populations was shaped by the confluence of<br>three major pre-historic settlement layers associated with distinct linguistic strata: i) an early occupation<br>by foragers speaking languages of the Kx’a and Tuu families; ii) a Late Stone Age migration of pre-Bantu<br>pastoralists from eastern Africa associated with Khoe-Kwadi languages; iii) the Iron Age expansion of Bantu-<br>speaking farmers from West-Central Africa who reached southern Africa from the western and eastern part<br>of the continent. Uniting data and methodologies from linguistics and genetics, we review evidence for the<br>origins, migration routes and internal diversification patterns of all three layers. By examining the impact of<br>admixture and sex-biased forms of interaction, we show that southern Africa can be characterized as a zone<br>of high contact between foraging and food-producing communities, involving both egalitarian interactions<br>and socially stratified relationships. A special focus on modern groups speaking languages of the Khoe-Kwadi<br>family further reveals how contact and admixture led to the generation of new ethnic identities whose diverse<br>subsistence patterns and cultural practices have long puzzled scholars from various disciplines.
%K Southern Africa, “Khoisan”, Bantu, Pastoralism, Migrations, Admixture
%J Journal of Anthropological Sciences
%V 100
%& 243
%P 243 - 265
%I Istituto Italiano di Antropologia (ISItA)
%C Rom
%@ 2037-06441827-4765