A linguistic and biological study of populations in the Kalahari and Namib deserts has shown that although the Kwadi language has disappeared, people who speak it still exist
Southern Africa is home to the greatest human genetic diversity on Earth, and that diversity is better than we thought, according to new research. Between the 1960s and 1970s, the disappearance of some languages in the Namib Desert raised suspicions that the speaking population had also become extinct, but their genetic identity has recently been identified, despite the loss of the language.
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By anthropological standards, it is normal for there to be greater biological diversity where a family or species emerged. We know, for example, how long humans have evolved African continent even without observing fossil finds – just look at the genetic diversity of our species on the continent. This is very evident if you look at the inhabitants of the Kalahari and Namib deserts, in the south-east of the continent.
One of our goals was to find the descendants of Kwadi speakers, an extinct language of the Khoe-Kwadi family, previously linked to the spread of pastoralism in southern Africa. We spotted a group who identified themselves as Kwepe and among them were elders who still remembered the language pic.twitter.com/ektTOMQDtT
— Sandra Oliveira (@oliveira_srs) February 19, 2023
The Namib is a long, thin desert that runs along the coast of Namibia, parts of Angola and South Africa. For decades, wars have raged in the north of the region and have hindered the study of human diversity, but recent political balances have allowed it to be visited by the Luso-Angolan TwinLab institute, which has managed to fill some gaps and, as a bonus, to find models in human prehistory.
Finding missing populations
One of the supposedly extinct but rediscovered peoples were the Kwepe, who spoke the Kwadi language, click on the disappeared language about 50 years ago. The language shared a common ancestor with the Khoe languages spoken by the foragers and pastoralists of southern Africa. Among the project’s findings are two survivors who remember much of the language that lived near the mouth of the Kuroka River and who were interviewed by researchers.
By combining genetic and linguistic analyses, the relationships between the Angolan inhabitants of Namibe were studied. The greatest differences appear between populations with contrasting lifestyles, such as those between farmers and herders and between those between hunter-gatherers. Although the Kwadi language is nearly extinct, the scientific team found that descendants of speakers of the language still carry genetic diversity dating back to the time Bantu-speaking farmers arrived in the region.
This work demonstrates that modern DNA research can complement ancient DNA studies to probe the deep genetic structure of Africa!
To all the participants who made this work possible by contributing samples and telling us stories about their origins: a heartfelt thank you! pic.twitter.com/oGDjfJx2tc
— Sandra Oliveira (@oliveira_srs) February 19, 2023
One goal was to understand how much of the local variation would be the product of genetic drift, a random process of genetic change that affects small populations much more, especially when they mix with those that have already disappeared. Previous studies have shown that Kalahari Desert foragers descend from an ancient population that was the first to differentiate itself from other modern humans.
According to research findings, the Namibe population belongs to the same ancestral lineage, but differs from other southern African ancestors, thus dividing itself between southern and northern Kalahari populations. The Angolan Namib and northern Namibia are the only regions where this genetic lineage survives.
Finally, it was possible to reconstruct the migrations of the populations in the region: the Khoe-Kwadi speakers spread to the site about 2,000 years ago, probably coming from what is now Tanzania. Compared to the first inhabitants, who spoke Khoe languages and had inhabited the area for hundreds of thousands of years, they arrived late. Bantu speakers arrived between 200 and 500 years later, from central and eastern Africa, and differ markedly from the rest of humanity, genetically speaking.
Source: Advances in science
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