Occupational hazards for ancient Egyptian scribes

Repetitive tasks carried out by ancient Egyptian scribes — high status men with the ability to write who performed administrative tasks — and the positions they sat in while working may have led to degenerative skeletal changes, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.

Petra Brukner Havelková and colleagues examined the skeletal remains of 69 adult males — 30 of whom were scribes — who were buried in the necropolis at Abusir, Egypt between 2700 and 2180 BCE. They identified degenerative joint changes that were more common among scribes compared to men with other occupations. These were in the joints connecting the lower jaw to the skull, the right collarbone, the top of the right humerus (where it meets the shoulder), the first metacarpal bone in the right thumb, the bottom of the thigh (where it meets the knee), and throughout the spine, but particularly at the top. The authors also identified bone changes that could be indicative of physical stress caused by repeated use in the humerus and left hip bone, which were more common among scribes than men with other occupations. Other skeletal features that were more common among scribes were an indentation on both kneecaps and a flattened surface on a bone in the lower part of the right ankle.

The authors suggest that the degenerative changes observed in the spines and shoulders of scribes could result from them sitting for prolonged periods in a cross-legged position with the head bent forwards, the spine flexed, and their arms unsupported. However, changes to knees, hips, and ankles could indicate that scribes may have preferred to sit with the left leg in a kneeling or cross-legged position and the right leg bent with the knee pointing upwards (in a squatting or crouching position). The authors note that statues and wall decorations in tombs have depicted scribes sitting in both positions, in addition to standing, while working. Degeneration to the jaw joints could have resulted from scribes chewing the ends of rush stems to form brush-like heads they could write with, while degeneration to the right thumb could have been caused by repeatedly pinching their pens.

The findings provide greater insight into the lives of scribes in ancient Egypt during the third millennium BCE.

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Article details

Ancient Egyptian scribes and specific skeletal occupational risk markers (Abusir, Old Kingdom)

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-63549-z 

Almonds, pottery, wood help date famed Kyrenia shipwreck

– Historic shipwrecks often evoke dreams of sunken riches waiting on the bottom of the ocean to be reclaimed.

For the Cornell researchers trying to date the famous Hellenistic-era Kyrenia shipwreck, which was discovered and recovered off the north coast of Cyprus in the 1960s, the real treasure was not gold coins, but thousands of almonds found in jars among the cargo.

The almonds, combined with newly cleaned wood samples and the team’s modeling and radiocarbon-dating expertise, led the Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory to identify the likeliest timeline of the Kyrenia’s sinking as between 296-271 BCE, with a strong probability it occurred between 286-272 BCE.

The team’s paper, “A Revised Radiocarbon Calibration Curve 350-250 BCE Impacts High-Precision Dating of the Kyrenia Ship,” will publish June 26 at 2 pm ET in PLoS ONE. The lead author is Sturt Manning, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Classical Archaeology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The Kyrenia has a storied legacy as the first major Greek Hellenistic-period ship to be found, in 1965, with a largely intact hull. From 1967-69, it was excavated along with its cargo, which included hundreds of ceramic vessels, then reassembled offsite and scientifically studied.

“Kyrenia was one of the first times it was realized this type of rich evidence from the classical world could be found largely intact more than 2,000 years later on the seabed, if you could find it,” said Sturt Manning. “It was a bit of a landmark moment, the idea that you actually could dive, excavate and bring up a classical-era ship and so discover this long-past world directly. Shipwrecks are unique time capsules, and you can get amazing preservation.”

For the last six decades, the Kyrenia has provided archeologists and historians with key insights into the development of ancient ship technology, construction practices and maritime trade. To date, no fewer than three Kyrenia replicas have been produced and launched, and these reconstructions have yielded considerable information on ancient ships and their sailing performance. However, the timeline of the Kyrenia’s provenance and the exact date of its sinking has always been vague at best. The initial efforts to date the ship were based on its recovered artifacts, such as the pottery on board and a small batch of coins, which initially led researchers to estimate the ship was built and sank in the later 300s BCE.

“Classical texts and finds at port sites already told us this era was significant for widespread maritime trade and connections all around the Mediterranean – an early period of globalization,” Manning said. “But the discovery of the Kyrenia ship, just under 15 meters long, likely with a crew of four, dramatically made this all very immediate and real. It yielded key insights into the practicalities of the earlier part of a millennium of intense maritime activity in the Mediterranean, from Greek through Late Antique times.”

The first volume of the final publication of the Kyrenia ship project, released last year, argued the wrecking date was a little later, closer to 294-290 BCE, but the primary piece of evidence – a poorly preserved, nearly illegible coin – was not watertight.

Manning’s team, which included co-authors Madeleine Wenger ’24 and Brita Lorentzen, ’06, Ph.D. ’15, sought to secure a date.

The perils of polyethylene glycol

The biggest hurdle for accurately dating the Kyrenia has been another artifact, one from the 20th century: polyethylene glycol (PEG). Excavators and preservationists often applied the petroleum-based compound to waterlogged wood to prevent it from decomposing after it was lifted out of the ocean’s oxygen-free environment.

