tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1917790888555836782024-03-19T01:47:55.348-07:00Archaeology News ReportJonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.comBlogger2576125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-31021964483277147092024-03-12T13:33:00.000-07:002024-03-12T13:33:43.922-07:00Human activity on Curaçao began centuries earlier than previously believed<p> </p><header style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-size: 34px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #333333;">New research co-led by Simon Fraser University and the National Archaeological Anthropological Memory Management (NAAM Foundation) in Curaçao extends the earliest known human settlement of Curaçao by centuries, adding pieces to the puzzle of pre-Colombian Caribbean history.</span></h1></header><div class="entry" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">A team of international partners have been collaborating on the C<a href="https://naam.cw/publikashon/curacao-cultural-landscape-project/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">uraçao Cultural Landscape Project</a> since 2018 to understand the long-term biodiversity change of the island, and its relationship to human activity.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Findings from the team, published in the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564894.2024.2321575" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Journal of Coastal and Island Archaeology</a></em>, place human occupation of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean, as far back as 5735 – 5600 cal BP — up to 850 years earlier than previously thought.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">This updated timeline was determined by radiocarbon dating charcoal collected from an Archaic period site at Saliña Sint Marie — what is now the earliest known archaeological site on the island — using accelerated mass spectrometry.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Christina Giovas, an associate professor in SFU’s <a href="http://www.sfu.ca/archaeology.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Department of Archaeology</a> and co-lead on the study, explains that the settlement of the Caribbean and the origin of its peoples is still highly debated. “What this new information does is push the initial exploration in this region back to a time where other islands to the north of Curaçao are also being settled. This suggests that the movement of people from the continental mainland into those more northern islands might have entangled with some of the movement of the people into Curaçao,” says Giovas.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">While more work is needed to determine if this is the case, Giovas notes that this indicates that the exploration of the islands off the western Venezuelan coast began earlier than previously known and provides a baseline for studying human-environment interactions in the area. According to NAAM Deputy Director, Claudia Kraan, who also led the study, the finding demonstrates to the local public that further research can unveil new insights into the people who once inhabited the island. She notes, “archaeological information is dynamic, continually evolving with ongoing exploration and analysis.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The team travelled to Curaçao in the summer of 2022 for their first field season, bringing with them a cohort of SFU archaeology undergraduate students as part of a five-week international field school. Students helped survey, map and excavate project sites throughout the island, then presented their findings to the local community. Throughout these activities they worked closely with local volunteers and the project’s Curaçaoan partner, the NAAM Foundation, an NGO that manages the island’s archaeological heritage through collaboration with government and stakeholders.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“For archaeology, practical hands-on learning is really the best way to understand the field,” says Giovas. “I really wanted students to get skills in what's called ‘environmental archaeology’ — techniques and methods that are used to ask questions about human relationships with the environment, in the past and through time. It’s also increasingly about what we can take from the data that we gather from those sorts of investigations and apply to modern day conservation, and environmental awareness.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The project also works to increase local capacity for archaeology on the island, create opportunities for knowledge mobilization and bring awareness to the depth of history of the area.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“To have students involved in these initiatives is, I think, where you get these generational shifts in the culture of the discipline,” says Giovas.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The team plans to return to Curaçao again in 2025 as part of another SFU international field school to dive deeper into how humans have transformed the island throughout time, and the lessons we can learn for future conservation efforts.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Along with SFU and the NAAM Foundation, the team includes partners from Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, University of Queensland, and InTerris Registries.</p><hr class="hidden-xs hidden-sm" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" /><div class="featured_image" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="details" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="well" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">JOURNAL</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology</p></div><div class="well" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"></div></div></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-4746089025653845962024-03-07T04:24:00.000-08:002024-03-07T04:24:16.601-08:00More than forty archaeological sites in Cyprus dating as far back as the Bronze Age that were thought lost <p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">More than forty archaeological sites in Cyprus dating potentially as far back as the Bronze Age that were thought lost to history have been relocated by University of Leicester scientists working for the Ministry of Defence.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">A small team of archaeologists from University of Leicester Archaeological Services, funded by the DIO Overseas Stewardship Project, undertook a ‘walkover survey’ – a systematic surveying and recording of visible archaeological remains – of the Eastern Sovereign Base Area at Dhekelia (ESBA) on the south coast of the island. The work, licensed by Cyprus’ Department of Antiquities in Nicosia, is to inform site management by the DIO, which is the custodian of the UK and overseas Defence estate.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Dhekelia is about 30km south-east of Nicosia, and 80km north-east of the Western Sovereign Base Area (WSBA) at Akrotiri where the University of Leicester has been working since 2015.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The task of the walkover was to relocate around 60 possible archaeological sites that had been recorded in the early 1960s prior to the development of the garrison within the Dhekelia base, and the laying out of the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Kingsfield Airstrip </em>at the western end of the area.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In preparation of the survey a Geographic Information System (GIS) record was compiled that included all the known information, and from that co-ordinate points for the possible sites were exported to standard handheld GPS units. Archaeologists then visited each site and searched for the evidence that had been previously recorded. When successfully found, each site would then be photographed, GPS located, and recorded on pro forma sheets.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In total, 51 sites including 5 historic buildings were located. Some records survived for 47 of the sites, but a further four were known only from labels on a 1:25,000 scale plan. Although the dating of most of the sites is currently unknown, they are likely to span from the Bronze Age which started c.2500 BC to the Byzantine period which ended in the 12<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> Century AD, and to include sites from the Hellenistic period (312 – 58 BC) and Roman periods (58 BC – 395 AD).</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Particular highlights included three coastal quarries where stone was being taken off low spits running out into the sea. One quarry had a little ramp that looked like it was used for loading slabs of quarried rock into boats tied in deep water alongside, and another had dozens of very clear circular grinding stone removals which, where immediately adjacent to each other, left behind distinct clover leaf shapes in the bed rock.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Large areas of rock cut tomb extended over several hectares in one part of the inland plateau. Most of these tombs were in a very poor state and some bore clear signs of looting in the form of adjacent mounds of earth. Many tombs have been used as convenient areas for fly tipping. One tomb, part of a substantial cemetery surrounding a monastery to the west of Xylotymbou village was being used for caging cats.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Matt Beamish from University of Leicester Archaeological Services, who led the survey, said:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our GIS and survey methods had worked well when used for a similar survey of the Akrotiri peninsula in 2019. Many of the sites we were planning to survey had been last visited over 20 years ago, and in many instances had been reported as no longer existing or being unfindable. On reflection this had more to do with inadequate mapping, lack of preparation and lack of satellite location technologies: we found that many of the sites could be re-found with a little bit of patience.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“There were undoubtedly problems with some of the archive information which was incomplete and had been inaccurately redrawn at some stage in the past. Some sites had clearly been lost to the subsequent development of roads and buildings.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The Dhekelia Sovereign base is around 20km wide and 7km deep and sits on the east side of Larnaca Bay. The topography is varied including a flat coastal strip meeting steep limestone cliffs and hills, with a broadly flat plateau on the interior which includes more areas of rocky outcrop and is bisected by rivers which are generally dry beds under cultivation. The coastal strip and plateau include areas of agriculture and horticulture, and areas of olive and citrus grove and scrub. In the north of the area there are large dairy and livestock farms.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Cyprus’ position on Mediterranean sea routes has led to a rich and diverse cultural heritage, and it is famed for the preservation of many archaeological sites from the Bronze Age, Hellenistic/Iron Age, Roman, and Byzantine or medieval periods. At the western end of the Dhekelia area this occupation is represented in a significant archaeological landscape comprising a large Bronze Age defended hilltop settlement at Kokkinokremnos and an adjacent Iron Age hillfort at Vikla, both sitting above the Roman harbour town of Koutsopetria: all these protected sites are subject to recent research excavations. The Roman harbour is all now infilled, possibly stemming from a catastrophic tsunami event.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Much of the known archaeology across Dhekelia is funerary, and this mostly comprises rock cut tombs, some of which were built into the limestone caves (generally Hellenistic/Iron Age), and rock cut shaft graves (generally Byzantine/Roman-Medieval). </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Matt Beamish added: </span>“The survey was very successful with the identification of significant archaeological areas. We know that many more archaeological sites will exist which are not obvious to the naked eye. Much of the area has seen no systematic archaeological survey, and the application of remote sensing or aerial survey perhaps using LiDAR would enable a wider picture of previous human activity to be drawn. The information will enable the DIO to better manage the archaeological sites within the Sovereign Base Administration Area, and allow a wider understanding of Dhekelia’s archaeological heritage.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Alex Sotheran, Archaeology Advisor, DIO, praised the survey and the results:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The work carried out by Matt and the team has really improved our knowledge and understanding of the archaeology across the Dhekelia area and will allow for an improved system of management of these vital and important heritage assets going forward.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">David Reynolds, Environmental Advisor (Cyprus), DIO, added:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Along with the University of Leicester team, we would like to thank the Republic of Cyprus Department of Antiquities and the Sovereign Base Area Office (Dhekelia) for all their support and guidance in making this extremely valuable piece of work happen.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The data created during the survey has been entered into DIO’s Historic Buildings, Sites and Monuments Record, which in turn is vital for helping to protect the historic environment across the Ministry of Defence’s UK and overseas estate.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Additionally, the archaeological data has been shared with the Republic of Cyprus Department of Antiquities (DoA) as part of a Protocol for Collaboration between British Forces Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus DoA. The protocol will ensure that potential impacts on archaeology will be actively considered alongside military training activities and infrastructure work across the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. It also sets out procedures for managing any archaeological remains uncovered during construction projects.</p><div><br /></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-45546547272142428542024-02-28T07:05:00.000-08:002024-02-28T07:05:14.606-08:00DNA study of ancient Eastern Arabians reveals malaria adaptation<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">People living in ancient Eastern Arabia appear to have developed resistance to malaria following the appearance of agriculture in the region around five thousand years ago, a new study reveals.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">DNA analysis of the remains of four individuals from Tylos-period Bahrain (300 BCE to 600 CE) - the first ancient genomes from Eastern Arabia - revealed the malaria-protective G6PD Mediterranean mutation in three samples.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">The discovery of the G6PD Mediterranean mutation in ancient Bahrainis suggests that many people in the region’s ancient populations may have enjoyed protection from malaria. In the present day, among the populations examined, the G6PD mutation is detected at its peak frequency in the Emirates, the study indicates.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Researchers discovered that the ancestry of Tylos-period inhabitants of Bahrain comprises sources related to ancient groups from Anatolia, the Levant and Caucasus/Iran. The four Bahrain individuals were genetically more like present-day populations from the Levant and Iraq than to Arabians.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Experts from Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Birmingham Dubai, and the University of Cambridge worked with the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities and other Arabian institutes such as the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, as well as research centres in Europe, including Université Lumière Lyon 2, Trinity College Dublin, and others. The group published its findings today in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Cell Genomics</em>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Lead researcher Rui Martiniano, from Liverpool John Moores University, commented: “According to our estimates, the G6PD Mediterranean mutation rose in frequency around five-to-six thousand years ago - coinciding with the onset of agriculture in the region, which would have created ideal conditions for the proliferation of malaria.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Due to poor ancient DNA preservation in hot and humid climates, no ancient DNA from Arabia has been sequenced until now - preventing the direct examination of the genetic ancestry of its past populations.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Marc Haber, from the University of Birmingham Dubai, commented: “By obtaining the first ancient genomes from Eastern Arabia, we provide unprecedented insights into human history and disease progression in this region. This knowledge goes beyond historical understanding, providing predictive capabilities for disease susceptibility, spread, and treatment, thus promoting better health outcomes.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"The rich population history of Bahrain, and more generally of Arabia, has been severely understudied from a genetic perspective. We provide the first genetic snapshot of past Arabian populations – obtaining important insights about malaria adaptation, which was historically endemic in the region,” commented Fatima Aloraifi, from the Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Trust.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Salman Almahari, Director of Antiquities and Museums at the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, states, “Our study also paves the way for future research that will shed light on human population movements in Arabia and other regions with harsh climates where it is difficult to find well-preserved sources of DNA.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Data gathered from the analysis of the four individuals’ remains allowed researchers to characterise the genetic composition of the region’s pre-Islamic inhabitants - insights that could only have been obtained by directly examining ancient DNA sequences.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Researchers collected ancient human remains from archaeological collections stored at the Bahrain National Museum. They extracted DNA from 25 individuals, but only four were sequenced to higher coverage due to poor preservation.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Richard Durbin, from the University of Cambridge, who supervised the project, says “It is exciting to have been able to analyse ancient human genetic data from the remarkable burial mounds of Bahrain. We would like to thank our colleagues in the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities for their support and contributions.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">The finding of malaria adaptation agrees with archaeological and textual evidence that suggested malaria was historically endemic in Eastern Arabia, whilst the DNA ancestry of Tylos-period inhabitants of Bahrain corroborates archaeological evidence of interactions between Bahrain and neighbouring regions.