What was the demographic impact on human societies of the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculture-based economies?

Most studies on this vast subject have focused on the European Neolithic period. But these studies do not explain the demographic impact on populations while in the process of transitioning.

To address this, IAST researcher Zach Garfield joined an interdisciplinary team led by Shyamalika Gopalan and Brenna M. Henn which focused on southwest Ethiopia, home to the Chabu people, a modern-day hunter-gatherer society which has, over the past few decades, been gradually shifting to agriculture.

The team collected and analyzed genetic data from over 80 Chabu forager-horticulturalists, as well as ~200 participants from neighboring populations, to understand their demographic history over the last ~2000 years.

Their genetic analysis indicate that the Chabu are a distinct population closely related to ancient people who occupied Southwest Ethiopia >4,500 years ago, which shows genetic continuity between ancient and modern hunter-gatherers.

Their analysis also shows that the Chabu are undergoing a severe population bottleneck, which began approximately 1,400 years ago.

Overall, the study suggests that the transition to farming is a complex and variable process. Many local hunter-gatherer societies have been replaced or absorbed by incoming farmers, whereas others have adapted culturally and have not experienced population decline.

Zach and his co-authors plan to learn more about the processes of agricultural transitions by continuing to study modern hunter-gatherer populations in Southwest Ethiopia, who boast a tremendous linguistic and cultural diversity.

To read the paper, see here https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982222003141

To read more about Zach’s research, see https://zhgarfield.github.io/