here - 5th International Conference on Bantu Languages

Modelling Bantu dispersals: using spatial simulations to interpret a new radiocarbon database of
early agricultural settlement in sub‐Saharan Africa.
Thembi Russell 1 , Fabio Silva 2 and James Steele 1,2
1 School of Geography, Archaeology & Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits
2050, South Africa
2 Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31‐34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK.
We report a new compilation of radiocarbon dates from sites associated with the expansion of
farming societies in sub‐Saharan Africa. We use spatial statistics and simulation modelling to
reconstruct routes and rates of spread. We derive a set of modelled population phylogenies for
alternative dispersal scenarios, which can be compared to cultural and linguistic phylogenies
reconstructed from other data sources. We illustrate the potential of this approach by comparing
our modelled dispersal histories (estimated from radiocarbon dates) to published Bantu language
phylogenies.
WS3