</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-1081797239714520542024-02-27T07:00:00.000-08:002024-02-27T07:00:38.275-08:00Plant seed and fruit analysis from the biblical home of Goliath sheds unprecedented light on Philistine ritual practices<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-size: 34px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><br /></h1><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/releaseguidelines" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Peer-Reviewed Publication</a><p class="meta_institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 14px; margin: 2px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY</p><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1016791" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Miniature Vessels" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/7e379780-d890-442c-b645-693bd1524a1e/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">TEMPLE OFFERINGS - MINIATURE AS WELL AS FOOD SERVING VESSELS, AND A SHELL OF MARINE MOLLUSC, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">TONNA GALEA</em> FOUND IN ONE OF THE TEMPLES </span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"> </p></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1016791" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: PROF. AREN MAEIR</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The enigmatic Philistine culture, which flourished during the Iron Age (ca. 1200-604 BCE), profoundly affected the southern Levant's cultural history, agronomy, and dietary customs. More than a quarter century of excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath in central Israel, identified as the biblical Gath of the Philistines and the home of Goliath, has provided a unique window into the world of this ancient civilization. In the systematic excavation project of the temple area in the lower city of Gath, a team from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, led by Prof. Aren Maeir (archaeology) and Prof. Ehud Weiss (archaeobotany), has overseen the reconstruction of the plants used in Philistine rituals. Tel Zafit (Gath of the Philistines) is a national park under the auspices of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">While many aspects of Philistine culture are well-documented, the specifics of Philistine religious practices and deities have long remained shrouded in mystery. The study by Frumin et al. on "Plant-Related Philistine Ritual Practices at Biblical Gath," recently published in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-52974-9" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Scientific Reports</a>,</em> contributes valuable new data to our understanding of the Philistine's ritual practices. The discovery of numerous plants in two temples unearthed at the site unraveled unprecedented insights into Philistine cultic rituals and beliefs – their temple food ingredients, timing of ceremonies, and plants for temple decoration.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Dr. Suembikya Frumin, under Prof. Ehud Weiss's supervision, studied Philistine plant use in their temples as part of her PhD project. Together with Dr. Amit Dagan, Maria Eniukhina, and Prof. Aren Maeir, they delved into the plant assemblages discovered within the temples’ precincts, uncovering a wealth of information regarding the significance of various plant species in Philistine religious rituals. Through meticulous examination and quantitative and qualitative analysis of the types of plants used, the timing of their harvest, modes of offering, and potential symbolic significance, the researchers pieced together a clearer picture of the Philistine approach to spirituality.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Dr. Suembikya Frumin, manager of the Archaeobotany Laboratory at Bar-Ilan University and the study's lead researcher, noted, "One of the most significant findings is the identification of earliest known ritual uses of several Mediterranean plants, such as the lilac chaste tree (<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Vitex agnus-castus</em>), crown daisy (<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Glebionis coronaria</em>), and silvery scabious (<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lomelosia argentea</em>). These widespread Mediterranean plants connect Philistines with cultic rituals, mythology and paraphernalia related to early Greek deities, such as Hera, Artemis, Demeter, and Asclepios. In addition, plants with psychoactive and medicinal properties in the Philistine temples reveal their use for cultic activities. The study revealed that the Philistine religion relied on the magic and power of nature, such as running water and seasonality, aspects that influence human health and life."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Moreover, analysis of the temples’ seeds and fruits provided valuable insights into the timing of rituals, with the importance of the early spring for temple rites, and the date of the final utilization of the temples -- and their destruction by Hazael of Aram – which occurred in late summer or early fall. The seasonal aspect of Philistine religious practices underscores their deep connection to the natural worlds and the cycles of agriculture.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Prof. Ehud Weiss, Director the Archaeobotany Laboratory at Bar-Ilan University and co-author of the study, commented, “Our findings challenge previous understandings of Philistine ritual practices and offer a fresh perspective on their cultural practices, and the connections between Philistine culture and broader Mediterranean religious traditions. By examining the plants they used in ritual contexts, we better understand how the Philistines perceived and interacted with the world around them."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Furthermore, the study proposes intriguing parallels between Philistine and Aegean ceremonial practices. The discovery of loom weights (an apparatus used for fabric production) within Philistine temples, a common feature in Aegean cult locations associated with Hera, further strengthens the hypothesis of cultural exchange and influence between the two regions.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“These findings open up new avenues for research into the cultural and religious interactions between the Philistines and neighboring regions,” added study co-author Prof. Aren Maeir, of Bar-Ilan University’s Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, who has directed the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath for more than 25 years. “By employing advanced quantitative and qualitative analyses of plant assemblages, we have deepened our understanding of ancient cultic practices and their significance in the broader Mediterranean world.”</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This new data indicates knowledgeable activity by temple personnel regarding the use of plants with mood-affecting features. Our method of quantitative and qualitative analysis of total plant assemblage should be highly relevant for analyzing other ancient cults and for the study of the cultural and cultic history of the region and beyond,” concluded Dr. Frumin.</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-49895077051417139742024-02-25T07:22:00.000-08:002024-02-25T07:22:15.267-08:00Artifact could be linked to Spanish explorer Coronado's expedition across Texas Panhandle<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-size: 34px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><br /></h1><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Could a family’s obsidian blade be a clue to the expedition’s trail?</p><br /><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1016513" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><img alt="Obsidian blade" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/aca9b7e7-8141-4b04-af54-0bb0ad302d9c/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">IMAGE: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">A SMALL PIECE OF OBSIDIAN, JUST OVER 5 CENTIMETERS LONG, LIKELY FOUND ON A HARD-SCRABBLE PIECE OF RANCHLAND IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE.</span></p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1016513" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">CREDIT: SMU</p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"> –</span> It’s a small piece of obsidian, just over 5 centimeters long, likely found on a hard-scrabble piece of ranchland in the Texas panhandle. But when SMU anthropologist Matthew Boulanger looks at it, he gets a mental image of Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado making his way across the plains more than 470 years ago in search of a fabled city of gold.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Boulanger believes that the flaked-stone tool with its sharp edge was likely dropped by a member of Coronado’s expedition, which included people indigenous to Mexico, as they trekked across parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma and Kansas. His theory is backed by spectrometer analysis of the blade’s chemical composition, which ties it to Central Mexico’s Sierra de Pachuca mountain range, where indigenous people used obsidian to produce cutting tools until the Spanish conquest.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“This small unassuming artifact fits all of the requirements for convincing evidence of a Coronado presence in the Texas panhandle,” said <a href="https://www.smu.edu/dedman/academics/departments/anthropology/people/faculty/boulanger" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Boulanger</a>. “It is the correct form of artifact, it is fully consistent with other finds, the correct material, found in the correct location, and there are no indications of an intentional hoax.”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Boulanger, director of the Archeology Research Collections in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, published his findings in the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of the North Texas Archeological Society</em>, with co-author Charlene Erwin.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Other researchers have traced the path of Spanish explorers and indigenous people from Mexico across what is now the United States through the presence of central Mexican obsidian blades; because the blades were brittle, they were discarded along the way as they broke.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Boulanger concedes that where the blade was found is subject to conjecture, as he examined the artifact after the death of its collector. But a reconstructed map of Coronado’s expedition shows that the travelers likely passed by or through the ranch near McLean Texas where collector Lloyd Erwin grew up.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />As a child, Erwin became interested in historical artifacts and started collecting items he found on the ranch. Years later, his daughter-in-law, Charlene, asked Boulanger to authenticate some of the obsidian pieces in a collection of artifacts that he had framed. Upon closer examination, Boulanger noticed a greenish tint to an obsidian piece that looked like it had been placed in the frame as an afterthought.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Using a spectrometer, Boulanger traced the obsidian to Central Mexico’s Sierra de Pachuca mountain range, where indigenous people widely used obsidian to produce tools until the Spanish Conquest.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So how did an obsidian blade from Central Mexico end up in the Texas Panhandle? There is no clear evidence for a trade network that would have connected Indigenous peoples of the Texas Panhandle to those living in Central Mexico prior to the Spanish Conquest of Mexico in the early 1500s.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Boulanger offered three theories for consideration: young Lloyd Erwin obtained the blade through trade or exchange of artifacts with other collectors, the blade is a hoax to garner attention to Erwin and his collection, or the blade was genuinely found in Texas by Erwin and is indeed an archaeological find. After piecing together Erwin’s travels and interviewing his family, Boulanger believes the third hypothesis is correct.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />He suspects the obsidian blade was carried northward by one of the many people indigenous to Mexico who accompanied the Coronado expedition to Quivira, near modern-day Salina, Kansas. If more corroborating evidence is uncovered near where Erwin found the blade, it could provide archaeologists more proof the artifact is part of a Coronado-related site and a clue to the expedition’s trail.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“Because we know Erwin found the knife on his family ranch, we can speculate that someone on Coronado’s expedition discarded it,” said Boulanger. “When I talk to people collecting artifacts, I tell them to document where they find objects. Because most of us now have mobile phones, we can record GPS coordinates easily. You can now provide archeologists precise locations, which helps them authenticate artifacts and possible lead to more discoveries.”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-49009057250623616762024-02-22T07:23:00.000-08:002024-02-22T07:23:18.414-08:00 Did neanderthals use glue? Researchers find evidence that sticks <p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-size: 34px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"></h1><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><b>Analysis of 40,000-year old tools reveals surprisingly sophisticated construction</b></span><br /><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1015319" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Micrographs showing wear traces on a tool" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/b394ddd6-9645-464a-8ce8-68fec59f0ccf/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">MICROGRAPHS SHOWING WEAR TRACES ON A TOOL USED BY NEANDERTHALS DURING THE MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD. LOCATIONS OF THE MICROGRAPHS ON THE ARTIFACT ARE INDICATED IN THE DRAWING (UPPER LEFT) IN RED. A) POLISH, OR SHEEN, ON THE ACTIVE EDGE OF THE TOOL HANDLE. B) POLISH UNDER COLORANT STAINS WITHIN THE ZONE COVERED BY ADHESIVE. C) RIDGE BETWEEN CONCAVE SURFACES FORMED BY THE REMOVAL OF BITS OF STONE THAT WERE REMOVED—RATHER THAN WORN AWAY NATURALLY. D) DULLED OUT OR WORN DOWN RIDGE IN THE GRASPABLE ZONE THAT WAS COVERED WITH AN ADHESIVE. A COMPARISON OF (C) AND (D) INDICATES THAT THE WORN OUT PORTION IS WITHIN THE AREA COVERED BY DESIGNED ADHESIVE GRIP. IMAGES ARE SHOWN IN MICRONS.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1015319" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: DRAWING BY D. GREINERT, STAATLICHE MUSEEN ZU BERLIN.</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Neanderthals created stone tools held together by a multi-component adhesive, a team of scientists has discovered. Its findings, which are the earliest evidence of a complex adhesive in Europe, suggest these predecessors to modern humans had a higher level of cognition and cultural development than previously thought. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The work, reported in the journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Science Advances</em>, included researchers from New York University, the University of Tübingen, and the National Museums in Berlin.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“These astonishingly well-preserved tools showcase a technical solution broadly similar to examples of tools made by early modern humans in Africa, but the exact recipe reflects a Neanderthal ‘spin,’ which is the production of grips for handheld tools,” says <a href="https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/radu-iovita.html" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Radu Iovita</u></a>, an associate professor at New York University’s <a href="https://wp.nyu.edu/csho/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Center for the Study of Human Origins</u></a>. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The research team, led by Patrick Schmidt from the University of Tübingen’s Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology section and Ewa Dutkiewicz from the Museum of Prehistory and Early History at the National Museums in Berlin, re-examined previous finds from Le Moustier, an archaeological site in France that was discovered in the early 20th century.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The stone tools from Le Moustier—used by Neanderthals during the Middle Palaeolithic period of the Mousterian between 120,000 and 40,000 years ago—are kept in the collection of Berlin’s Museum of Prehistory and Early History and had not previously been examined in detail. The tools were rediscovered during an internal review of the collection and their scientific value was recognized. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The items had been individually wrapped and untouched since the 1960s,” says Dutkiewicz. “As a result, the adhering remains of organic substances were very well preserved.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers discovered traces of a mixture of ochre and bitumen on several stone tools, such as scrapers, flakes, and blades. Ochre is a naturally occurring earth pigment; bitumen is a component of asphalt and can be produced from crude oil, but also occurs naturally in the soil. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We were surprised that the ochre content was more than 50 percent,” says Schmidt. “This is because air-dried bitumen can be used unaltered as an adhesive, but loses its adhesive properties when such large proportions of ochre are added.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">He and his team examined these materials in tensile tests—used to determine strength—and other measures.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“It was different when we used liquid bitumen, which is not really suitable for gluing. If 55 percent ochre is added, a malleable mass is formed,” Schmidt says. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The mixture was just sticky enough for a stone tool to remain stuck in it, but without adhering to hands, making it suitable material for a handle. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In fact, a microscopic examination of the use-wear traces on these stone tools revealed that the adhesives on the tools from Le Moustier were used in this way.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The tools showed two kinds of microscopic wear: one is the typical polish on the sharp edges that is generally caused by working other materials,” explains Iovita, who conducted this analysis. “The other is a bright polish distributed all over the presumed hand-held part, but not elsewhere, which we interpreted as the results of abrasion from the ochre due to movement of the tool within the grip.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The use of adhesives with several components, including various sticky substances such as tree resins and ochre, was previously known from early modern humans, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em>, in Africa but not from earlier Neanderthals in Europe. Overall, the development of adhesives and their use in the manufacture of tools is considered to be some of the best material evidence of the cultural evolution and cognitive abilities of early humans. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Compound adhesives are considered to be among the first expressions of the modern cognitive processes that are still active today,” says Schmidt.