“PEG was a standard treatment for decades. The trouble is it’s a petroleum product,” Manning said, “which means that if you’ve got PEG in the wood, you have this contamination from ancient fossil carbon that makes radiocarbon dating impossible.”

Manning’s team worked with researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands to develop a new method to clean PEG out of wood, and they demonstrated it on PEG-treated Roman-era samples from Colchester, England, that already had established dendrochronological (tree-ring sequence) dates.

“We removed the PEG from the wood, we radiocarbon dated it and we showed that in each case, we got a radiocarbon age consistent with the real (known) age,” Manning said. “We basically got 99.9% of the PEG removed.”

They used that technique to remove PEG from a Kyrenia sample that Manning and collaborators had tried, and failed, to accurately date 10 years ago. The team also now dated a tiny, twisted piece of wood that was salvaged from the Kyrenia in the late 1960s but was too small to be included in the reconstruction, thus avoiding PEG-treatment. It subsequently sat in a jar of water in a museum for 50-odd years.

The dates showed that the most recent preserved tree-rings from these timbers grew in the mid-later 4th century BCE. Because the samples did not include bark, the researchers couldn’t determine the exact date the original trees were felled, but could say the date was likely after approximately 355-291 BCE.

Organic evidence

Working with the Kyrenia’s original excavation team, the researchers examined its various artifacts, including the pottery and coins, with a focus on organic materials, including an astragalus (a sheep or goat ankle bone once used for games and divining rituals in several ancient cultures) and thousands of fresh green almonds found in some of the large amphorae, i.e., ceramic jars. These “short-lived” sample materials helped define the date of the ship’s last voyage.

The team applied combined statistical modeling with the dendrochronology of the wood samples to get a level of dating that was much more precise than previous efforts. The modeling identified the most likely range of dates for the final voyage to be between 305-271 BCE (95.4% probability) and 286-272 BCE (68.3% probability) – several years more recent than current estimations.

But there was one big hiccup along the way. The new dates didn’t align with the international radiocarbon calibration curve, which is based on known-age tree-rings and is used to convert radiocarbon measurements into calendar dates for the northern hemisphere.

Manning took a closer look at data behind the calibration curve, which has been assembled over many decades by dozens of labs and hundreds of scientists. He discovered that the period between 350 and 250 BCE had no modern accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon data behind it. Instead, the calibration curve in this period relied on only a few measurements conducted in the 1980s and 1990s using an older type of radiocarbon-dating technology. With collaborators in the U.S. and the Netherlands, the team measured known-age single-year sequoia and oak samples to re-calibrate the curve for the period 433-250 BCE. That not only helped clarify a big spike in radiocarbon production caused by a minimum of solar activity centered around 360 BCE, but also led to important revisions to the curve in the period around 300 BCE – improvements that were critical to dating the Kyrenia.

Manning anticipates the new findings will not only clarify the timeline of the Kyrenia and its cargo but will also help researchers using the calibration curve for very different projects.

“This revised curve 400-250 BCE now has relevance to other problems that researchers are working on whether in Europe or China or somewhere else in the northern hemisphere,” he said. “Half of the people who cite the paper in the future will be citing the fact that we’ve revised the radiocarbon calibration curve in this period, and only half will be saying the Kyrenia shipwreck is really important and has a much better date.”

First case of Down syndrome in Neandertals documented in new study

 

Research reveals that Neandertals showed care and support for young child

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY

 

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FOSSIL CN-46700

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CREDIT: SCIENCE ADVANCES

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- A new study published by an international multidisciplinary team of researchers including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York, documents the first case of Down syndrome in Neandertals and reveals that they were capable of providing altruistic care and support for a vulnerable member of their social group.

The research, led by anthropologists at the University of Alcalá and the University of Valencia in Spain, studied the skeletal remains of a Neandertal child, whom they affectionately named “Tina”, found at Cova Negra, a cave in Valencia, Spain long known for yielding important Neandertal discoveries.

“The excavations at Cova Negra have been key to understanding the way of life of the Neandertals along the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula and have allowed us to define the occupations of the settlement: of short temporal duration and with a small number of individuals, alternating with the presence of carnivores," said University of Valencia Professor of Prehistory Valentín Villaverde.

The researchers made micro-computed tomography scans of a small cranial fragment of the right temporal bone, containing the ear region, to reconstruct a three-dimensional model for measurement and analysis. Tina suffered from a congenital pathology of the 

inner ear associated with Down syndrome that produced severe hearing loss and disabling vertigo. This individual survived to at least 6 years of age, but would have required extensive care from other members of their social group.

“This is a fantastic study, combining rigorous archaeological excavations, modern medical imaging techniques and diagnostic criteria to document Down syndrome in a Neandertal individual for the first time. The results have significant implications for our understanding of Neandertal behavior,” said Binghamton University Professor of Anthropology Rolf Quam.

Researchers have known for decades that Neandertals cared for disabled individuals. However, to date, all known cases of social care among Neandertals involved adult individuals, leading some scientists to discount this as truly altruistic behavior and instead to suggest it more likely represented reciprocal exchange of help between equals. 

