The present-day diversity of southern African populations was shaped by the confluence of three major pre-historic settlement layers associated with distinct linguistic strata: i) an early occupation by foragers speaking languages of the Kx'a and Tuu families; ii) a Late Stone Age migration of pre-Bantu pastoralists from eastern Africa associated with Khoe-Kwadi languages; iii) the Iron Age expansion of Bantu-speaking farmers from West-Central Africa who reached southern Africa from the western and eastern part of the continent. Uniting data and methodologies from linguistics and genetics, we review evidence for the origins, migration routes and internal diversification patterns of all three layers. By examining the impact of admixture and sex-biased forms of interaction, we show that southern Africa can be characterized as a zone of high contact between foraging and food-producing communities, involving both egalitarian interactions and socially stratified relationships. A special focus on modern groups speaking languages of the Khoe-Kwadi family further reveals how contact and admixture led to the generation of new ethnic identities whose diverse subsistence patterns and cultural practices have long puzzled scholars from various disciplines.

中文翻译：

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南部非洲的语言和遗传景观。

当今南部非洲人口的多样性是由与不同语言阶层相关的三个主要史前定居层的汇合所塑造的：i）早期被觅食者占领，说 Kx'a 和 Tuu 家族的语言；ii) 与 Khoe-Kwadi 语言有关的来自东非的前班图牧民的晚石器时代迁移；iii) 来自中西部非洲的讲班图语的农民从非洲大陆的西部和东部到达南部非洲的铁器时代扩张。结合语言学和遗传学的数据和方法，我们回顾了所有三个层次的起源、迁移路线和内部多样化模式的证据。通过检查混合和性别偏见互动形式的影响，我们表明，南部非洲可以被描述为觅食社区和粮食生产社区之间高度接触的区域，涉及平等互动和社会分层关系。对使用 Khoe-Kwadi 家族语言的现代群体的特别关注进一步揭示了接触和融合如何导致新种族身份的产生，其多样化的生存模式和文化习俗长期以来一直困扰着各学科的学者。