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In the Le Moustier region, ochre and bitumen had to be collected from distant locations, which meant a great deal of effort, planning, and a targeted approach, the authors note. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Taking into account the overall context of the finds, we assume that this adhesive material was made by Neanderthals,” concludes Dutkiewicz. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“What our study shows is that early Homo sapiens in Africa and Neanderthals in Europe had similar thought patterns,” adds Schmidt. “Their adhesive technologies have the same significance for our understanding of human evolution.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><hr class="hidden-xs hidden-sm" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; box-sizing: content-box; font-size: 14px; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" /><div class="featured_image" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="details" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">JOURNAL</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Science Advances</p></div><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">DOI</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;"><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adl0822" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">10.1126/sciadv.adl0822 <span class="fa fa-sign-out" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></a></p></div></div></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-18192624703147970682024-02-16T12:18:00.000-08:002024-02-16T12:18:04.035-08:00Neolithic groups from the south of the Iberian Peninsula first settled permanently in San Fernando (Cadiz) 6,200 years ago<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 600;">New study by ICTA-UAB and the University of Cádiz reveals that the first farmers and herdsmen settled in Andalusia collected and consumed shellfish throughout the year, especially in winter.</span></p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">The first Neolithic farmers and shepherds in Andalusia settled permanently on the island of San Fernando, Cadiz, 6,200 years ago, where they continued to collect and consume shellfish throughout the year, preferably in winter. This is the conclusion of an archaeological study led by Asier García-Escárzaga, researcher at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) and the Department of Prehistory of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), which shows that these populations occupied the island throughout the year. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">The research carried out in recent decades in the south of the Iberian Peninsula has revealed many aspects of the life of the first Neolithic groups in Andalusia. These populations were the first to base their subsistence mainly on agriculture and livestock, rather than hunting and gathering. However, there were still questions to be answered about the patterns of occupation of sites (annual or seasonal) and the exploitation of marine resources after the adoption of a new economic model. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">In a new study, published in the prestigious international journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Archaeological and Anthropological Science</em>, oxygen stable isotope analysis was applied to marine shells to address both questions. The shells analysed were recovered from the sites of Campo de Hockey (San Fernando, Cadiz).</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">The necropolis of Campo de Hockey, excavated in 2008, is located on the ancient island of San Fernando, just 150 metres from the ancient coastline. The excavations, directed by Eduardo Vijande from the University of Cadiz, allowed to document 53 graves (45 single, 7 double and 1 quadruple). Most of them were plain (simple graves in which the individual is buried), but what stood out the most was the existence of 4 graves of greater complexity and monumentality, made with medium and large stones considered to be proto-megalithic. The Campo de Hockey II site, annexed to the first site and whose excavation and research was conducted by María Sánchez and Eduardo Vijande in 2018, allowed for the identification of 28 archaeological structures (17 hearths, two shell heaps, four tombs and five stone structures). </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">The high presence of hearths and mollusk and fish remains in the middens suggests that the area was used for the processing and consumption of marine resources. Among the information that can be obtained from the analysis of stable oxygen isotopes in marine shells is the possibility of reconstructing the time of year when the mollusks died, and therefore when they were consumed by prehistoric populations in the past. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">The results of this research indicate that the first farmers occupying the island of San Fernando collected shellfish all year round, but more in the colder months of autumn, winter, and early spring, that is, from November to April. This information allowed the scientific team to conclude that these populations occupied the island throughout the year. "The size of the necropolis already led us to believe that it was an annual habitat, but these studies confirm the existence of a permanent settlement 6,200 years ago," said Eduardo Vijande, researcher at the University of Cadiz and co-author of the study. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">The greatest exploitation of shellfish during the coldest months of the year coincides with the annual period of maximum profitability of this food resource due to the formation of gametes. A seasonal pattern of shellfish consumption based on energetic cost-benefit principles which is similar to that developed by the last hunter-gatherer populations of the Iberian Peninsula. "That is to say, there is a greater exploitation of these topshells in the winter months, since this is the time when these animals present a greater quantity of meat," points out Asier García-Escárzaga. This suggests that, although these new Neolithic groups had changed their economic model, living from agriculture and livestock, in this settlement located in an insular environment, the exploitation of the marine environment continued to be of great importance. </p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-25626664262588434442024-02-16T09:58:00.000-08:002024-02-16T09:58:49.032-08:00 Environmental barriers have influenced the spread of cultural innovations but do not consistently favor Eurasia<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Guns, Germs, and Steel</em> (1997) is Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize-winning effort to explain the contrasting histories of Native Americans, Africans and aboriginal Australians vs Europeans and Asians. One of his intriguing proposals was that Eurasian political and military dominance could be partially explained by its unique continental orientation. Eurasia's unique dominant East-West axis could have enabled a rapid spread of domestication practices, writing systems, the wheel and other key cultural innovations and could have thus put Eurasia on track for faster development than Africa or the Americas. In Diamond's words, “geography may have ‘turned the fortunes of history’.” The axis of orientation hypothesis was met with both abundant enthusiasm and harsh criticism, but quantitative tests of this important claim have been scarce.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In a new study, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Washington University in St Louis and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig leveraged a comprehensive data set on global differences in culture, languages, and ecology to test Diamond's hypothesis. The study's first author, Angela Chira, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, explained, "Our first challenge was to translate what Diamond envisioned into numbers. We used least-cost path algorithms to find the paths that minimized differences in temperature and aridity regimes between societies. The length and cost of these paths give us the magnitude of ecological barriers to cultural transmission between two societies, precisely as Diamond envisioned them". The team quantified the potential for environmental parameters associated with latitude to influence the ease of transmission for 54 traits covering diverse aspects of cultural and social life (subsistence, housing ecology, property rules, marriage and kinship, community organization, politics, labour, and rituals). In line with Diamond's thinking, the team found that environmental factors and topographic and travel costs hinder the spread of a wide array of cultural traits, including some that directly relate to social development (e.g., dominant mode of subsistence, domestic animal type, political complexity traits). However, their findings showed that contrary to Diamond's expectations, Eurasia is about as ecologically heterogeneous as other regions of our world.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Environmental barriers to cultural transmission are not weaker in Eurasia</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The team then computed environmental barriers to cultural transmission out of 16 key areas: the centres where agriculture originated. They found that the magnitude of environmental barriers can vary substantially within the same continent. As Diamond intuited, geographic mechanisms were significant in some areas, but the continent's dominant axis did not uniformly dictate the potential for cultural spread. Environmental heterogeneity along Eurasia's major corridors of cultural transmission was not significantly lower than observed in other continents. One of the authors, Russell Gray from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, summarizes the results by saying, "Our findings point out that geography, like genetics and ecology, matters, but it is not destiny". Senior author of the study, Carlos Botero from the University of Texas at Austin, concludes with a word of caution: "We do not claim, by any means, to have a definitive answer on whether the wheels of history turned at different speeds in different parts of the world. What we aim instead is to provide a new perspective based on quantitative data and thorough analyses, and a blueprint on how the tools and data we already have can be leveraged to test compelling ideas that have strongly shaped the public's understanding of our own past."</p><hr class="hidden-xs hidden-sm" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" /><div class="featured_image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="details" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">JOURNAL</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Evolutionary Human Sciences</p></div></div></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-32499983856510142082024-02-16T09:53:00.000-08:002024-02-16T09:53:31.646-08:00Vittrup Man crossed over from forager to farmer before being sacrificed in Denmark<p> </p><header style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">DNA, isotope, protein analysis reveal genetic ancestry and migration of a human found in a peat bog</p><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/releaseguidelines" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Peer-Reviewed Publication</a><p class="meta_institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 14px; margin: 2px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">PLOS</p><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1014517" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><img alt="Vittrup Man–The life-history of a genetic foreigner in Neolithic Denmark" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/f0f6ebde-299b-4428-983b-067b4cc4f365/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">IMAGE: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">THE CRANIAL REMAINS OF VITTRUP MAN, WHO ENDED UP IN A BOG AFTER HIS SKULL HAD BEEN CRUSHED BY AT LEAST EIGHT HEAVY BLOWS. PHOTO: STEPHEN FREIHEIT.</span></p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1014517" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">CREDIT: FISCHER ET AL., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)</p></figcaption></figure><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Vittrup Man was born along the Scandinavian coast before moving to Denmark, where he was later sacrificed, according to a study published February 14, 2024 in the open-access journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS ONE</em> by Anders Fischer of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and colleagues.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Vittrup Man is the nickname of a Stone Age skeleton recovered from a peat bog in Northwest Denmark, dating to between 3300-3100 BC. The fragmented nature of the remains, including a smashed skull, indicate that he was killed in a ritualistic sacrifice, a common practice in this region at this time. After a DNA study found Vittrup Man’s genetic signature to be distinct from contemporary, local skeletons, Fischer and colleagues were inspired to combine additional evidence to reconstruct the life history of this Stone Age individual at an unprecedented resolution.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Strontium, carbon and oxygen isotopes from Vittrup Man’s tooth enamel indicate a childhood spent along the coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Corroborating this, genetic analysis found a close relationship between Vittrup Man and Mesolithic people from Norway and Sweden. Additional isotope and protein analysis of the teeth and bones indicate a shift in diet from coastal food (marine mammals and fish) in early life to farm food (including sheep or goat) in later life, a transition that happened in the later teen years.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">These results suggest that Vittrup Man spent his early years in a northern foraging society before relocating to a farming society in Denmark. It isn’t clear why this individual moved, though the authors suggest he might have been a trader or captive who became integrated into local society. Mysteries remain about Vittrup Man, but this detailed understanding of his geographic and dietary life history provides new insights into interactions between Mesolithic and Neolithic societies in Europe.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The authors add: “To our knowledge, this is the first time that research has been able to map a north European inhabitant’s life history in such a high degree of detail and in such high distance of time.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">T</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">he freely available article in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS ONE</em>: </span><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0297032" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0297032</a></p><div style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-23234460305676787942024-02-16T09:50:00.000-08:002024-02-16T09:50:03.706-08:00 Some Pre-Roman humans were buried with dogs, horses and other animals<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Some people from an ancient community in what is now northern Italy were interred with animals and animal parts from species such as dogs, horses and pigs. The reasons remain mysterious, but might indicate an enduring companion relationship between these humans and animals, or religious sacrificial practices, according to a study published February 14, 2023 in the open-access journal</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">PLOS ONE</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">by Zita Laffranchi from the University of Bern, Stefania Zingale from the Institute for Mummy Studies, Eurac Research Bozen, Umberto Tecchiati from the University of Milan, and colleagues.</span></p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Of the 161 people buried at Seminario Vescovile, an archaeological site in Verona from 3rd to 1st century BCE, 16 were buried with some kind of animal remains. Some of the graves contained the remains of animals often eaten by people — including many pigs, a chicken and part of a cow — which may have represented food offerings to the dead. But four of the people buried on the site were buried alongside the remains of dogs and/or horses, which are not commonly eaten.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">To look for patterns that might explain these animal burials, the researchers analyzed the demographics, diets, genetics and burial conditions of the interred humans and animals, but this did not lead to any notable correlations. In particular, the people interred with animals do not seem to be closely related to each other, which would have suggested that this was a practice of a certain family. The people buried with dogs or horses also varied — they include a baby buried with a complete dog skeleton, a young man buried with parts of a horse, a middle-aged man buried with a small dog and a middle-aged woman buried with an entire horse, multiple other horse parts and a dog skull.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The lack of patterns among these graves mean that multiple interpretations of these human-animal co-burials remain possible, the authors say. For example, animals like dogs and horses often had religious symbolism in ancient cultures — but at the same time, specific individuals may also have been buried with their animal companions. In addition, the authors note, these human-animal burial practices might have been determined by the interplay between different individual traits and societal customs.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The authors add: “This study, which is part of the CELTUDALPS research project (co-financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Province of South Tyrol, and coordinated by Marco Milella of the University of Bern and Albert Zink of the Institute for Mummy Studies, Eurac Research), explores burials of horses and dogs with humans, and may hint at unknown rituals and beliefs during the late centuries BCE in Italy.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">The freely available article in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS ONE</em>: </span><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0293434" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0293434</a></p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-15294591834759425842024-02-16T09:42:00.000-08:002024-02-16T09:42:34.552-08:00One of the earliest circular plazas in Andean South America<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1015326" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Circular plaza" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/6f07cb27-7e51-4bc7-88d1-d7b2212cecd6/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">A TEAM INCLUDING UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING ANTHROPOLOGISTS WORKS AT THE SITE OF A CIRCULAR PLAZA THAT WAS BUILT AROUND 4,750 YEARS AGO IN THE CAJAMARCA BASIN OF NORTHERN PERU</span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1015326" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: JASON TOOHEY</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Two University of Wyoming anthropology professors have discovered one of the earliest circular plazas in Andean South America, showcasing monumental megalithic architecture, which refers to construction that uses large stones placed upright with no mortar.