"What was not known until now was any case of an individual who had received help, even if they could not return the favor, which would prove the existence of true altruism among Neandertals. That is precisely what the discovery of 'Tina' means,” said Mercedes Conde, professor at the University of Alcalá and lead author of the study.
The study, “The child who lived: Down syndrome among Neandertals?” was published in Science Advances.

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JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adn9310 

Direct evidence found for dairy consumption in the Pyrenees in the earliest stages of the Neolithic

 

 

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CERAMIC REMAINS FROM CUEVA DE CHAVES ANALYSED IN THE STUDY. AUTHOR: R. LABORDA

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CREDIT: R. LABORDA

The analysis of the content and use of prehistoric vessels has become a valuable source of information on the food patterns and subsistence practices of past societies. A research conducted on the materials found at the Huescan sites of Cueva de Chaves (Bastaràs), at 640 metres above sea level, and at Espluga de la Puyascada (La Fueva), at 1,300 metres above sea level, in a strictly Pyrenean mountain region, now has yielded the first direct evidence of dairy product consumption and processing in the Pyrenees during the earliest stages of the Neolithic.

The study was conducted by prehistorians from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the University of Zaragoza, and chemists from the University of Strasbourg, France, on materials on display at the Huesca Museum. The findings have now been published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

The research was conducted through a combination of techniques used to identify organic residues and the isotopic characterisation of fatty acids to determine animal origin, as well as data obtained of the morphology and functionality of ceramics and the archaeozoological studies of both sites.

The analysis of organic residues preserved in the argillaceous matrix of the interior of 36 ceramic vessels indicates that 7,500 years ago dairy products were already processed and consumed in the Central Pyrenees. The correlation between the residues of dairy fats and the different forms of the pottery suggests, moreover, that all the processes (preparation, consumption and storage) were carried out in both settlements.

This “questions previous considerations in which dairy consumption in the Pyrenees was thought to have begun much later”, points out Nàdia Tarifa, researcher from the University of Strasbourg when this study was conducted, and lead autor of the paper. “It was always thought that prehistoric social dynamics in mountainous regions were slower or ‘less evolved’ than in coastal regions. Our study adds solid proof to previous faunistic studies conducted in both sites, which had pointed to dairy farming in these mountainous regions at the very early stages of the Neolithic period”, Tarifa states.

The study also shows how pig-derived products may have been processed or stored in ceramic vessels at both sites, which would indicate the importance of this species for the early mountain farming economies. In contrast to the results for milk, researchers also observed variations between the two sites in terms of the exploitation of meat from ruminants and pigs, with a predominance of the former in Espluga de la Puyascada and the latter in Cueva de Chaves. These differences could be related to the characteristics of the settlements and their surroundings, and to the methods of meat processing.

The researchers also identified residues from processed vegetables, as well as from pine resin. The latter substance would have been used to waterproof the inside of the vessels.

The results support the idea that in the early Neolithic period in the Pyrenean area there was a mixed economy based on integrated agriculture and livestock farming (in which one supported the other), with sheep herds as the main source of meat and milk.

“Our findings provide a better understanding of consumption habits and the technological use of resources in the early Neolithic period in the Pyrenees and open up new avenues of research to deepen our understanding of the social and economic dynamics of ancient societies, especially in mountainous areas”, says Alejandro Sierra, researcher at the UAB and co-author of the study.

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JOURNAL

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

DOI

10.1007/s12520-024-02001-9 

Origins of cumulative culture in human evolution

 

Our culture and technology today are the result of thousands of years of accumulated and remixed cultural knowledge

Peer-Reviewed Publication

 

IMAGE: 

OLDOWAN CORE, KOOBI FORA, KENYA (FIRST TIME PERIOD, BELOW BASELINES).

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CREDIT: CURRY, MICHAEL. 2020. OLDOWAN CORE, KOOBI FORA. MUSEUM OF STONE TOOLS. RETRIEVED JUNE 10, 2024. FROM: HTTPS://UNE.PEDESTAL3D.COM/R/DGHMTDKN4_

Each of us individually is the accumulated product of thousands of generations that have come before us in an unbroken line. Our culture and technology today are also the result of thousands of years of accumulated and remixed cultural knowledge.

But when did our earliest ancestors begin to make connections and start to build on the knowledge of others, setting us apart from other primates? Cumulative culture — the accumulation of technological modifications and improvements over generations — allowed humans to adapt to a diversity of environments and challenges. But, it is unclear when cumulative culture first developed during hominin evolution.

A study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Arizona State University researcher Charles Perreault and doctoral graduate Jonathan Paige, concludes that humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge through social learning around 600,000 years ago.

“Our species, Homo sapiens,” said Perreault, “has been successful at adapting to ecological conditions — from tropical forests to arctic tundra — that require different kinds of problems to be solved. Cumulative culture is key because it allows human populations to build on and recombine the solutions of prior generations and to develop new complex solutions to problems very quickly. The result is, our cultures, from technological problems and solutions to how we organize our institutions, are too complex for individuals to invent on their own.” Perreault is a research scientist with the Institute of Human Origins and associate professor with the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

To investigate when this technological turn may have begun, Paige and Perreault analyzed changes in the complexity of stone tool manufacturing techniques across the last 3.3 million years of the archaeological record to explore the origin of cumulative culture.

