Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours

Boyette, Adam H; Lew-Levy, Sheina; Jang, Haneul; Kandza, Vidrige

Abstract

Investigating past and present human adaptation to the Congo Basin tropical forest can shed light on how climate and ecosystem variability have shaped human evolution. Here, we first review and synthesize genetic, palaeoclimatological, linguistic and historical data on the peopling of the Congo Basin. While forest fragmentation led to the increased genetic and geographical divergence of forest foragers, these groups maintained long-distance connectivity. The eventual expansion of Bantu speakers into the Congo Basin provided new opportunities for forging inter-group links, as evidenced by linguistic shifts and historical accounts. Building from our ethnographic work in the northern Republic of the Congo, we show how these inter-group links between forest forager communities as well as trade relationships with neighbouring farmers facilitate adaptation to ecoregions through knowledge exchange. While researchers tend to emphasize forager–farmer interactions that began in the Iron Age, we argue that foragers' cultivation of relational wealth with groups across the region played a major role in the initial occupation of the Congo Basin and, consequently, in cultural evolution among the ancestors of contemporary peoples.

Citation

Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Jang, H., & Kandza, V. (2022). Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1849), Article 20200490. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0490

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 5, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Mar 7, 2022
• Publication Date: Apr 25, 2022
• Deposit Date: Sep 11, 2023
• Journal: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
• Print ISSN: 0962-8436
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-2970
• Publisher: The Royal Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 377
• Issue: 1849
• Article Number: 20200490
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0490
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1734393