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Located at the Callacpuma archaeological site in the Cajamarca Basin of northern Peru, the plaza is built with large, vertically placed megalithic stones -- a construction method previously unseen in the Andes. Associate Professor Jason Toohey, project lead, and Professor Melissa Murphy have been researching this topic since the project’s inception in 2015. Excavations took place in the plaza starting in 2018.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Their paper, which reports new data on this earliest known megalithic circular plaza in the northern Andes, is titled “<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adl0572?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D42663343806894955140881476249403038557%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1708105264" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">A Monumental Stone Plaza at 4750 BP in the Cajamarca Valley of Peru</a>” and has been published today (Feb. 14) in the peer-reviewed journal<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv?utm_source=gophotonics&adobe_mc=MCMID%3D42663343806894955140881476249403038557%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1708105264" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Science Advances</a>.</em></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Radiocarbon dating places its initial construction around 4,750 years ago during the Late Preceramic Period, making it one of the earliest instances of such architecture in the Americas.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">To better understand this timeline, the team carefully excavated within the plaza, uncovering artifacts related to life in the past and collecting charcoal samples for dating. All material remains then were cleaned, processed and analyzed in the laboratory.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This structure was built approximately 100 years before the Great Pyramids of Egypt and around the same time as Stonehenge,” Toohey says.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">These dates signify that the circular plaza at Callacpuma is the earliest known example of monumental and megalithic architecture in the Cajamarca Valley -- and one of the earliest examples in ancient Peru.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“It was probably a gathering place and ceremonial location for some of the earliest people living in this part of the Cajamarca Valley,” Toohey adds. “These people were living a primarily hunting-and-gathering lifestyle and probably had only recently begun growing crops and domesticating animals.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The plaza is formed by two concentric walls and measures about 60 feet in diameter.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The project is led by Toohey and Patricia Chirinos Ogata from the University of California-Santa Barbara. The team also includes Murphy, as well as undergraduate and graduate students from Peru and the U.S.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Toohey is an anthropological archaeologist who is dedicated to taking a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to the field. He has conducted fieldwork in the Peruvian Andes since 2003. The department head for anthropology at UW, Murphy is a biological anthropologist specializing in bioarchaeology and committed to multidisciplinary approaches within anthropology.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“As part of our community outreach, we collaborate and work with the residents of the towns on and adjacent to the site of Callacpuma about our findings and their importance,” Toohey says. “We highlight the importance of cultural heritage and, working together, we can continue the scientific investigations and help to preserve the site.”<br /></p><hr class="hidden-xs hidden-sm" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; box-sizing: content-box; font-size: 14px; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" /><div class="featured_image" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="details" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">JOURNAL</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Science Advances</p></div><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">DOI</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;"><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adl057" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">10.1126/sciadv.adl057 <span class="fa fa-sign-out" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></a></p></div></div></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-26651035574557615622024-02-13T06:40:00.000-08:002024-02-13T06:40:26.036-08:00 Archaeologists discover oldest known bead in the Americas<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/releaseguidelines" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Peer-Reviewed Publication</a><p class="meta_institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 14px; margin: 2px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING</p><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1015013" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Hare-bone bead" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/3d9e4ad3-3b7e-48cc-8ce6-7409833c5442/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">THESE IMAGES ARE OF A TUBE-SHAPED BEAD MADE OF BONE THAT IS ABOUT 12,940 YEARS OLD. THE BEAD WAS DISCOVERED AT WYOMING’S LA PRELE MAMMOTH SITE BY UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING ARCHAEOLOGY PROFESSOR TODD SUROVELL AND HIS RESEARCH TEAM.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1015013" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: TODD SUROVELL</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">University of Wyoming archaeology Professor Todd Surovell and his team of collaborators have discovered a tube-shaped bead made of bone that is about 12,940 years old.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The bead, found at the La Prele Mammoth site in Converse County, is the oldest known bead in the Americas.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Surovell’s research was published in the peer-reviewed journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Scientific Reports; </em>the paper is titled “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-53390-9.epdf?sharing_token=Qsfg1FphmlUcNtMeFgSfhdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OBCMwZzUPzeEe68M_InOSzJf7pc5AQ8dtfPuYK6D9Xa_BuMNpbuDBbnLvirfEw5uvhVUn1uXdU0FKH_8mqX9mAwr42VHFRCDIGlZ6MlRBgtyjc0i2hhe6Jd96jccFd2b4%3D" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Use of hare bone for the manufacture of a Clovis bead</a>.” Members of the research team included people from UW, the Office of the Wyoming State Archaeologist, the University of Manchester, Weber State University and Chico State University.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The La Prele Mammoth site preserves the remains of a killed or scavenged sub-adult Columbian mammoth and an associated camp occupied during the time the animal was butchered.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">To determine the origin of the bone bead, the team extracted collagen for zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry, also known as ZooMS, which allowed the group to gain insights about the chemical composition of the bone.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers concluded that the bead was made from either a metapodial (the bones that link the phalanges of the digits to the more proximal bones of the limb) or a proximal phalanx (a bone found in the fingers and toes of humans and other vertebrates) of a hare.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">This finding represents the first secure evidence for the use of hares during the Clovis period, which refers to a prehistoric era in North America, particularly prominent about 12,000 years ago. It’s named after the Clovis archaeological site in New Mexico, where distinctive stone tools were discovered.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The bead is about 7 millimeters in length, and its internal diameter averages 1.6 millimeters. The research team considered the possibility that the bead could have been the result of carnivore consumption and digestion and not created by humans; however, carnivores were not common on this site, and the artifact was recovered 1 meter from a dense scatter of other cultural materials.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Additionally, the grooves on the outside of the bead are consistent with creation by humans, either with stones or their teeth. Beads like this one were likely used to decorate their bodies or clothing.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Surovell, who also directs UW’s Frison Institute, is an archaeologist with specialization in Paleoindian period, the earliest period of American archaeology. He has worked primarily in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains but also has field experience in Eurasia. He is interested in factors that structure the archaeological record from decision-making to site formation.</p><div style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-67475569885359668472024-02-10T06:43:00.000-08:002024-02-10T06:43:27.260-08:00Scandinavia’s first farmers slaughtered the hunter-gatherer population<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-size: 34px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #333333;">Following the arrival of the first farmers in Scandinavia 5,900 years ago, the hunter-gatherer population was wiped out within a few generations, according to a new study from Lund University in Sweden, among others. The results, which are contrary to prevailing opinion, are based on DNA analysis of skeletons and teeth found in what is now Denmark.</span></h1></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The extensive study has been published as four separate articles in the journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature</em>. An international research team, of which Lund University in Sweden is a member, has been able to draw new conclusions about the effects of migration on ancient populations by extracting DNA from skeletal parts and teeth of prehistoric people. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study shows, among other things, that there have been two almost total population turnovers in Denmark over the past 7,300 years. The first population change happened 5,900 years ago when a farmer population, with a different origin and appearance, drove out the gatherers, hunters and fishers who had previously populated Scandinavia. Within a few generations, almost the entire hunter-gatherer population was wiped out. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This transition has previously been presented as peaceful. However, our study indicates the opposite. In addition to violent death, it is likely that new pathogens from livestock finished off many gatherers,” says Anne Birgitte Nielsen, geology researcher and head of the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory at Lund University.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">A thousand years later, about 4,850 years ago, another population change took place when people with genetic roots in Yamnaya – a livestock herding people with origins in southern Russia – came to Scandinavia and wiped out the previous farmer population. Once again, this could have involved both violence and new pathogens. These big-boned people pursued a semi-nomadic life on the steppes, tamed animals, kept domestic cattle and moved over large areas using horses and carts. The people who settled in our climes were a mix between Yamnaya and Eastern European Neolithic people. This genetic profile is dominant in today’s Denmark, whereas the DNA profile of the first farmer population has been essentially erased.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This time there was also a rapid population turnover, with virtually no descendants from the predecessors. We don’t have as much DNA material from Sweden, but what there is points to a similar course of events. In other words, many Swedes are to a great extent also descendants of these semi-nomads,” says Anne Birgitte Nielsen, who contributed quantitative pollen data which shows how the vegetation changed in connection with the population changes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The results do not just overturn previous theories about amorous and peaceful meetings between groups of people. The study also provides a deepened understanding of historical migration flows, and the interpretation of archaeological finds and changes in vegetation and land use found in palaeoecological data.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our results help to enhance our knowledge of our heredity and our understanding of the development of certain diseases. Something that in the long term could be beneficial, for example in medical research,” concludes Anne Birgitte Nielsen.</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-12405184429945817672024-02-07T06:45:00.000-08:002024-02-07T06:45:30.830-08:00 Thailand’s Iron Age Log Coffin culture<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Ancient DNA helps researchers elucidate the structure of a prehistoric community from Southeast Asia</p><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/releaseguidelines" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Peer-Reviewed Publication</a><p class="meta_institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; margin: 2px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY</p><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1014182" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><img alt="Pang Mapha, Thailand" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/65140291-0325-4e8e-901b-5379362d5f86/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">IMAGE: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">CAVES AND ROCK SHELTERS DOT THE MOUNTAINS IN THE NORTHWESTERN HIGHLANDS OF THAILAND. OVER 40 IN MAE HONG SON PROVINCE CONTAIN WOODEN COFFINS ON STILTS, DATING BACK 1,000 - 2,300 YEARS.</span></p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1014182" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">CREDIT: © SELINA CARLHOFF</p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Decidious and evergreen forests dominate the limestone karst formations of the northwestern highlands of Thailand. A vast number of caves and rock shelters intersperses the mountains. In over 40 such caves in Mae Hong Son province, large wooden coffins mounted on stilts, dating between 2,300 and 1,000 years ago, can be found. During the Iron Age period, each of these up to several-meter-long coffins was crafted from a single teak tree and features refined carvings of geometric, animal- or human-like shapes at the handles of both ends.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">This archaeological assemblage has been studied for over two decades by members of the Prehistoric Population and Cultural Dynamics in Highland Pang Mapha Project, led by Professor Rasmi Shoocongdej, from the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University. “Our research examines the relationship between humans and their environments in the seasonal tropics. One crucial aspect is the exploration of the social structure of these prehistoric communities, as well as explaining their connections with other pre-Neolithic, Neolithic and post-Neolithic groups in this region,” says Rasmi Shoocongdej, an archaeologist and senior author of the study.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">To understand the genetic profile of the Log Coffin-associated communities, and the connection of individuals buried in different caves, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Germany and Thailand has analyzed the DNA of 33 ancient individuals from five Log Coffin sites. The genomes recovered from the ancient individuals allow the first detailed study of the structure of a prehistoric community from Southeast Asia. “This project illustrates how ancient DNA can contribute to our understanding of past communities, their every-day life, and their cross-regional connections”, says first author Selina Carlhoff, a researcher in the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Complex genetic landscape in post-Neolithic mainland South East Asia</span></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">DNA preservation conditions in tropical regions are challenging and limit ancient population genetic studies from Southeast Asia. Most studies were limited to single individuals or small groups representing a country and period, and identifying only broad patterns, such as genetic admixture of farmers from the Yangtze River valley in southern China with the local Hòabìnhian hunter-gather-associated gene pool during the pre-Neolithic. The current study identifies two separate farmer-associated ancestries in the Log Coffin-associated individuals. One connected to the Yangtze River Valley, and another to the Yellow River valley in China. While previously published individuals from Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam also carry the Yellow River-related ancestry, it was absent in Bronze and Iron Age individuals from Ban Chiang in northeastern Thailand. These genetic differences mirror cultural differences between the two regions, such as mortuary practices and diet, and point towards separate influence spheres and connections to separate initial migration routes during the Neolithic period.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our results contribute to the emerging picture of a complex genetic landscape in post-Neolithic mainland Southeast Asia; however, this study provides successful genetic results from samples in limestone caves from the northwestern highlands of Thailand. Future studies of samples retrieved from open-air archaeological sites in the lowlands seem promising. If possible, they can provide additional insight into the genetic history of Mainland Southeast Asia,” says Wibhu Kutanan, a scientist from Naresuan University, Thailand, involved in the conception of the study. Detailed analyses of uniparental markers, which can reveal sex-specific demographic histories of Log Coffin-associated groups, will be provided in a forthcoming study. Further archaeogenetic studies in collaboration with local scholars, as well as novel admixture modelling and dating techniques, will illuminate the developing patterns better and enable direct connections to archaeological findings and hypotheses.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="font-size: small;">First community-level analysis in Southeast Asian archaeology</span></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">On the local scale, the study provided the first community-level analysis in Southeast Asian archaeology. To investigate the relations between individuals, the authors used genetic regions that are identical in two individuals, because they were inherited from a common ancestor. The analysis of so-called IBD blocks (identical-by-descent) helps tracing complex biological relatedness patterns within a site and across regions - and had so far not been applied in archaeogenetic studies of Southeast Asia. The study identified close genetic relatives buried in the same cave system, such as parents and children or grandparents and grandchildren. This cluster of closely related individuals was more distantly connected to all other individuals buried at the site.