North African Prehistory

Prehistory of Arid North Africa

A genetic perspective on African prehistory

The various genetic systems (mitochondrial DNA, the Y chromosome and the genome-wide autosomes) indicate that Africa is the most genetically diverse continent in the world and the most likely place of origin for anatomically modern humans. However, where in Africa modern human arose and how the current genetic makeup within the continent was shaped is still open to debate. Here, we summarise th...

Prehistory of Programming Languages

Machines @article{ pl:secd, author="Peter J. Landin", title="The mechanical evaluation of expressions", journal="Computer Journal", year=1964,

Chagas disease in prehistory.

The classical hypothesis proposes that Chagas disease has been originated in the Andean region among prehistoric people when they started domesticating animals, changing to sedentary habits, and adopting agriculture. These changes in their way of life happened nearly 6,000 years ago. However, paleoparasitological data based on molecular tools showed that Trypanosoma cruzi infection and Chagas d...

Phylogeography of the human mitochondrial haplogroup L3e: a snapshot of African prehistory and Atlantic slave trade.

The mtDNA haplogroup L3e, which is identified by the restriction site +2349 MboI within the Afro-Eurasian superhaplogroup L3 (-3592 HpaI), is omnipresent in Africa but virtually absent in Eurasia (except for neighbouring areas with limited genetic exchange). L3e was hitherto poorly characterised in terms of HVS-I motifs, as the ancestral HVS-I type of L3e cannot be distinguished from the putati...