As a baseline for the complexity of stone tool technologies achievable without cumulative culture, the researchers analyzed technologies used by nonhuman primates — like chimpanzees — and stone tool manufacturing experiments involving inexperienced human flintknappers and randomized flaking.

The researchers broke down the complexity of the stone tool technologies by the number of steps (PUs or procedural units) that each tool-making sequence involved. The results suggested that from around 3.3 to 1.8 million years ago — when australopiths and earliest Homo species were around — stone tool manufacturing sequences remained within the range of the baselines (1 to 6 PUs). From around 1.8 million to 600,000 years ago, manufacturing sequences began to overlap with and slightly exceed the complexity baseline (4 to 7 PUs). But, after around 600,000 years ago, the complexity of manufacturing sequences rapidly increased (5 to 18 PUs).

“By 600,000 years ago or so, hominin populations started relying on unusually complex technologies, and we only see rapid increases in complexity after that time as well. Both of those findings match what we expect to see among hominins who rely on cumulative culture,” said Paige, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Missouri and ASU PhD graduate.

Tool-assisted foraging may have been the impetus for the earliest beginning of the evolution of cumulative culture. Early hominins, 3.4 to 2 million years ago, likely relied on foraging strategies that require tools, like accessing meat, marrow and organs, leading to changes in brain size, life span and biology that set the stage for cumulative culture. While other forms of social learning may have influenced tool making, it is only in the Middle Pleistocene when there is evidence for rapid increases in technological complexity and the development of other kinds of new technologies.

The Middle Pleistocene also shows consistent evidence of controlled use of fire, hearths and domestic spaces, likely essential components of the development of cumulative culture. Other kinds of complex technologies also developed in the Middle Pleistocene, including wooden structures constructed with logs hewn using hafted tools, which are stone blades affixed to wooden or bone handles.

This all suggests that cumulative culture arose near the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene epoch, possibly predating the divergence of Neanderthals and modern humans.

 

Published article: 3.3 million years of stone tool complexity suggests cumulative culture began during the Middle Pleistocene. Jonathan Paige and Charles Perrealt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (link when published)

Novel hypothesis explains occupation of Brazil’s southern coast 2,000 years ago

Analysis of an archaeological site near the town of Laguna refutes the theory that the ancestors of the Southern Jê replaced the people who built shell middens and burial mounds (sambaquis) for more than 5,000 years on the coast of Santa Catarina state.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

 

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ONE OF THE BURIAL UNITS FOUND BY THE MAE-USP TEAM IN 2005; THE MATERIAL HAS NOW BEEN RE-ANALYZED USING NOVEL TECHNIQUES ONE OF THE BURIAL UNITS FOUND BY THE MAE-USP TEAM IN 2005; THE MATERIAL HAS NOW BEEN RE-ANALYZED USING NOVEL TECHNIQUES 

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CREDIT: PAULO DEBLASIS

An important chapter of the history of human occupation on the coast of Brazil is being rewritten by Brazilian researchers affiliated with the University of São Paulo’s Museum of Archeology and Ethnology (MAE-USP) and supported by FAPESP.

In an article published in the journal PLOS ONE, the group, which also includes researchers in Santa Catarina state, South Brazil, and in other countries (the United States, Belgium and France), shows that the sambaqui builders of Galheta IV, an archeological site in Laguna (Santa Catarina), were not replaced by ancestors of the Southern Jê, as previously thought.

As the article explains, sambaquis are middens that constitute “evidence of long-term occupation”. They consist of mounds with layers of shellfish debris, human and animal bones, remains of plants and hearths, stone or bone utensils, and other refuse. They were used for burial and shelter, and to demarcate territory.

“There was far less interaction than has been thought between these midden builders [sambaquieiros] and the proto-Jê populations, as we call them. Their funerary practices and pottery were different. Moreover, the sambaquieiros lived there from birth and were descendants of people who had lived in the same place,” says André Strauss, a professor at MAE-USP and penultimate author of the article.

The theory that one ethnic group replaced the other arose partly because sites like Galheta IV mark the end of sambaqui building. The potsherds found in the most recent layers of mounds on these sites recall the pottery of the ancestors of South Jê Indigenous groups Kaingang and Laklãnõ-Xokleng. This is another reason for the long-held belief, now refuted, that the sambaqui builders who lived on the coast were replaced by people from the Santa Catarina uplands.

“We don’t know why sambaqui building stopped. Possible explanations include contact with other cultures and environmental factors such as changing sea levels and salinity, which may have led to a fall in the supply of shellfish and hence of the raw material for shell mounds,” says Jéssica Mendes Cardoso, first author of the article. The study was conducted while she researching for her doctoral thesis at MAE-USP and the University of Toulouse in France.

Cardoso re-analyzed material collected by another team at MAE-USP and the Heritage Education and Archeology Research Group (GRUPEP) at the University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL) between 2005 and 2007, when the skeletons of four individuals were exhumed. In doing so, she quantified the strontium, carbon and nitrogen isotopes, determining that fish and other seafood accounted for 60% of the diet of the group in question. Analysis of the bones also showed that the individuals were not buried after cremation, a funerary practice used by Southern proto-Jê populations.

