Household workshop for leather working (Wikicommons – Sovereign Hill Museum) The high mean IQ of Europeans is relatively recent in origin, as is that of East Asians. Both of these “IQ plateaus” arose largely during the time of recorded history. Until the eleventh century, mean IQ was relatively low throughout Europe, perhaps hovering in the low 90s. It then rose during late medieval and post-medieval times through population growth within the nascent middle class of merchants, yeoman farmers, and independent artisans.
I have been thinking of one thing: If IQ evolved a lot during the last thousand years, how can it then be so similar in the whole of Western Europe? Different Western European societies had limited population exchange. Some places were crowded, like England and Germany. Others had a lot of marginal land to explore got those brave, strong and lucky enough to succeed, like Scandinavia. And still, Germans and Scandinavians have more or less identical IQ levels, as far as I know. Even in Spain, so far away and with such a different history (exporting an important share of their population to the colonies in the 16th century when others didn't), have that typical around 100 IQ according to Lynn and Vanhanen's data.
If today's IQ levels evolved so recently, how can they be so similar? Or are there indications that they are not similar after all?
Ancient textual sources are necessarily scarce, scattershot, copies of copies of copies, and third-hand, fourth-hand, fifth-hand, and Xth hand. So, if the few ancient sources tell us things about Black Africans that match what we observe among Black Africans today, then we may have no choice but to believe them. If you claim an edit by copyists, then you need a good reason why. Neither Galen nor Ibn Khaldun would be religious sources, the passages are not religious in nature, and copyists in monasteries would be apparently interested merely in preserving ancient knowledge.
Nubians are a respectable example of an ancient advanced Black African civilization. But, they are a people intermediate between caucasoid and negroid. They still exist today: see pictures of Nubians, and you will see what I mean. Go further south, among the true sub-Saharan Africans, and the persisting ancient architecture is scarce, the ancient art is simple, and the ancient written language or ancient domesticated animals are nonexistent.
You don't seem to show much data for Europeans beyond the Italian polygenic score gradient and a mention of Finns. Is there hard data supporting the idea that in general medieval European polygenic scores suggest low 90s IQ? Have we extensively tested medieval European DNA (preferably thousands of samples)? The narrative of craftsmen being more reproductively successful is interesting but the conclusion is speculative without good data.
The data seems to show the Nubians were very close, genetically, to Egyptians and also had significant west Eurasian admixture.
I believe most American blacks are of equatorial west African origin.
Are there papers on IQ needed in order to successfully farm and domesticate plants and animals? That's what happened in the middle east and spread outward. North American Indians didn't farm that much. Central and south American Indians did domesticate corn and could farm. Neither group invented the wheel though. Australian aborigines couldn't farm and couldn't domesticate animals.
If the IQ needed to form a peaceful farming society is 90, going from average of 90 to an average of 100 today take only a few centuries. But going from Australian or Subsaharan IQ of 60 to 100 will take a lot longer.
Anyone who has taken courses in paleoanthropology knows that, for example, the survival of Neanderthals in Europe for at least 200,000 years is contradictory to the cold winter theory.
Research on the cognitive abilities of Neanderthals is progressing, it is admitted that they were less intelligent than sapiens, they did not have the same mutation for neuronal proliferation for example ....
Thanks for an interesting article, I didnt know our IQ had only recently peaked. Two questions:
1. Was the IQ of the ancient Greeks higher than medieval Europe's? If so, why? If I remember right their polygenic scores were slightly over 100 but not sure how reliable that is.
2. Did the high rate of execution of criminals from 1000AD onwards (as you wrote in 2015) increase the IQ of Western Europe? I assume it would domesticate us, narrow the facial width average and increase average IQ slightly.
I have been thinking of one thing: If IQ evolved a lot during the last thousand years, how can it then be so similar in the whole of Western Europe? Different Western European societies had limited population exchange. Some places were crowded, like England and Germany. Others had a lot of marginal land to explore got those brave, strong and lucky enough to succeed, like Scandinavia. And still, Germans and Scandinavians have more or less identical IQ levels, as far as I know. Even in Spain, so far away and with such a different history (exporting an important share of their population to the colonies in the 16th century when others didn't), have that typical around 100 IQ according to Lynn and Vanhanen's data.
If today's IQ levels evolved so recently, how can they be so similar? Or are there indications that they are not similar after all?
Ancient textual sources are necessarily scarce, scattershot, copies of copies of copies, and third-hand, fourth-hand, fifth-hand, and Xth hand. So, if the few ancient sources tell us things about Black Africans that match what we observe among Black Africans today, then we may have no choice but to believe them. If you claim an edit by copyists, then you need a good reason why. Neither Galen nor Ibn Khaldun would be religious sources, the passages are not religious in nature, and copyists in monasteries would be apparently interested merely in preserving ancient knowledge.
Nubians are a respectable example of an ancient advanced Black African civilization. But, they are a people intermediate between caucasoid and negroid. They still exist today: see pictures of Nubians, and you will see what I mean. Go further south, among the true sub-Saharan Africans, and the persisting ancient architecture is scarce, the ancient art is simple, and the ancient written language or ancient domesticated animals are nonexistent.
You don't seem to show much data for Europeans beyond the Italian polygenic score gradient and a mention of Finns. Is there hard data supporting the idea that in general medieval European polygenic scores suggest low 90s IQ? Have we extensively tested medieval European DNA (preferably thousands of samples)? The narrative of craftsmen being more reproductively successful is interesting but the conclusion is speculative without good data.
The data seems to show the Nubians were very close, genetically, to Egyptians and also had significant west Eurasian admixture.
I believe most American blacks are of equatorial west African origin.
Are there papers on IQ needed in order to successfully farm and domesticate plants and animals? That's what happened in the middle east and spread outward. North American Indians didn't farm that much. Central and south American Indians did domesticate corn and could farm. Neither group invented the wheel though. Australian aborigines couldn't farm and couldn't domesticate animals.
If the IQ needed to form a peaceful farming society is 90, going from average of 90 to an average of 100 today take only a few centuries. But going from Australian or Subsaharan IQ of 60 to 100 will take a lot longer.
Cold winters theory is false.
Anyone who has taken courses in paleoanthropology knows that, for example, the survival of Neanderthals in Europe for at least 200,000 years is contradictory to the cold winter theory.
Research on the cognitive abilities of Neanderthals is progressing, it is admitted that they were less intelligent than sapiens, they did not have the same mutation for neuronal proliferation for example ....
This is a theory that is false...
Thanks for an interesting article, I didnt know our IQ had only recently peaked. Two questions:
1. Was the IQ of the ancient Greeks higher than medieval Europe's? If so, why? If I remember right their polygenic scores were slightly over 100 but not sure how reliable that is.
2. Did the high rate of execution of criminals from 1000AD onwards (as you wrote in 2015) increase the IQ of Western Europe? I assume it would domesticate us, narrow the facial width average and increase average IQ slightly.