Phylogenies of languages can be used in combination with geographical information or information on cultural practices to investigate questions of human history, such as the spread of agriculture.
Phylogenies of languages can be used in combination with geographical information or information on cultural practices to investigate questions of human history, such as the spread of agriculture. Phylogenies of language families have been used to study the timing, causes and geographic spread of groups of farmers/fishing populations, including the Indo-Europeans [ 30, 31, 32, 33]; the pace of occupation of the Pacific by the Austronesian people [ 34]; and the migration routes of the Bantu-speaking people through Africa [ 35, 36].