She also analyzed faunal remains (parts of animals in the material record), especially of fish, which are common in sambaquis. Unlike other sites, this one also had bones of marine birds such as albatrosses and penguins, and bones of mammals such as a fur seal.

“These animals were not part of their daily diet but were consumed seasonally while they were migrating or might have been kept at the site. They were probably part of their funeral rites since no one lived in this place. The site was a burial ground,” Cardoso says. There were 12 albatrosses in one burial unit, for example.

New dating found the site older than was thought, estimating that it was built and frequented between 1,300 and 500 years ago. The previous estimate was 1,170-900 years ago.

Rosetta Stone

Analysis of the pottery found at the archeological site also suggests that the proto-Jê may have been only a cultural influence adopted by the sambaqui builders. Out of 190 potsherds excavated there, 131 were large enough for examination and analysis.

“The pottery is very different from that found in the Santa Catarina uplands, in terms of shape and decoration, but similar to that found at other sites on the coast in both the north and south of the state, showing that these objects may well have been transported from one coastal location to another. These are the oldest pottery remains found in the state, dating from 1,300 years ago, whereas the pottery found in the uplands is about 1,000 years old,” says Fabiana Merencio, second author of the article. During the study, she was a PhD candidate at MAE-USP with a scholarship from FAPESP. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

“We reveal a new expression of human materiality on the coast, some 1,000 years ago, in the shape of substitution for sambaquis of sites without mollusk shells but with pottery. This site is a Rosetta Stone that helps us understand these connections,” Strauss says.

A new research group will now return to the area to study another site (Jabuticabeira II) in a new project supported by FAPESP and led by Ximena Villagran, a professor at MAE-USP.

Early «Homo sapiens» facilitated the establishment of the Bonelli’s eagle 50,000 years ago

 

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BONELLI’S EAGLE.

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CREDIT: AUTHOR: F. DAVID CARMONA

A team of Spanish and Portuguese scientists led by the UGR have unravelled the ancestral history of one of the most iconic birds of prey in the current Iberian fauna: the Bonelli’s eagle (Aquila fasciata).

The study, published in the prestigious scientific journal People and Nature, combines evidence from several disciplines, including palaeontology, genetics and ecology, to answer questions about when and why the Bonelli’s eagle, a species primarily found in tropical and subtropical areas, colonised the Mediterranean Basin.

As Marcos Moleón Paiz, a Senior Lecturer at the UGR’s Department of Zoology and lead author of the paper, explains: “The Bonelli’s eagle is a ‘newcomer’ to Europe. This species probably began to establish itself in the Mediterranean Basin no more than 50,000 years ago, while others, such as the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), have been here much longer, as evidenced by the fossil record”.

The spatial analysis carried out in the study showed that cold climatic periods are largely unfavourable for the Bonelli’s eagle, but not for the golden eagle. “During the last glacial period, the Bonelli’s eagle could only find refuge in warm coastal areas, which is precisely where the oldest fossils of this species have been found,” says Moleón. Genetic analysis confirmed that around the Last Glacial Maximum, the Mediterranean population of Bonelli’s eagles consisted of only a few individuals. This ancestral population of Bonelli’s eagles thrived as the temperature in the Mediterranean Basin rose and the human population grew and became sedentary.

However, as Moleón points out: «Once the question of ‘when’ was resolved, the inevitable question arose: Why did the Bonelli’s eagle begin to colonise the Mediterranean in such a complex climatic period? And why did it establish itself during the last glacial cycle and not before?”

The role of our ancestors

According to Moleón, “after testing several alternative hypotheses, all of the pieces of the puzzle indicated that the first settlers of our species (Homo sapiens) in Europe played a fundamental role”.

The study collected and analysed the most comprehensive information currently available on the competitive interactions between Bonelli’s eagles and golden eagles. This enabled the scientists to confirm that the golden eagle is the dominant species and the Bonelli’s eagle is the subordinate species in this relationship. Thus, the results showed that Bonelli’s eagles can only survive in places where golden eagles are rare, which is mainly in areas that are densely populated by humans.

Moleón continues: «In addition, our mathematical models showed that if we were able to eliminate all the existing golden eagle pairs in climatically favourable areas, we would expect to see a significant increase in the number of Bonelli’s eagle pairs, but not the other way round. We also know that golden eagles can kill Bonelli’s eagles and take over their territories, but not vice versa».

It is worth noting that golden eagles are less tolerant of human presence than Bonelli’s eagles. The authors hypothesise that with the arrival of the first anatomically modern humans in Europe, some of the golden eagle territories closest to human settlements were abandoned and these “vacant” territories were then occupied by Bonelli’s eagles from the Middle East. “In short, Bonelli’s eagles could not have established themselves in the Mediterranean before the arrival of the first Homo sapiens because the competitive pressure from golden eagles and other species would have been too overwhelming”, the UGR researcher adds.

Living near or far from humans

Knowledge of the ability of humans to influence species distribution is nothing new. The novelty of this study lies in revealing a mechanism called «human-mediated competitive release», by which our species, including our ancestors, could indirectly affect the distribution of other species, including long-lived species. “In order to understand what we observe in nature today, we often have to look to the past,» says Moleón.

