Log in

Editor's Picks

Group by Sequoiadendron giganteum
From Davis to Los Angeles
Chris Reynolds | Oct 30, 2024
Group photo at Otay Mountains
From Los Angeles to the Otay Mountains
John Leszczynski | Oct 30, 2024
Quercus boyntonii Conservation Plan
Partners at The Morton Arboretum, in collaboration with...
Website Editor | Oct 29, 2024

Plant Focus

Quercus dumosa acorn
Animals, plants, and fungi depend on this humble tree, but its future—and theirs—is all but certain.

Did Early Human Populations in Europe Facilitate the Dispersion of Oaks?

PDF icon Log in or register to access the full text.

Antoine Kremer

Published May 2015 in International Oaks No. 26: 19–28.

Abstract

This review contends that early human populations, while invading Europe during the Upper Paleolithic or while migrating in response to postglacial warming, contributed to the dispersion of oaks. Evidence suggests that humans, while migrating along the Danube route, facilitated acorn dispersal as they transported goods that could help them survive the local harsh climate.  Some of the dispersed acorns very likely developed micro-populations, and may have finally resulted in cryptic northern populations, very far north of contemporary oak distribution. The human vector of acorn dispersal in Europe would have resulted in a scattered distribution of what we call today cryptic refugia. Such a scenario may explain why the Balkan genetic lineage is so widespread in Central and Eastern Europe (even in Western Europe) north of the Alps.

Keywords

acorn dispersal, oak migration in Europe

References

Antolin, F., and S. Jacomet. 2015. Wild fruit use among early farmers in the Neolithic (5400–2300 cal BC) in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula: an intensive practice? Veget. Hist. Archaeobot. 24:19–33.

Arsuaga, J.L.1999. Le collier de Neandertal. Nos ancêtres à l’époque glaciaire. Paris : Editions Odile Jacob. Aurenche, O. 1997. Balanophagie. Mythe ou réalité ? Paléorient. 23: 75- 85.

Bar-Yosef O., and A. Belfer-Cohen. 2001. From Africa to Eurasia-early dispersals. Quat. Int. 75: 19-28.

Bouby, L. 2000. Production et consommation végétales au Bronze final dans les sites littoraux languedociens. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 97: 583-594.

Bradtmöller, M., A. Pastoors, B. Weninger, and G.C., Weniger. 2012. The repeated replacement model—Rapid climate change and population dynamics in Late Pleistocene Europe. Quat. Int. 247: 38-49.

Brewer, S., R. Cheddadi, J.L. De Beaulieu, and M. Reille. 2002. The spread of deciduous Quercus throughout Europe since the last Glacial period. Forest Ecology and Management 156: 27-48.

Brewer, S., C. Hely-Alleaume, R. Cheddadi, J.L. De Beaulieu, J.M. Laurent, and J. Cuziat. 2005. Postglacial history of Atlantic oakwoods: context, dynamics and controlling factors. Botanical Journal of Scotland 57: 41-57.

Cottrell, J.E., R.C. Munro, H.E. Tabbener, A.C.M. Gillies, G.I. Forrest, J.D. Deans, and A.J. Lowe. 2002. Distribution of chloroplast variation in British oaks (Quercus robur and Q. petraea); the influence of postglacial recolonization and human management. For. Ecol. Manag. 156: 181-195.

Deforce, K., J. Bastiaens, H.V. Claster, and S. Van Houtte. 2009. Iron age acorns from Boezinge (Belgium): the role of acorn consumption in prehistory. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 39: 381-392.

Deshpande, O., S. Batzoglou, M.W. Feldman, and L.L. Cavalli- Sforza. 2009. A serial founder effect model for human settlement out of Africa. Proc. Biol. Sci. 276: 291-300.

Gamble, C., W. Davies, P. Pettitt, and M. Richards. 2004. Climate change and evolving human diversity in Europe during the last glacial. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 359: 243-254.

Haws, J.A. 2004. An Iberian perspective on Upper Paleolithic plant consumption. Promontoria 2: 49-106 Henn, B.M., L.L. Cavalli-Sforza, and M.W. Feldman. 2012. The great human expansion. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 10 : 17758-17764. Hewitt, G. 2000 The genetic legacy of the Quaternary ice ages. Nature 405: 907-913.

Hoffecker, J.F. 2009 The spread of modern humans in Europe. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 106: 16040-16045.

Humphrey, L.T., I. DeGroote, J. Morales, N. Barton, S. Collcutt , C. Bronk Ramsey, and A. Boy Zouggar. 2014. Earliest evidence for caries and exploitation of starchy plant foods in Pleistocene hunter-gatherers from Morocco. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 111: 954-959.

