Genetic structure correlates with ethnolinguistic diversity in eastern and southern Africa

African populations are the most diverse in the world yet are sorely underrepresented in medical genetics research. Here, we examine the structure of African populations using genetic and comprehensive multi-generational ethnolinguistic data from the Neuropsychiatric Genetics of African Populations-Psychosis study (NeuroGAP-Psychosis) consisting of 900 individuals from Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda. We find that self-reported language classifications meaningfully tag underlying genetic variation that would be missed with consideration of geography alone, highlighting the importance of culture in shaping genetic diversity. Leveraging our uniquely rich multi-generational ethnolinguistic metadata, we track language transmission through the pedigree, observing the disappearance of several languages in our cohort as well as notable shifts in frequency over three generations. We find suggestive evidence for the rate of language transmission in matrilineal groups having been higher than that for patrilineal ones. We highlight both the diversity of variation within Africa as well as how within-Africa variation can be informative for broader variant interpretation; many variants that are rare elsewhere are common in parts of Africa. The work presented here improves the understanding of the spectrum of genetic variation in African populations and highlights the enormous and complex genetic and ethnolinguistic diversity across Africa

Conclusion: The science of conflict

This chapter discusses the application of scientific approaches to conflict studies. The emphasis is on recent advances in the field of biomolecular archaeology applied to human remains, most notably isotopic analyses, ancient DNA and radiocarbon dating. These techniques have the potential to address crucial questions regarding skeletons demonstrating violent injuries, such as the identity and origins of those involved. In addition, high-resolution dating can be crucial to determining whether a multiple burial represents a single or multiple events, as well as linking periods exhibiting greater violence with other social and/or environmental variables. This allows archaeologists to address broader questions concerning the role(s) of violent interactions in past societies