Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2025

Divergence of Root Microbiota in Different Habitats based on Weighted Correlation Networks
Published on: September 25, 2021
Demography, trade and state power: a tripartite model of medieval farming/language dispersals in the Ryukyu Islands
Aleksandra Jarosz1, Martine Robbeets2, Ricardo Fernandes3,4,5
1Faculty of Humanities, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland.
Abstract:
Hunter-gatherer occupations of small islands are rare in world prehistory and it is widely accepted that island settlement is facilitated by agriculture. The Ryukyu Islands contradict that understanding on two counts: not only did they have a long history of hunter-gatherer settlement, but they also have a very late date for the onset of agriculture, which only reached the archipelago between the eighth and thirteenth centuries AD. Here, we combine archaeology and linguistics to propose a tripartite model for the spread of agriculture and Ryukyuan languages to the Ryukyu Islands. Employing demographic growth, trade/piracy and the political influence of neighbouring states, this model provides a synthetic yet flexible understanding of farming/language dispersals in the Ryukyus within the complex historical background of medieval East Asia.
Related Concept Videos
Distribution and Dispersion
Factors Affecting Dissolution: Polymorphism, Amorphism and Pseudopolymorphism
Some polymorphic crystals possess lower aqueous solubility than their amorphous counterparts, leading to incomplete absorption. For instance, the oral suspension of Chloramphenicol, which...
Relationship Formation
Gene Flow
Conservation of Declining Populations
Language and Cognition