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">While this suggests a selection of burial place under consideration of genetic relatedness, the more distant genetic relationships between Log Coffin sites, a low level of consanguinity, as well as high mitochondrial and low genome-wide diversity suggest that the Log Coffin-associated groups were rather large and constantly connected to each other across different river valleys. “This result is highly significant, since wooden coffins were also used in other archaeological cultures all over Southeast Asia. Comparing relatedness patterns and cross-regional genetic connections would be a fascinating future collaborative project which could potentially explain the cultural dynamics and population interactions within Southeast Asian and other regions”, says Rasmi Shoocongdej.</p><div style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-38266215053599212632024-02-03T05:46:00.000-08:002024-02-03T05:46:17.202-08:00Prehistoric mobility among Tibetan farmers, herders shaped highland settlement patterns, cultural interaction<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1013889" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Mobility Highways" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/a8d864cf-6d94-4f89-9381-57f5eee31fde/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">SIMULATED “MOBILITY HIGHWAYS” OF FARMER-HERDER INTERACTIONS OVERLAID WITH THE GEOLOCATED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES DATED BETWEEN CA. 3600 AND 2200 BEFORE PRESENT (CREDIT: X. CHEN)</span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1013889" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: XINZHOU CHEN</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The 1 million-square-mile Tibetan Plateau — often called the “roof of the world” — is the highest landmass in the world, averaging 14,000 feet in altitude. Despite the extreme environment, humans have been permanent inhabitants there since prehistoric times.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Farming and herding play major roles in the economy of the Tibetan Plateau today — as they have throughout history. To make the most of a difficult environment, farmers, agropastoralists and mobile herders interact and move in conjunction with one another, which in turn shapes the overall economy and cultural geography of the plateau. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">A new study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Sichuan University in China, published Feb. 2 in<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Scientific Reports, </em>traces the roots of the longstanding cultural interactions across the Tibetan Plateau to prehistoric times, as early as the Bronze Age. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers used advanced geospatial modeling to compare environmental and archaeological evidence that connects ancient mobility and subsistence strategies to cultural connections forged among farmers and herders in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Their findings show that these strategies influenced the settlement pattern and the transfer of ceramic styles — such as the materials used, characteristics and decorative features of the pottery — among distant prehistoric communities across the plateau.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The research was an enormous undertaking made possible thanks to advances in geospatial data analysis and high-resolution remote sensing, according to <a href="https://artsci.wustl.edu/faculty-staff/michael-frachetti" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Michael Frachetti</a>, a professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences at WashU and corresponding author of the study.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">First, the researchers generated simulations of the optimal pathways of mobility used by prehistoric farmers and herders based on land cover and capacity of the environment to support the needs of their crops or herds. For example, highland herders typically move across zones with rich grass resources toward the more limited arable niches on the plateau. Repeated patterns emerging from these simulations were shown to statistically correlate with the geographic location of thousands of prehistoric sites across the Tibetan Plateau.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">To test how these routes may have affected social interaction, the team compiled a large database of published archaeological findings from Bronze and Iron Age sites throughout Tibet and generated a social network based on shared technologies and designs of the ceramics found in these sites. The resulting social network suggests that even distant sites were well connected and in communication thousands of years ago across the Tibetan landmass. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“When we overlay the mobility maps with the social network, we see a strong correlation between routes for subsistence-oriented mobility and strong ties in material culture between regional communities, suggesting the emergence of ‘mobility highways’ over centuries of use,” Frachetti said. “This not only tells us that people were moving according to needs for farming and herding — which was largely influenced by environmental potential — but that mobility was key for building social relationships and the regional character of ancient communities on the Tibetan Plateau.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Their findings also revealed an interesting caveat: The western part of Tibet did not match these patterns as well as the east. According to the authors, this suggests an alternative cultural orientation toward Central Asia, where similar mobility patterns connected prehistoric communities to the west. These east/west differences have been observed in <a href="https://source.wustl.edu/2017/03/nature-silk-road-evolved-as-grass-routes-movement/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">other archaeological studies</a>, they said.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Archaeologists have been seeking to understand how and why ancient human communities build social relationships and cultural identities across the extreme terrain in Tibet for decades,” said lead author Xinzhou Chen, who earned his doctorate from WashU in 2023 and now works at the Center for Archaeological Sciences at Sichuan University. “This research provides a new perspective to explore the formation of human social cohesion in archaeology.”</p><hr class="hidden-xs hidden-sm" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; box-sizing: content-box; font-size: 14px; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" /><div class="featured_image" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="details" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">JOURNAL</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Scientific Reports</p></div><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">METHOD OF RESEARCH</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Computational simulation/modeling</p></div></div></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-38940656309434003962024-02-02T09:58:00.000-08:002024-02-02T10:00:21.552-08:00 Neanderthals and humans lived side by side in Northern Europe 45,000 years ago<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Mysterious technocomplex ascribed to Homo sapiens, representing most northerly settlement at that time</p><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/releaseguidelines" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Peer-Reviewed Publication</a><p class="meta_institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; margin: 2px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY</p><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1013327" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><img alt="Ranis excavation" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/d4e1194a-5b0e-41c4-a18a-576173aee721/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">IMAGE: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">EXCAVATING THE LRJ LAYERS 8 METRES DEEP AT RANIS WAS A LOGISTICAL CHALLENGE AND REQUIRED ELABORATE SCAFFOLDING TO SUPPORT THE TRENCH.</span></p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1013327" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">CREDIT: © MARCEL WEISS, LICENSE: CC-BY-ND 4.0</p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">A genetic analysis of bone fragments unearthed at an archaeological site in central Germany shows conclusively that modern humans — <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> — had already reached Northern Europe 45,000 years ago, overlapping with Neanderthals for several thousand years before the latter went extinct.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The findings establish that the site near Ranis, Germany, which is known for its finely flaked, leaf-shaped stone tool blades, is among the oldest confirmed sites of modern human Stone Age culture in north central and northwestern Europe.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The evidence that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo neanderthalensis</em> lived side by side is consistent with genomic evidence that the two species occasionally interbred. It also feeds the suspicion that the invasion of Europe and Asia by modern humans some 50,000 years ago helped drive Neanderthals, which had occupied the area for more than 500,000 years, to extinction.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The genetic analysis, along with an archaeological and isotopic analysis and radiocarbon dating of the Ranis site, are detailed in a trio of papers appearing today in the journals <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature </em>and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature Ecology and Evolution</em>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The stone blades at Ranis, referred to as leaf points, are similar to stone tools found at several sites in Moravia, Poland, Germany and the United Kingdom. These tools that are thought to have been produced by the same culture, referred to as the Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician (LRJ) culture or technocomplex. Because of previous dating, the Ranis site was known to be 40,000 years old or older, but without recognizable bones to indicate who made the tools, it was unclear whether they were the product of Neanderthals or <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The new findings demonstrate that "<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> made this technology, and that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> were this far north at this time period, which is 45,000 years ago," said Elena Zavala, one of four first authors of the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature</em> paper and a Miller Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. "So these are among the earliest <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> in Europe."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Zavala was a Ph.D. student at the <a href="mailto:https://www.eva.mpg.de/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology</a> (MPI-EVA) in Leipzig in 2018 when she first began working on the project, which was a major effort spearheaded by <a href="mailto:https://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/hublin/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Jean-Jacque Hublin</a>, former director of the institute and a professor at the Collège de France in Paris.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The Ranis cave site provides evidence for the first dispersal of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> across the higher latitudes of Europe. It turns out that stone artifacts that were thought to be produced by Neanderthals were, in fact, part of the early <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> toolkit,” Hublin said. "This fundamentally changes our previous knowledge about the period: <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> reached northwestern Europe long before Neanderthal disappearance in southwestern Europe."</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 24px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Bones from maternal relatives?</span></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Zavala conducted the genetic analysis of hominid bone fragments from the new and deeper excavations at Ranis between 2016 and 2022 and from earlier excavations in the 1930s. Because the DNA in ancient bones is highly fragmented, she employed special techniques to isolate and sequence the DNA, all of it mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that is inherited solely from the mother.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"We confirmed that the skeletal fragments belonged to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em>. Interestingly, several fragments shared the same mitochondrial DNA sequences — even fragments from different excavations," she said. "This indicates that the fragments belonged to the same individual or their maternal relatives, linking these new finds with the ones from decades ago."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The bone fragments were initially identified as human through analysis of bone proteins — a field called paleoproteomics — by another first author, Dorothea Mylopotamitaki, a doctoral student at the Collège de France and fomerly of MPI-EVA.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">By comparing the Ranis mitochondrial DNA sequences with mtDNA sequences obtained from human remains at other paleolithic sites in Europe, Zavala was able to construct a family tree of early <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> across Europe. All but one of the 13 Ranis fragments were quite similar to one another and, surprisingly, resembled mtDNA from the 43,000-year-old skull of a woman discovered in a cave at Zlatý kůň in the Czech Republic. The lone standout grouped with an individual from Italy.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"That raises some questions: Was this a single population? What could be the relationship here?" Zavala said. "But with mitochondrial DNA, that's only one side of the history. It's only the maternal side. We would need to have nuclear DNA to be able to start looking into this."</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 24px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">A transitional site between Middle and Upper Paleolithic</span></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Zavala specializes in the analysis of DNA found in long-buried bones, on bone tools and in sediment. Her search through sediment from various levels of the Ranis excavation turned up DNA from a broad array of mammals, but none from hominids. The analysis, combined with morphological, isotopic and proteomic analysis of bone fragments, paints a picture of the environment at that time and of the diet of both humans and animals that occupied the cave over the millennia.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The presence of reindeer, cave bear, woolly rhinoceros and horse bones, for example, indicated cold climatic conditions typical of steppe tundra and similar to conditions in Siberia and northern Scandinavia today, and a human diet based on large terrestrial animals. The researchers concluded that the cave was used primarily by hibernating cave bears and denning hyenas, with only periodic human presence.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This lower-density archaeological signature matches other Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician sites and is best explained by expedient visits of short duration by small, mobile groups of pioneer <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">H. sapiens</em>,” according to one of the papers published in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature Ecology and Evolution</em>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This shows that even these earlier groups of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> dispersing across Eurasia already had some capacity to adapt to such harsh climatic conditions,” said Sarah Pederzani, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of La Laguna in Spain, who led the paleoclimate study of the site. “Until recently, it was thought that resilience to cold-climate conditions did not appear until several thousand years later, so this is a fascinating and surprising result."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The Ranis site, called Ilsenhöhle and located at the base of a castle, was initially excavated mainly between 1932 and 1938. The leaf points found there were eventually assigned to the final years of the Middle Paleolithic period — between about 300,000 and 30,000 years ago — or the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, which begins around 50,000 years ago.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Because of the importance of the Ranis site for understanding the LRJ technocomplex and the transition from the Neanderthal-associated late Middle Paleolithic to the modern human Upper Paleolithic in central Europe, Hublin and his team decided to reexcavate the site using modern tools of archaeology.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The new excavations extended to bedrock, about 8 meters below the surface, and involved removing a rock — likely fallen from the cave ceiling — that had halted the previous excavation. Here, Hublin's team uncovered chips from flint tools and a quartzite flake consistent with the LRJ technocomplex. Subsequent proteomic analysis of thousands of recovered bone chips confirmed that four were from hominids. Of bone chips uncovered during the 1930s excavations, nine were from hominids.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Zavala's DNA analysis confirmed that all 13 bone fragments came from <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em>.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 24px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">A revised settlement history of Northern Europe</span></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The team also carried out radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones from different layers of the site to reconstruct the site’s chronology, focusing on bones with traces of human modifications on their surfaces, which links their dates to human presence in the cave.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We found very good agreement between the radiocarbon dates from the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> bones from both excavation collections and with modified animal bones from the LRJ layers of the new excavation, making a very strong link between the human remains and LRJ. The evidence suggests that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> were sporadically occupying the site from as early as 47,500 years ago,” said another first author, Helen Fewlass, a former Max Planck researcher who is now a European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Francis Crick Institute in London.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The results from the Ilsenhöhle in Ranis fundamentally changed our ideas about the chronology and settlement history of Europe north of the Alps," added Tim Schüler of the Thuringian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and Archaeology in Weimar, Germany.