However, the advantage that living close to humans once gave Bonelli’s eagles has now turned against them. “Paradoxically, the future of the Bonelli’s eagle in the Mediterranean region is currently being threatened by the relentless intensification of human activities in the environment, which is reflected, among other factors, in the deaths caused by power lines, the lack of prey, and the disturbance of nesting sites,» the authors conclude.

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JOURNAL

People and Nature

DOI

10.1002/pan3.10642 

6,000 years ago, men and women had equal access to resources

 

Using isotope geochemistry, a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has uncovered new information about the Barmaz necropolis in Valais (Switzerland): 14% of the people buried 6,000 years ago at this site were not locals. What’s more, the study suggests that this Middle Neolithic agropastoral society - one of the oldest known in the western part of Switzerland - was relatively egalitarian. The isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur contained in the bones reveal that all members of the community, including people from elsewhere, had access to the same food resources. These results are published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Neolithic times marked the beginning of animal husbandry and agriculture. In Switzerland, this period spans between 5500 and 2200 BC. The first agropastoral communities gradually moved from a predatory economy - in which hunting and gathering provided the nutrients essential for survival - to a production economy. This radically changed the dietary habits and functioning dynamics of Neolithic populations. The bones and teeth of individuals retain chemical traces that scientists are now able to detect and interpret.

The aim of the study carried out by Déborah Rosselet-Christ, a doctoral student at the Laboratory of Archaeology of Africa and Anthropolgy in the UNIGE Faculty of Science, is to apply isotope analysis to human remains dating from the Neolithic period to learn more about their diet and mobility. The levels of certain isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and strontium depend on the environment in which each individual lives and eats. Isotopes are atoms that have the same number of electrons and protons but a different number of neutrons. This very precise and delicate technique is being applied for the first time to alpine agropastoral populations from the Middle Neolithic period in the western part of Switzerland.

Mobility according to the second molar 

Excavated in the 1950s and 1990s, the Barmaz site at Collombey-Muraz in the Chablais region of Valais is one of the oldest remains of agropastoral societies in the western part of Switzerland to have preserved human remains. It comprises two necropolises containing the bones of around seventy individuals. For her master degree, Déborah Rosselet-Christ, the study’s first author, selected 49 of them (as many women as men) from whom she systematically took samples of collagen from certain bones, as well as fragments of enamel from their second molars.
 

‘‘The second molar is a tooth whose crown forms between the ages of three and eight,’’ explains the researcher. ‘‘Once formed, tooth enamel is not renewed for the rest of its life. Its chemical composition therefore reflects the environment in which its owner lived during childhood. Strontium (Sr) is a good marker of mobility. The ratio of abundance between two of its isotopes - i.e. their proportion - varies greatly depending on the age of the surrounding rocks. These chemical elements end up in the enamel via the food chain, leaving an indelible signature that is specific to each environment.’’

Analysis of the strontium isotope ratios in the 49 individuals from Barmaz reveals a high degree of homogeneity in most of them and markedly different values in only 14% of the samples, indicating a different origin. ‘‘The technique makes it possible to determine that these are individuals who did not live the first years of their lives in the place where they were buried, but it is more difficult to determine where they come from’’, moderates Jocelyne Desideri, senior lecturer at the Laboratory of Archaeology of Africa and Anthropolgy in the UNIGE Faculty of Science, last author of the article. ‘‘Our results show that people were on the move at that time. This comes as no surprise, as several studies have highlighted the same phenomenon in other places and at other times during the Neolithic period.’’

Diet recorded in collagen 

Collagen is used to determine the ratios of isotopes of carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N) and sulphur (δ34S). Each measurement provides information on specific aspects of the diet, such as the categories of plants according to the type of photosynthesis they use, the amount of animal protein or the intake of aquatic animals. As bones are constantly being renewed, the results only concern the last few years of an individual’s life. That said, the scientists were able to deduce that these former residents of the region of Barmaz had a diet based on terrestrial (rather than aquatic) resources, with a very high consumption of animal protein.

‘‘What’s more interesting is that we didn’t measure any differences between men and women,’’ notes Déborah Rosselet-Christ. ‘‘Nor even between locals and non-locals. These results therefore suggest equal access to food resources between the different members of the group, whatever their origin or sex. However, this is not always the case. There are, for example, dietary differences between the sexes in Neolithic populations in the south of France.’’

A clearer picture of agropastoral societies

However, the scientists were able to show that non-local people were only buried in one of the necropolises (Barmaz I) and that higher levels of the nitrogen isotope were measured in the other (Barmaz II). Given that the two necropolises were contemporaneous (and only 150 metres apart), the latter observation raises the question of whether there was a difference in social status between the two groups of deceased.

‘‘Our isotope measurements are an interesting complement to other approaches used in archaeology,’’ says Jocelyne Desideri. ‘‘They help to clarify the picture we are trying to paint of the life of these early Alpine agropastoral societies, the relationships between individuals and their mobility.’’