Jorgensen, G. 1977. Acorns as a food source in the later stone age. Acta & Archeologica 48: 233-238.

Karg, S., and J.N. Haas. 1996. Indizien für den Gebrauch von mitteleuropäischen Eicheln als prehistoriche Nahrungsressource.

Tübinger Monographien für Urgeschichte 11: 429-435.

Knörzer, K.H.,1972. Eine bronzezeitkliche Grube mit geröstetren Eicheln von Moers-Hülsdonk. Bonner Jahrbücher 172: 404- 412.

Le Corre, V., N. Machon, R.J. Petit, and A. Kremer. 1997. Colonization with long-distance seed dispersal and genetic structure of maternally inherited genes in forest trees: a simulation study. Genetical Research 69(2): 117-125.

Lev, E., M.E. Kislev., and O. Bar-Yosef. 2005. Mousterian vegetal food in Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel. Journal of Archeological Science 32: 475-485.

Liu, L., J. Field, A. Weisskopf, J. Webb, L.P. Jiang, M.M. Wang, and X.C. Chen. 2010. The exploitation of acorn and rice in early Holocene lower Yangzi River, China. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 29(4): 317-336.

Mason, S., and M. Nesbitt. 2009. Acorns as food in southeast Turkey: implications for prehistoric subsistence in Southwest Asia.

In “From foragers to farmers. Papers in honour of Gordon C. Hillman” edited by Fairbairn A.S. and Weiss E., pp 71-84. McCorriston, J. 1994. Acorn eating and agricultural origins- California ethnographies as analogies for the ancient near-east. Antiquity 68 (258): 97-107.

Mellars, P. 2004. Neanderthals and the modern human colonization of Europe. Nature 432: 461-465. Mellars, P. 2011. The earliest modern humans in Europe. Nature 479 : 483-485.

Moncel, M.H., J. Despriée, P. Voinchet, H. Tissoux, D. Moreno, J.J. Bahain, G. Courcimault, and C. Falguères. 2013. Early evidence of Acheulean settlement in Northwestern Europe- LaNoira site, a 700 000 year-old occupation in the center of France. PLoS ONE 8(11): e75529.

Petit, R.J., U.M. Csaikl, S. Bordacs, K. Burg, E. Coart, J. Cottrell, B.C. van Dam, J.D. Deans, S. Dumolin-Lapegue, S. Fineschi, R. Finkeldey, A.C.M. Gillies, I. Glaz, P. Goiecoechea, J.J. Jensen, A.O. König, A.J. Lowe, S.F. Madsen, G. Matyas, R.C. Munro, M. Olalde, M.-H. Pémonge, F. Popescu, D. Slade, H. Tabbener, D. Taurchini, S.M.G. de Vries, B. Ziegenhagen, and A. Kremer. 2002. Chloroplast DNA variation in European white oaks: Phylogeography and patterns of diversity based on data from over 2600 populations. Forest Ecology and Management 156(1-3): 5-26.

Primavera, M., and G. Fiorentino. 2013. Acorn gatherers: fruit storage and processing in South East Italy during the bronze age. Origini 35: 211-237.

Regnell, M. 2012. Plant subsistence and environment at the Mesolithic site Tägerup, Southern Sweden: new insights on the “Nut Age”. Veget. Hist. Archeobot 21: 1-16.

Rosenberg, D. 2008. The possible use of acorns in past economies of the Southern Levant. A staple food or a negligible food reserve ? Levant 40: 167-175.

Salkowa, T., M. Divisova, S. Kadochova, J. Benes, K. Delawska, E. Kadlckova, L. Nemeckova, K. Pokorna, V. Voska, and A.

Zemlickova. 2011. Acorns as food resource. An experiment with acorn preparation and taste. Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica 11: 139-147.

Starin, D. 2014. Is Reintroducing Acorns into the Human Diet a Nutty Idea? Scientific American. (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-reintroducing-acorns-into-the-human-diet-a-nutty-idea/?print=true)

Stewart, J.R., and A.M. Lister. 2001. Cryptic northern refugia and the origin of modern biota. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 16: 608-613.

Stewart, J.R., and C.B. Stringer. 2012. Human evolution out of Africa: the role of refugia and climate change. Science 335: 1317-1321.

Taberlet, P., L. Fumagalli., A.G. Wust-Saucy, and J.F. Cosson. 1998. Comparative phylogeography and postglacial colonization routes in Europe. Mol. Ecol. 7: 453.

Villa, P., and W. Roebroeks. 2014 . Neandertal Demise: An Archaeological Analysis of the Modern Human Superiority Complex. PLoS ONE 9(4): e96424.