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Among other co-authors of the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature</em> paper are co-first author Marcel Weiss of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Shannon McPherron of MPI-EVA, who co-led the Ranis excavation with Hublin, Schüler and Weiss. Zavala, in addition to being co-first author of the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature</em> paper, co-authored the two papers in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature Ecology and Evolution</em>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"></p><div class="featured_image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="details" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><header style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The arrival of Homo sapiens in cold northern latitudes took place several thousand years before Neanderthals disappeared in southwest Europe</p><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/releaseguidelines" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Peer-Reviewed Publication</a><p class="meta_institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; margin: 2px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY</p><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1013193" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><img alt="Stone tools from Ranis" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/50514b9a-31e8-4972-8e62-0d6090f31b7d/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">IMAGE: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">STONE TOOLS FROM THE LRJ AT RANIS. 1) PARTIAL BIFACIAL BLADE POINT CHARACTERISTIC OF THE LRJ; 2) AT RANIS THE LRJ ALSO CONTAINS FINELY MADE BIFACIAL LEAF POINTS.</span></p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1013193" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">CREDIT: JOSEPHINE SCHUBERT, MUSEUM BURG RANIS</p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The three published studies describe the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> fossils from Ilsenhöhle at Ranis and their associated context (Mylopotamitaki et al.), the diet and lifeways of these first pioneers (Smith et al.), and the environmental conditions they faced in Central and NW Europe (Pederzani et al.). “The Ranis cave site provides evidence for the first dispersal of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens </em>across the higher latitudes of Europe. It turns out that stone artefacts that were thought to be produced by Neanderthals were in fact part of the early <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">H. sapiens</em> tool kit. This fundamentally changes our previous knowledge about this time period: <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">H. sapiens</em> reached northwestern Europe long before Neanderthal disappearance in southwestern Europe”, says Jean-Jacques Hublin, Professor at the Collège de France, Paris and emeritus director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: justify;">Ranis: an 8-metre sequence re-excavated for the first time since the 1930s</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">An international research team led by Jean-Jacques Hublin (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Collège de France, Paris), Shannon McPherron (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology), Tim Schüler (Thüringisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie) and Marcel Weiss (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) re-excavated Ranis between 2016 and 2022. The aims were to locate remaining deposits from the 1930s excavation, clarify the stratigraphy and chronology of the site, and identify the makers of the LRJ. At the bottom of the 8 metre deep sequence, the researchers discovered layers containing the LRJ. “The challenge was to excavate the full 8-metre sequence from top to bottom, hoping that some deposits were left from the 1930s excavation. We were fortunate to find a 1.7 metre thick rock the previous excavators did not get past. After removing that rock by hand, we finally uncovered the LRJ layers and even found human fossils. This came as a huge surprise, as no human fossils were known from the LRJ before, and was a reward for the hard work at the site”, says Marcel Weiss of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: justify;">Thousands of bone fragments revealed patterns of site use and human diet</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Thousands of highly fragmented pieces of bone were recovered at the site. “Zooarchaeological analysis shows that the Ranis cave was used intermittently by denning hyaenas, hibernating cave bears, and small groups of humans<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">,</em>” explained zooarchaeologist Geoff Smith from the University of Kent and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. “While these humans only used the cave for short periods of time, they consumed meat from a range of animals, including reindeer, woolly rhinoceros, and horses” said Smith. “Although the bones were broken into smaller pieces, they were exceptionally well preserved and allowed us to apply the latest cutting-edge methods from archaeological science, proteomics and genetics,” explained Smith.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: justify;">The first human bones from Ranis were identified using palaeoproteomics</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers used the proteins extracted from the morphologically unidentifiable bone fragments to identify the animal and the human remains found in the LRJ layers. “Palaeoproteomics is a relatively new tool to perform taxonomic identifications of previously unidentifiable skeletal remains recovered from archaeological sites. At Ranis, this enabled us to identify the first human remains associated with the LRJ layers, which were then analysed further with the latest methods in ancient DNA, radiocarbon dating, and stable isotope analysis.” says Dorothea Mylopotamitaki, a former PUSHH-Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Fellow at the Collège de France and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: justify;">More <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">H. sapiens</em> bones discovered among material from the 1930s excavation</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In addition to these new excavations, the team also undertook new analyses of the bone fragments from the old Ranis collection (1932 to 1938 excavations), which are curated and stored at the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. This included a study where the bones were examined one by one to potentially identify human remains. “This painstaking work was rewarded by the discovery of several new human bones,” said Hélène Rougier, a palaeoanthropologist at California State University Northridge. “Finding human remains mixed with animal bones that had been stored for almost a century was an unexpected and fantastic surprise,” she added. Further work on these collections is ongoing by Hélène Rougier and researchers from the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt and highlights the enormous value of museum collections.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: justify;">DNA sequencing showed that the bones were <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Once the 13 human skeletal remains from both the old and new excavations were identified, DNA was extracted from these fossils and analysed. "We confirmed that the skeletal fragments belonged to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em>. Interestingly, several fragments shared the same mitochondrial DNA sequences – even fragments from different excavations. This indicates that the fragments belonged to the same individual or were maternal relatives, linking these new finds with the ones from decades ago," says Elena Zavala, a Miller Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Another important goal was to obtain DNA from the sediments at the site, especially from the LRJ layers. Therefore, in addition to their search for human bone fragments, the team also extracted ancient mammalian DNA from sediment samples to complete the zooarchaeological analysis. Additionally, nuclear DNA analyses are ongoing in collaboration with Arev Sümer at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: justify;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> reached northwest Europe as early as 47,500 years ago</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Radiocarbon dating was used to understand when humans occupied the cave. <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> bones from both the 1930s and 2016 to 2022 excavations were directly dated using very small amounts of bone to preserve the material for further analyses. The dates show that these individuals were some of the earliest <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> to inhabit Europe. The team also carried out radiocarbon dating of animal bones from different layers of the site to reconstruct the site’s chronology. They focused on bones with traces of human modifications on their surfaces, linking the dates to human presence at the cave. “We found very good agreement between the radiocarbon dates from the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens </em>bones from both excavation collections and with modified animal bones from the LRJ layers of the new excavation, making a very strong link between the human remains and LRJ. The evidence suggests that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> were sporadically occupying the site from as early as 47,500 years ago,” says Helen Fewlass, an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow at the Francis Crick Institute, London, and formerly of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: justify;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens </em>had the capacity to adapt to harsh, cold climatic conditions</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Stable isotope analyses on animal teeth and bones allow insights into the climatic conditions and environments that the pioneering groups of<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Homo sapiens</em> encountered around Ranis. The team combined information from a broad range of different stable isotope ratios and was able to show that a very cold continental climate and open steppe landscapes, similar to those found in Siberia or northern Scandinavia today, prevailed during the time of the LRJ, and climatic conditions cooled even further throughout the LRJ occupations of Ranis. “This shows that even these earlier groups of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> dispersing across Eurasia already had some capacity to adapt to such harsh climatic conditions,” says Sarah Pederzani from the University of La Laguna and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, who led the palaeoclimate study of the site. “Until recently it was thought that resilience to cold-climate conditions did not appear until several thousand years later, so this is a fascinating and surprising result. Perhaps cold steppes with larger herds of prey animals were more attractive environments for these human groups than previously appreciated.”</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: justify;">Milestone study on the initial incursions of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> into Europe</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">This comprehensive study, integrating archaeological excavation, morphological and proteomic taxonomic identification, mitochondrial DNA analysis, radiocarbon dating of newly excavated archaeological material and of human remains, zooarchaeology, and isotope analysis marks a significant milestone in understanding the initial incursions of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> into Europe north of the Alps during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. Furthermore, the team found that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Homo sapiens</em> ventured into Europe under severe cold climatic conditions. Moving in small groups, they shared their environment and sites with large carnivores, like hyenas, and they manufactured elaborately crafted leaf-shaped stone tools. “The results from the Ilsenhöhle in Ranis fundamentally change our ideas about the chronology and settlement history of Europe north of the Alps. It is especially exciting that we now have the oldest <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">H. sapiens</em> here in Thuringia, Germany”, says Tim Schüler of the Thüringisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie.</p><hr class="hidden-xs hidden-sm" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" /></div><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="background-color: initial; font-family: inherit;">JOURNAL</span>JOURNAL</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Nature</p></div><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">DOI</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;"><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06923-7" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">10.1038/s41586-023-06923-7 <span class="fa fa-sign-out" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></a></p></div></div></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-38488838833728434592024-02-01T15:47:00.000-08:002024-02-01T15:47:51.994-08:00 Did dementia exist in ancient Greek and Rome?<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">You might think age-related dementia has been with us all along, stretching back to the ancient world.</span></p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">But a new analysis of classical Greek and Roman medical texts suggests that severe memory loss — occurring at epidemic levels today — was extremely rare 2,000 to 2,500 years ago, in the time of Aristotle, Galen and Pliny the Elder.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The USC-led research, published in the<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <a href="https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad230993" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease</a>,</em> bolsters the idea that Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are diseases of modern environments and lifestyles, with sedentary behavior and exposure to air pollution largely to blame.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The ancient Greeks had very, very few — but we found them — mentions of something that would be like mild cognitive impairment,” said first author <a href="https://gero.usc.edu/faculty/finch/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Caleb Finch</a>, a University Professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. “When we got to the Romans, and we uncovered at least four statements that suggest rare cases of advanced dementia — we can’t tell if it’s Alzheimer’s. So, there was a progression going from the ancient Greeks to the Romans.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Ancient Greeks recognized that aging commonly brought memory issues we would recognize as mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, but nothing approaching a major loss of memory, speech and reasoning as caused by Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Finch and co-author Stanley Burstein, a historian at California State University, Los Angeles, pored over a major body of ancient medical writing by Hippocrates and his followers. The text catalogs ailments of the elderly such as deafness, dizziness and digestive disorders — but makes no mention of memory loss.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Centuries later in ancient Rome, a few mentions crop up. Galen remarks that at the age of 80, some elderly begin to have difficulty learning new things. Pliny the Elder notes that the senator and famous orator Valerius Messalla Corvinus forgot his own name. Cicero prudently observed that “elderly silliness … is characteristic of irresponsible old men, but not of all old men.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Finch speculates that as Roman cities grew denser, pollution increased, driving up cases of cognitive decline. In addition, Roman aristocrats used lead cooking vessels, lead water pipes and even added lead acetate into their wine to sweeten it — unwittingly poisoning themselves with the powerful neurotoxin.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">(A few ancient writers recognized the toxicity of lead-containing material, but little progress was made in dealing with the problem until well into the 20<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> century. Some scholars blame lead poisoning for the fall of the Roman Empire.)</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">For this paper, Finch did not just think about the Roman Empire or the Greeks. In the absence of demographic data for ancient Greece and Rome, Finch turned to a surprising model for ancient aging: today’s Tsimane Amerindians, an Indigenous people of the Bolivian Amazon.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The Tsimane — like the ancient Greeks and Romans — have a preindustrial lifestyle that is very physically active, and they have extremely low rates of dementia. An international team of cognitive researchers led by Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology, gerontology and preventive medicine at the USC Leonard Davis School, found among older Tsimane people, <a href="https://today.usc.edu/some-of-the-worlds-lowest-dementia-rates-are-found-in-amazonian-indigenous-groups/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">only about 1% suffer from dementia</a>. In contrast, 11% of people aged 65 and older living in the United States have dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The Tsimane data, which is quite deep, is very valuable,” Finch said. “This is the best-documented large population of older people that have minimal dementia, all of which indicates that the environment is a huge determinant on dementia risk. They give us a template for asking these questions.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The paper was supported by funds from the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund and the National Institutes of Health (P01 AG055367 and R01 AG05442).</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"># # #</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><hr class="hidden-xs hidden-sm" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; box-sizing: content-box; font-size: 14px; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" /><div class="featured_image" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="details" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">JOURNAL</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Journal of Alzheimer s Disease</p></div><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">DOI</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;"><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/JAD-230993" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">10.3233/JAD-230993 <span class="fa fa-sign-out" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></a></p></div></div></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-88564579750631687502024-01-30T09:28:00.000-08:002024-01-30T09:28:53.264-08:00Excavated dolmen in Sweden one of the oldest in Scandinavia <p> </p><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: right; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1013352" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="Excavation of an early dolmen in Falbygden" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/e459fa76-10be-4854-b3c6-bd2f67edeecd/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">IMAGE: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">THE CHAMBER UNDER EXCAVATION. EAST SIDE MOULD REMOVED. THE PLASTIC TUBES ARE SAMPLES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DNA.