Climate could drive the shift of iconic transport route known as the ancient Silk Road

 

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

 

IMAGE: 

RED AND YELLOW LINES DENOTE THE NEW NORTHERN ROUTE AND THE TARIM BASIN ROUTE, RESPECTIVELY, AND OTHER MAJOR ROUTES OF THE SR ARE PLOTTED AS GREY LINES. LOCATION OF SHUANGHU LAKE (RED STAR) AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATASETS FROM TANGCHAODUN, SHITOUCHENG AND GONGZHUBAO (WHITE STARS). OTHER RECORDS OF TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION REFERENCED IN THIS STUDY ARE INDICATED BY RED AND BLUE DOTS, RESPECTIVELY.

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CREDIT: ©SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

Climate change has convincingly been linked to the evolution of human civilization on different temporal scales. The researchers note that the role of climate change in influencing spatial changes in ancient civilizations is rarely investigated. They found that the northward shift of the ancient Silk Road (SR) route in arid NW China provides a rare opportunity to carry out such studies.

After the dispatch of Zhang Qian to the Western Regions (a historical name referring to arid NW China) in the 2nd century BCE by Emperor Wu of the Chinese Han Dynasty, the Tarim Basin route of the SR was gradually established. From the South-North Dynasties (420–589 CE) to the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), the New Northern route along the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains began to rise, and gradually replaced the Tarim Basin route as the major route of the SR in this region. The rise of the New Northern route promoted the development of the Turco-Sogdian Milieux, connected the Chinese dynasties and nomadic regimes in Central and West Asia (e.g., the Khazar Empire), and facilitated communications and commerce from the Pacific to the Atlantic. However, the reasons for the northward shift of the SR route remain unclear, and whether climate change played a key role in this shift is a scientific question worthy of discussion.

Water resource is the most important environmental factor restricting human activities in the study area, and it is strongly affected by temperature and precipitation changes: temperature can affect runoff by regulating meltwater, and precipitation is a direct provider of water resources. Previous paleoclimate studies have basically reached a consensus on the variation of precipitation/humidity in this region, but there is still a great dispute on the history of temperature change.

In this study, the researchers obtained a new high-quality chironomid-based temperature record from Shuanghu Lake in arid NW China. By integrating the available hydroclimatic data, the newly measured ages of the ancient city sites along the SR, and the newly obtained war frequency records through literature collation, they investigated the possible influence of climate change on the shift of the SR routes from the South-North Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty.

The results show that low temperature during ~420-600 AD in the study area reduced meltwater. Meanwhile, the precipitation greatly diminished. Decreased meltwater and precipitation together led to water shortage and triggered the shift of the SR route from the Tarim Basin to the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains where water resources were more abundant and stable. It reflects the direct impact of climate change on the shift of the SR routes. Interestingly, during the subsequent period of ~600 to 850 AD, the warm and wet climate did not prevent this shift, because of the geopolitical conflicts between the Tubo Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty in the Tarim Basin -- the rise and expansion of the Tubo Kingdom were closely related to the relatively favorable climate on the Tibetan Plateau at that time. It thus reflects the indirect impact of climate change on the SR shift.

This study reveals two distinct ways in which climate change drove the spatial evolution of human civilization: direct impact (deterioration of living environment) and indirect impact (geopolitical conflicts), which has potential significance for understanding the migration of ancient populations between Eurasia and the challenges that mankind may face in the context of current global warming.

See the article:

Climate change drove the route shift of the ancient Silk Road in two distinct ways

JOURNAL

Science Bulletin

DOI

10.1016/j.scib.2024.02.025 

Ritual sacrifice at Chichén Itzá

 

Ancient Maya genomes reveal the practice of male twin sacrifice and the enduring genetic legacy of colonial-era epidemics

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY

 

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EL CASTILLO, ALSO KNOWN AS THE TEMPLE OF KUKULCAN, IS AMONG THE LARGEST STRUCTURES AT CHICHÉN ITZÁ AND ITS ARCHITECTURE REFLECTS ITS FAR-FLUNG POLITICAL CONNECTIONS.

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CREDIT: JOHANNES KRAUSE

Located in the heart of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá is one of North America’s most iconic and enigmatic archaeological sites. It rose to power in the aftermath of the Classic Maya collapse and was a populous and powerful political center in the centuries preceding the arrival of the Spanish. Chichén Itzá’s influence extended throughout the Maya region and deep into the heart of Central Mexico. Famed for its monumental architecture, including more than a dozen ballcourts and numerous temples, among them the massive temple of El Castillo adorned with feathered serpents, it has been under archaeological investigation for more than a century.

Chichén Itzá is perhaps best known for its extensive evidence of ritual killing, which includes both the physical remains of sacrificed individuals and representations in monumental art. The controversial dredging of the site’s Sacred Cenote in the early 20th century identified the remains of hundreds of individuals, and a full-scale stone representation of a massive tzompantli (skull rack) in the site’s core point to the centrality of sacrifice within the ritual life at Chichén Itzá. Despite its notoriety, however, the role and context of ritual killing at the site remain poorly understood.