</span></p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1013352" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">CREDIT: PHOTO: KARL-GÖRAN SJÖGREN</p></figcaption></figure><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">The first analysis results now confirm that the grave in Tiarp is one of the oldest stone burial chambers in Sweden. “It’s an early grave which dates to the Early Neolithic period, about 3500 BCE,” says archaeologist Karl-Göran Sjögren. The researchers also noted that some parts of the people buried in the grave are missing, such as skulls and thigh bones, posing intriguing questions for archaeologists.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Last summer, archaeologists from Gothenburg University and Kiel University excavated a dolmen, a stone burial chamber, in Tiarp near Falköping in Sweden. The archaeologists judge that the grave has remained untouched since the Stone Age. However, the odd thing is that parts of the skeletons of the people buried are missing.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Skulls and large bones are missing and may have been removed from the grave. We don’t know whether that has to do with burial rituals or what’s behind it,” says Karl-Göran Sjögren.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Now that the researchers have examined the material from the grave, they have found that it contains bones from hands and feet, fragments of rib bones and teeth. But skulls and larger bones such as thigh and arm bones are very few.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This differs from what we usually see in megalith graves, i.e. stone burial chambers from the Neolithic period,” Karl-Göran Sjögren explains. “Usually, the bones that are missing are smaller bones from feet and hands.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Torbjörn Ahlström, Professor of Osteology at Lund University, studied the bone finds. His conclusion is that the bones come from at least twelve people, including infants and the elderly. But the archaeologists don’t yet know why they died.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We haven’t seen any injuries on the people buried so we don’t think violence is involved. But we are continuing to study their DNA and that will show whether they had any diseases,” says Karl-Göran Sjögren.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Falköping has long been known for its many passage graves dating from a somewhat later period, approximately 3300 BCE. Agriculture reached Falbygden in about 4000 BCE, i.e. about 500 years before the grave in Tiarp was built. In all likelihood, the people buried in the dolmen were farmers.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“They lived by growing grain and keeping animals and they consumed dairy products,” says Karl-Göran Sjögren.</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;">Are the people buried in the grave related?</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">A number of samples were taken at the excavation last summer, including DNA from the skeletal remains.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The preliminary DNA results show that the DNA in the bones is well preserved. This means we will be able to reconstruct the family relationships between the people in the grave and we are working on that now,” says Karl-Göran Sjögren.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Falbygden is known for its many traces of people from the Stone Age. There are more than 250 passage graves here, large graves built of blocks of stone.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“But this dolmen is older. It’s about 200 to 150 years older than the passage graves, making it one of the oldest stone burial chambers in Sweden and across the whole of Scandinavia,” says Karl-Göran Sjögren.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">There is another thing that makes the grave unique.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“It’s the way it is constructed. There’s a little niche at each end. This is unique for graves in Falbygden,” says Karl-Göran Sjögren.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study is freely available as open access in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Neolithic Archaeology</em>. <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tiarp Backgården. An Early Neolithic Dolmen in Falbygden, Sweden and Early Megalithic Tombs in South Scandinavia and Northern Central Europe.</em></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><a href="https://doi.org/10.12766/jna.2023.8" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><span style="font-size: small;">https://doi.org/10.12766/jna.2023.8</span></a></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Facts</span></p><ul style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">The grave in Tiarp Backgården in Falköping, was first found in 1929. It was studied by archaeologists at the time, and then again in 2014, which was when it was discovered that the grave was more or less intact and had bodies buried inside it.</li></ul><ul style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">The archaeological excavation in Tiarp in summer 2023 was carried out jointly by Gothenburg and Kiel Universities. </li><li></li></ul><ul style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"></ul>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-36820653018647628682024-01-30T09:18:00.000-08:002024-01-30T09:18:38.901-08:00 How did humans learn to walk?<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><br /></h1><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><b>The inner ear of a 6-million-year-old fossil ape reveals clues about the evolution of human movement</b></p><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1012696" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="The reconstructed inner ear of Lufengpithecus" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/5abc79d2-381e-4a84-92a9-446ff768ab83/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">THREE DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE RECONSTRUCTED INNER EAR OF LUFENGPITHECUS.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1012696" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: IMAGE COURTESY OF YINAN ZHANG, INSTITUTE OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY AND PALEOANTHROPOLOGY, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Humans and our closest relatives, living apes, display a remarkable diversity of types of locomotion—from walking upright on two legs to climbing in trees and walking using all four limbs. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">While scientists have long been intrigued by the question of how humans’ bipedal stance and movement evolved from a quadrupedal ancestor, neither past studies nor fossil records have permitted the reconstruction of a clear and definitive history of the early evolutionary stages that led to human bipedalism.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">However, a new study, which centers on recently discovered evidence from skulls of a 6-million-year-old fossil ape, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lufengpithecus</em>, offers important clues about the origins of bipedal locomotion courtesy of a novel method: analyzing its bony inner ear region using three-dimensional CT-scanning. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The semicircular canals, located in the skull between our brains and the external ear, are critical to providing our sense of balance and position when we move, and they provide a fundamental component of our locomotion that most people are probably unaware of,” explains Yinan Zhang, a doctoral student at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IVPP) and the lead author of the paper, which appears in the journal the<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Innovation</em>. “The size and shape of the semicircular canals correlate with how mammals, including apes and humans, move around their environment. Using modern imaging technologies, we were able to visualize the internal structure of fossil skulls and study the anatomical details of the semicircular canals to reveal how extinct mammals moved.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our study points to a three-step evolution of human bipedalism,” adds Terry Harrison, a New York University anthropologist and one of the paper’s co-authors. “First, the earliest apes moved in the trees in a style that was most similar to aspects of the way that gibbons in Asia do today. Second, the last common ancestor of apes and humans was similar in its locomotor repertoire to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lufengpithecus</em>, using a combination of climbing and clambering, forelimb suspension, arboreal bipedalism, and terrestrial quadrupedalism. It is from this broad ancestral locomotor repertoire that human bipedalism evolved.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Most studies of the evolution of ape locomotion had focused on comparisons of the bones of the limbs, shoulders, pelvis, and spine and the way they are associated with the different types of locomotor behaviors seen in living apes and humans. However, the diversity of locomotor behaviors in living apes and the incompleteness of the fossil record have hampered the development of a clear picture of human bipedalism’s origins.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The skulls of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lufengpithecus</em>—originally discovered in China’s Yunnan Province in the early 1980s—have given scientists the opportunity to address, in new ways, unanswered questions about the evolution of locomotion. However, the heavy compression and distortion of the skulls obscured the bony ear region and led previous researchers to believe that the delicate semicircular canals were not preserved.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">To better explore this region, Zhang, Ni and Harrison, along with other researchers at IVPP and the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (YICRA), used three dimensional scanning technologies to illuminate these portions of the skulls to create a virtual reconstruction of the inner ear’s bony canals. They then compared these scans to those collected from other living and fossil apes and humans from Asia, Europe, and Africa. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our analyses show that early apes shared a locomotor repertoire that was ancestral to human bipedalism,” explains IVPP Professor Xijun Ni, who led the project. “It appears that the inner ear provides a unique record of the evolutionary history of ape locomotion that offers an invaluable alternative to the study of the postcranial skeleton.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Most fossil apes and their inferred ancestors are intermediate in locomotor mode between gibbons and African apes,” adds Ni. “Later, the human lineage diverged from the great apes with the acquisition of bipedalism, as seen in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Australopithecus, </em>an early human relative from Africa.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">By studying the rate of evolutionary change in the bony labyrinth, the international team proposed that climate change may have been an important environmental catalyst in promoting the locomotor diversification of apes and humans. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Cooler global temperatures, associated with the build up of glacial ice sheets in the northern hemisphere approximately 3.2 million years ago, correspond with an uptick in the rate of change of the bony labyrinth and this may signal a rapid increase in the pace of ape and human locomotor evolution,” explains Harrison.</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-6866188249587001192024-01-25T06:00:00.000-08:002024-01-25T06:00:51.204-08:00New research challenges hunter-gatherer narrative in the ancient Andes<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1012090" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Wilamaya Patjxa excavation" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/7bfc2a28-ed20-4179-a628-a2e16549e03f/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">THE WILAMAYA PATJXA ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE IN PERU PRODUCED HUMAN REMAINS SHOWING THAT THE DIETS OF EARLY PEOPLE OF THE ANDES WERE PRIMARILY COMPOSED OF PLANT MATERIALS.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1012090" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: RANDY HAAS</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The oft-used description of early humans as “hunter-gatherers” should be changed to “gatherer-hunters,” at least in the Andes of South America, according to groundbreaking research led by a University of Wyoming archaeologist.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Archaeologists long thought that early human diets were meat based. However, Assistant Professor Randy Haas’ analysis of the remains of 24 individuals from the Wilamaya Patjxa and Soro Mik'aya Patjxa burial sites in Peru shows that early human diets in the Andes Mountains were composed of 80 percent plant matter and 20 percent meat.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study, titled "Stable isotope chemistry reveals plant-dominant diet among early foragers on the Andean Altiplano," has been published by the peer-reviewed journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS ONE</em>. It applies methods in isotope chemistry and statistical modeling to unveil a surprising twist in early Andean societies and traditional hunter-gatherer narratives.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Conventional wisdom holds that early human economies focused on hunting -- an idea that has led to a number of high-protein dietary fads such as the Paleodiet,” Haas says. “Our analysis shows that the diets were composed of 80 percent plant matter and 20 percent meat.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">For these early humans of the Andes, spanning from 9,000 to 6,500 years ago, there is indeed evidence that hunting of large mammals provided some of their diets. But the new analysis of the isotopic composition of the human bones shows that plant foods made up the majority of individual diets, with meat playing a secondary role.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Additionally, burnt plant remains from the sites and distinct dental-wear patterns on the individuals’ upper incisors indicate that tubers -- or plants that grow underground, such as potatoes -- likely were the most prominent subsistence resource.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our combination of isotope chemistry, paleoethnobotanical and zooarchaeological methods offers the clearest and most accurate picture of early Andean diets to date,” Haas says. “These findings update our understanding of earliest forager economies and the pathway to agricultural economies in the Andean highlands.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Joining Haas in the study were researchers from Penn State University, the University of California-Merced, the University of California-Davis, Binghamton University, the University of Arizona and the National Register of Peruvian Archaeologists.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Undergraduate students also had the opportunity to conduct research during the initial 2018 excavations at the Wilamaya Patjxa burial site.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Currently a Ph.D. student in anthropology at Penn State University, Jennifer Chen, the journal article’s lead author and a former undergraduate student in Haas' research lab, performed the isotope lab work and much of the isotope analysis following the excavations.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Food is incredibly important and crucial for survival, especially in high-altitude environments like the Andes,” Chen says. “A lot of archaeological frameworks on hunter-gatherers, or foragers, center on hunting and meat-heavy diets -- but we are finding that early hunter-gatherers in the Andes were mostly eating plant foods like wild tubers."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Haas notes that archaeologists now have the tools to understand early human diets, and their results are not what they anticipated. This case study demonstrates for the first time that early human economies, in at least one part of the world, were plant based.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Given that archaeological biases have long misled archaeologists -- myself included -- in the Andes, it is likely that future isotopic research in other parts of the world will similarly show that archaeologists have also gotten it wrong elsewhere,” he says.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Haas investigates human behavior in forager societies of the past to better understand human behavior in the present. He leads archaeological excavations and survey projects in the Andes and mountain regions of western North America. To learn more about his research, email Haas at <a href="mailto:whaas@uwyo.edu" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">whaas@uwyo.edu</a>.</p><div style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-78928632423552594072024-01-25T05:58:00.000-08:002024-01-25T05:58:26.040-08:00 DNA from preserved feces reveals ancient Japanese gut environment<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1012130" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Metagenomic analyses of 7000 to 5500 years old coprolites excavated from the Torihama shell-mound site in the Japanese archipelago" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/abf4c2a4-f539-43b5-be08-be9377245600/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">PHYLOGENETIC TREES OF DETECTED GUT BACTERIA. THE TREE INDICATES PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF 4,616 BACTERIAL SPECIES.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1012130" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: NISHIMURA ET AL., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">DNA from ancient feces can offer archaeologists new clues about the life and health of Japanese people who lived thousands of years ago, according to a study published January 24, 2024 in the open-access journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS ONE</em> by Luca Nishimura and Ituro Inoue from the National Institute of Genetics, Japan, Hiroki Oota from The University of Tokyo, Mayumi Ajimoto from Wakasa History Museum, and colleagues.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Fossilized feces, also known as coprolites, can preserve an array of genetic material from the digestive tracts of ancient people. This includes the DNA of the microbes and viruses that lived in their digestive system—all of which could help archaeologists understand more details about their culture and lifestyle. In this study, researchers analyzed the genetic traces left behind in four coprolites collected at Japan’s Torihama shell-mound archaeological site to assess what details of the ancient people’s lives could be ascertained from these samples.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The fecal samples were between 5,500 and 7,000 years old, dating back to the island chain’s Early Jomon period. The researchers collectively sampled all of the genetic material from the coprolites and compared the DNA they found with known genetic sequences. Within the fecal samples, they found DNA fragments of the viruses which are homology with human betaherpesvirus 5 and human adenovirus F.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">DNA breaks down over time, so the genomes represented in the coprolites were often highly fragmented. But despite this degradation, the researchers were still able to assess what kinds of microbes and viruses may have been present in people’s digestive systems thousands of years ago. In addition, the authors suggest that the coprolites’ preservation of both viral and bacterial genetic material could help scientists explore how bacteria and the viruses that infect those bacteria have co-evolved over time.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><br /></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">The freely available article in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLOS ONE</em>: </span><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295924" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295924</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"></p><div class="featured_image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="details" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></h4></div></div></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-89647816617920836292024-01-20T05:05:00.000-08:002024-01-20T05:05:43.861-08:00China’s medieval Tang dynasty had a surprising level of social mobility<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-size: 34px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #333333;">In studying social mobility in today’s industrialized nations, researchers typically rely on data from the World Economic Forum or, in the United States, the General Social Survey. But examining the same phenomena from past centuries is a more daunting task because relevant statistics are harder to come by. </span></h1></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">However, a social science research team has now discovered a way to examine professional advancement in medieval China (618-907 CE) by drawing from the tomb epitaphs during the Tang Dynasty. These epitaphs contain the ancestral lineages, names, and office titles (e.g., Minister of Personnel, Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and Palace Deputy Imperial Censor) of the deceased’s father and grandfather as well as the deceased’s career history and educational credentials—ample data points for measuring social mobility across generations. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Notably, their analysis shows that education during this period was a catalyst for social mobility.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Epitaphs written in medieval China, including the Tang Dynasty, tend to be highly detailed descriptions of an individual’s life with stylized prose and poems, and they contain granular information about the ancestral origins, family background, and career history of each deceased individual,” says Fangqi Wen, an assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State University. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This information, to some extent, mirrors what would have been included in a contemporary social mobility survey,” adds Erik H. Wang, an assistant professor in NYU’s Department of Politics.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Wang studies historical political economy while Wen examines social mobility in contemporary societies. After recognizing the high level of data quality embedded in these epitaphs, they realized that the artifacts were a vessel that merged their scholarly interests. Later they recruited the NYU professor of sociology Michael Hout, Wen’s dissertation advisor and a leading scholar on social stratification and mobility, to join the project.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Their <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2305564121" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">findings</u></a>, which appear in the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em> (PNAS), show that the patterns of relationships of social origins, education, and adult achievement somewhat resemble the patterns in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. In drawing from 3,640 epitaphs of males as well as other data from reliable historical sources, such as dynastic records and third-party compiled genealogies, the researchers’ analysis revealed a decline of Chinese medieval aristocracy and the rise of meritocracy 1300 years ago.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers discovered a specific reason for this development: whether or not the deceased passed the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Keju</em>, or the Imperial Exam, which was developed during this period for the purposes of selecting officials for civil service posts. They found that the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Keju</em>, which was administered until the early 20th century, served as a catalyst for social mobility—much as higher education has done in the U.S. since at least the 1960s.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our statistical analysis shows that coming from a prominent ancient great house or ‘branch’</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">mattered less for career success in the bureaucratic system after roughly 650 CE while passing the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Keju</em> came to matter more,” the authors write. “Furthermore, passing the competitive exam may have even equalized chances of subsequent success, as a father’s status was not a factor in the bureaucratic rank of men who passed the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Keju</em>.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Education is central to our understanding of intergenerational mobility,” observes Hout. “Many think it was a 20th-century development. But, as we can see from centuries-old data, there are phenomena linking origin, education, and careers very much like contemporary patterns.”</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-56543313548723021192024-01-19T12:19:00.000-08:002024-01-19T12:19:06.864-08:00Poor Mesolithic oral health<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Members of a hunter-gatherer group that lived in south-western Scandinavia during the Mesolithic era — approximately 10,000 years ago — may have been affected by tooth decay and gum disease, according to a study published in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Scientific Reports</em>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Emrah Kırdök, Anders Götherström and colleagues sequenced the DNA found on three pieces of birch tar — a substance made from heated birch bark — that were excavated in the 1990s from Huseby Klev, Sweden and have been dated to between 9,890 and 9,540 years old. They created profiles of the microbial, plant, and animal species DNA found on each sample and compared these to those previously reported for modern human samples, ancient human dental plaque, and a 6,000 year old chewed birch tar sample</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The authors found that the microbial profiles of the birch tar samples were most similar to microbes found in the modern human mouth, in ancient human dental plaque, and in a 6,000 year old chewed birch tar sample. This suggests that the samples from Huseby Klev were chewed by humans. They also found that they contained an increased abundance of several bacteria that are commonly associated with gum disease — such as <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Treponema denticola, Streptococcus anginosus</em>, and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Slackia exigua</em> — and tooth decay — such as <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Streptococcus sobrinus</em> and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Parascardovia denticolens</em>. Based on the relative abundance of microbial species in the birch tar samples and using machine learning models, the authors estimate that the probability that members of the hunter-gatherer group were affected by gum disease is between 70 and 80%. The authors suggest that the wider use of teeth to perform tasks involving gripping, cutting and tearing in ancient hunter-gatherer societies may have increased their risk of coming into contact with microbial species that cause gum disease.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In addition to microbial DNA, the authors identified DNA sequences consistent with those from a range of plant and animal species, including hazelnut, apple, mistletoe, red fox, grey wolf, mallard, limpet, and brown trout. These could reflect the materials that members of the hunter-gatherer group chewed prior to the birch tar samples. The authors speculate that these materials could have included food sources, furs, and bone tools.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The findings highlight the poor oral health of a group of Mesolithic Scandinavian hunter-gatherers and provide insight into their diet, material use, and local environment.</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-37028663153777546802024-01-19T12:09:00.000-08:002024-01-19T12:09:40.199-08:00Ancient chewing gum reveals stone age diet<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-size: 34px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: 600;">What did people eat on the west coast of Scandinavia 10 000 years ago? A new study of the DNA in a chewing gum shows that deer, trout and hazelnuts were on the diet. It also shows that one of the individuals had severe problems with her teeth.</span></h1></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Some 9 700 years ago, a group of people were camping on the west coast of Scandinavia, north of what is today Göteborg. They had been fishing, hunting and collecting resources for food. And some teenagers, both boys and girls, were chewing resin to produce glue, just after munching on trout and deer, as well as on hazelnuts. Due to a bad case of periodontitis (severe gum infection that can lead to tooth loss and bone loss), one of the teenagers had problems eating the chewy deer-meat, as well as preparing the resin by chewing it.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">We know this because an international research team has been working with the chewed resin from Huseby Klev for some time. “There is a richness of DNA sequences in the chewed mastic from Huseby-Klev, and in it we find both the bacteria that we know are related to periodontitis, and DNA from plants and animals that they had chewed before”, says Dr. Emrah Kırdök, from Mersin University Department of Biotechnology, who coordinated the metagenomic work on the Mesolithic chewing gum. Emrah Kırdök started to analyse the material when he was a postdoc at the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies at Stockholm University, but the study has grown much since then.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">The site Huseby Klev on the island Orust was excavated 30 years ago. Chewed resin was found together with remains of stone tools in a context dated to c. 9700 years ago. The stone material also indicated a Mesolithic chronology. The chewed material from Huseby Klev has already generated a study on the human genetic data from three individuals, and the DNA in the material that was not of human origin has also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0399-1" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">been analysed and published</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Identifying the different species present in the kind of mix of DNA that was present in the Mesolithic chewing gum was challenging. Dr Andrés Aravena, from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Istanbul University spent much time on the computer analysing the data together with Dr. Emrah Kırdök. “We had to apply several computational heavy analytical tools to single out the different species and organisms. All the tools we needed were not ready to be applied to ancient DNA; but much of our time was spent on adjusting them so that we could apply them”, concludes Andrés Aravena. Metagenomics on ancient DNA is an expanding area, but there have yet only been a few studies on this type of chewed material.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">Professor Anders Götherström, at the Centre for Palaeogenetics, a collaboration between Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History, is the head of the project where this study was conducted. “This provides a snapshot of the life of a small group of hunter-gatherers on the Scandinavian west coast. I think it is amazing, there are other well established methods to work out what nutrition and diet relates to the Stone Age, but here we know that these teenagers were eating deer, trout, and hazelnuts 9 700 years ago on the west coast of Scandinavia, while at least one of them had severe problems with his teeth.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study is published in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Scientific Reports</em>. Read article: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-48762-6" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Metagenomic analysis of Mesolithic chewed pitch reveals poor oral health among stone age individuals</a></p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191779088855583678.post-58646531800238751132024-01-18T09:57:00.000-08:002024-01-18T09:57:37.252-08:00 Woolly mammoth movements tied to earliest Alaska hunting camps<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-size: 34px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><br /></h1><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/releaseguidelines" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Peer-Reviewed Publication</a><p class="meta_institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; margin: 2px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS</p><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1011653" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><img alt="Mammoth_Art_JuliusCsotonyi.jpg" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/06902f09-1063-482c-963b-f66a53c247a4/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">IMAGE: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">ARTWORK SHOWS THREE MAMMOTHS BEING WATCHED BY A FAMILY OF ANCIENT ALASKANS FROM THE DUNES NEAR THE SWAN POINT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE, A SEASONAL HUNTING CAMP OCCUPIED 14,000 YEARS AGO.</span></p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1011653" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">CREDIT: IMAGE BY JULIUS CSOSTONYI</p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Researchers have linked the travels of a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth with the oldest known human settlements in Alaska, providing clues about the relationship between the iconic species and some of the earliest people to travel across the Bering Land Bridge.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Scientists made those connections by using isotope analysis to study the life of a female mammoth, <a href="https://media.uaf.edu/media/t/1_90y53m1b" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">named Élmayųujey'eh</a>, by the Healy Lake Village Council. A tusk from Elma was discovered at the Swan Point archaeological site in Interior Alaska. Samples from the tusk revealed details about Elma and the roughly 1,000-kilometer journey she took through Alaska and northwestern Canada during her lifetime.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Isotopic data, along with DNA from other mammoths at the site and archaeological evidence, indicates that early Alaskans likely structured their settlements to overlap with areas where mammoths congregated. Those findings, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk0818?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D46609343924492437333682288568973921462%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1705600570" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">highlighted in the new issue of the journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Science Advances</em></a>, provide evidence that mammoths and early hunter-gatherers shared habitat in the region. The long-term predictable presence of woolly mammoths would have attracted humans to the area.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“She wandered around the densest region of archaeological sites in Alaska,” said Audrey Rowe, a University of Alaska Fairbanks Ph.D. student and lead author of the paper. “It looks like these early people were establishing hunting camps in areas that were frequented by mammoths.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The mammoth tusk was excavated and identified in 2009 by Charles Holmes, affiliate research professor of anthropology at UAF, and François Lanoë, research associate in archaeology at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. They found Elma’s tusk and the remains of two related juvenile mammoths, along with evidence of campfires, the use of stone tools, and butchered remains of other game. All of this “indicates a pattern consistent with human hunting of mammoths,” said Ben Potter, an archaeologist and professor of anthropology at UAF.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Researchers at UAF’s Alaska Stable Isotope Facility then analyzed thousands of samples from Elma’s tusk to recreate her life and travels. Isotopes provide chemical markers of an animal’s diet and location. The markers are then recorded in the bones and tissues of animals and remain even after they die. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Mammoth tusks are well-suited to isotopic study because they grew throughout the ancient animals’ lives, with clearly visible layers appearing when split lengthwise. Those growth bands give researchers a way to collect a chronological record of a mammoth’s life by studying isotopes in samples along the tusk.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Much of Elma’s journey overlapped with that of <a href="https://www.uaf.edu/news/study-takes-unprecedented-peek-into-life-of-17000-year-old-mammoth.php" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">a previously studied male mammoth who lived 3,000 years earlier</a>, demonstrating long-term movement patterns by mammoths over several millennia. In Elma’s case, they also indicated she was a healthy 20-year-old female.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“She was a young adult in the prime of life. Her isotopes showed she was not malnourished and that she died in the same season as the seasonal hunting camp at Swan Point where her tusk was found,” said senior author Matthew Wooller, who is director of the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility and a professor at UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The era in which Elma lived may have compounded the challenges posed by the relatively recent appearance of humans. The grass- and shrub-dominated steppe landscape that had been common in Interior Alaska was beginning to shift toward more forested terrain.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Climate change at the end of the ice age fragmented mammoths’ preferred open habitat, potentially decreasing movement and making them more vulnerable to human predation,” Potter said.</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0