A large proportion of sacrificed individuals at the site are children and adolescents. Although there is a widespread belief that females were the primary focus of sacrifice at the site, sex is difficult to determine from juvenile skeletal remains by physical examination alone, and more recent anatomical analyses suggest that many of the older juveniles may in fact be male. In 1967, a subterranean chamber was discovered near the Sacred Cenote that contained the scattered remains of more than a hundred young children. The chamber, which was likely a repurposed chultún (water cistern), had been enlarged to connect to a small cave. Among the ancient Maya, caves, cenotes (natural sinkholes), and chultúns have long been associated with child sacrifice, and such subterranean features were widely viewed as connection points to the underworld.

To better understand ritual life and the context of child sacrifice at Chichén Itzá, an international team of researchers from institutions including the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA, Leipzig) and Geoanthropology (MPI-GEA, Jena), the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH, Mexico City), the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH-Yucatan, Mérida), and Harvard University (Cambridge) conducted an in-depth genetic investigation of the remains of 64 children ritually interred within the chutún at Chichén Itzá.

A ritual sacrifice focused on males and close kin

Dating of the remains revealed that the chultún was used for mortuary purposes for more than 500 years, from the 7th to 12th centuries AD, but that most of the children were interred during the 200-year period of Chichén Itzá’s political apex between 800 to 1,000 AD. Unexpectedly, genetic analysis revealed that all 64 tested individuals were male. Further genetic analysis revealed that the children had been drawn from local Maya populations, and that at least a quarter of the children were closely related to at least one other child in the chultún. These young relatives had consumed similar diets, suggesting they were raised in the same household. “Our findings showcase remarkably similar dietary patterns among individuals exhibiting a first- or second-degree familial connection,” says co-author Patxi Pérez-Ramallo, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, NTNU University Museum, Trondheim, Norway and the MPI-GEA.

“Most surprisingly, we identified two pairs of identical twins,” says Kathrin Nägele, co-author and group leader at the MPI-EVA. “We can say this with certainty because our sampling strategy ensured we would not duplicate individuals.” Taken together, the findings indicate that related male children were likely being selected in pairs for ritual activities associated with the chultún.

“The similar ages and diets of the male children, their close genetic relatedness, and the fact that they were interred in the same place for more than 200 years point to the chultún as a post-sacrificial burial site, with the sacrificed individuals having been selected for a specific reason,” says Oana Del Castillo-Chávez, co-author and researcher in the Physical Anthropology Section at the Centro INAH Yucatán.

Connections to the Popol Vuh

Twins hold a special place in the origin stories and spiritual life of the ancient Maya. Twin sacrifice is a central theme in the sacred K’iche’ Mayan Book of Council, known as the Popol Vuh, a colonial-era book whose antecedents can be traced back more than 2,000 years in the Maya region. In the Popol Vuh, the twins Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu descend into the underworld and are sacrificed by the gods following defeat in a ballgame. The twin sons of Hun Hunahpu, known as the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque, then go on to avenge their father and uncle by undergoing repeated cycles of sacrifice and resurrection in order to outwit the gods of the underworld. The Hero Twins and their adventures are amply represented in Classic Maya art, and because subterranean structures were viewed as entrances to the underworld, the interment of twins and pairs of close kin within the chultún at Chichén Itzá may recall rituals involving the Hero Twins.

“Early 20th century accounts falsely popularized lurid tales of young women and girls being sacrificed at the site,” says Christina Warinner, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences and Anthropology at Harvard University and a group leader at the MPI-EVA. “This study, conducted as a close international collaboration, turns that story on its head and reveals the deep connections between ritual sacrifice and the cycles of human death and rebirth described in sacred Maya texts.”

The enduring genetic legacy of colonial epidemics

The detailed genetic information obtained at Chichén Itzá has also allowed researchers to investigate another major outstanding question in Mesoamerica: the long-term genetic impact of colonial-era epidemics on Indigenous populations. Working closely with residents of the local Maya community of Tixcacaltuyub, researchers found evidence of genetic positive selection in immunity-related genes, and specifically selection for genetic variants that are protective against Salmonella infection. During the 16th century in Mexico, wars, famines, and epidemics caused a population decline as high as 90 percent, and among the most serious epidemics was the 1545 cocoliztli epidemic, recently identified as being caused by the pathogen Salmonella enterica Paratyphi C.

“The present-day Maya carry the genetic scars of these colonial-era epidemics,” says lead author Rodrigo Barquera, immunogeneticist and postdoctoral researcher at the MPI-EVA. “Multiple lines of evidence point to specific genetic changes in the immune genes of present-day Mexicans of Indigenous and mixed-ancestry descent that are linked to enhanced resistance to Salmonella enterica infection.”

The study of ancient DNA is increasingly allowing more detailed and complex questions to be asked about the past. “The new information gained from ancient DNA has not only allowed us to dispel outdated hypotheses and assumptions and to gain new insights into the biological consequences of past events, it has given us a glimpse into the cultural lives of the ancient Maya,” says senior author Johannes Krause, Director of the Department of Archaeogenetics at the MPI-EVA. Such studies also empower Indigenous researchers to shape narratives of the past and set priorities for the future. “It is significant to me as a research professor of indigenous origin that I can contribute to the construction of knowledge,” says María Ermila Moo-Mezeta, Mayan co-author of the study and researcher at the Autonomous University of Yucatán (UADY). “I consider the preservation of the historical memory of the Mayan people to be important.”

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-019-0000-0