Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences最新文献

The Iberian Peninsula, rich in archaeological and anthropological records, has experienced significant population migrations throughout history, including Celts, Romans, and Muslims. The city of Mérida, an important city during the Islamic period, experienced important transformations, especially after the fall of the Umayyad caliphate. In 2009, an archaeological excavation uncovered a large Islamic cemetery (maqbara), dating from the 8th to 12th centuries. From this maqbara was selected 70 individuals from the site “Former Military Artillery Barracks Hernán Cortés”, and 14 from the site “14 Jose de Larra Street”. Dental nonmetric traits are reliable indicators of gene flow and genetic affinity among populations. To evaluate the biological affinities of these 84 individuals we recorded 22 dental traits using the ASUDAS system and compared with them to ten reference samples. The biodistances were tested with the Mean Measure of Divergence statistic. Biodistance analysis results showed close biological proximity between the Merida sample and South European references samples, with intra-regional heterogeneity among Iberian Peninsula populations. The strategic location of the Iberian Peninsula between North Africa and Southern Europe facilitated genetic and cultural interactions, shaping its genetic landscape. This study emphasizes the complex relationship between historical, demographic, and cultural factors influencing the genetic variability of the Merida sample.

The transition to agriculture-based economies and sedentary lifeways during the Neolithic brought significant changes in oral health and diet. Despite the influence of physiological and cultural factors, the frequency of dental pathologies, such as caries and dental calculus, is a common consequence of carbohydrate-rich diets. Caries result from bacterial activity that transforms carbohydrates into lactic acid, leading to the demineralisation of tooth enamel. In contrast, dental calculus can trap and preserve biomolecules and microremains—such as phytoliths and starch grains—making it a valuable resource for investigating past diets and lifeways. Although microbotanical analyses of dental calculus and caries occurrence are common in archaeology, these methods are rarely applied together in the same case study. This paper presents the results of the analyses of microbotanical remains, such as phytoliths and starch grains, retrieved from dental calculus, as well as caries occurrence in 11 individuals from Tepecik-Çiftlik, a Neolithic settlement in southwestern Cappadocia, Turkey. Caries prevalence aligns with previous studies highlighting the poor oral health of the Neolithic Tepecik-Çiftlik community and suggests a high reliance on carbohydrate-rich diets. Microbotanical remains showed contrasting results, with phytoliths indicating the presence of cereals but an absence of starch grains of cereal origin. This lack of cereal starch grains could point towards the influence of culinary and foodway practices on the preservation and occurrence of microbotanical remains in dental calculus, variables often overlooked in the study of ancient diets. These findings contribute to our understanding of the lifeways and oral health of the Neolithic Tepecik-Çiftlik community while drawing attention to how foodways and culinary practices may influence or bias the archaeological record.

Wood and bark are among the most significant raw materials prehistoric and early historical human communities used to produce tools and goods that shaped their daily life. Since special conditions are required to preserve objects made with these materials until today, we have limited information about how often or how this basic raw material was used. Here, we report evidence of how wood and bark were used in basket crafting and compare them with modern-day uses. On the northwestern coast of Türkiye, Zonguldak-Karadeniz Ereğli İnönü Cave has special conditions for the preservation of wood and other organic materials. In the Late Bronze Age Level III of the cave (1,436–1,123 Cal BC), baskets and evidence of basketry were found among water-filled puddles. These records are valuable for understanding how the environment surrounding archaeological sites was used by its settlers. Analyzes carried out to understand which types of trees in the environment are preferred for basket production highlighted European yew (Taxus baccata L.) and field maple (Acer campestre L.) species. Production techniques and species analyses of basket remains show the knowledge and level of specialization in basket production of the Late Bronze Age settlers of İnönü Cave.

As the vast majority of excavated palaeontological skeletal remains are fragmentary to the extent that they cannot be identified by morphological analysis alone, various molecular methods have been considered to retrieve information from an otherwise underutilised resource. The introduction of collagen fingerprinting, known as Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), has become one of the most popular approaches to improve taxonomic data yields from fragmentary bone. However, manual laboratory work remains a barrier to the analysis of larger sample numbers. Here we test the incorporation of liquid-handling robots to further develop ZooMS into a more automated technique using samples excavated from Grotte Mandrin, France. By increasing the faunal identifications of the morphological indeterminable remains at layer B2 (~ 42–44 Ka), from 55 to 1215 (1026 of which were processed via AutoZooMS), we identified a wider range of taxa, now including Ursidae and Mammuthus, as well as further hominin remains. AutoZooMS has the capacity to investigate larger proportions of palaeontological assemblages rapidly and cost effectively whilst requiring little human intervention, aiming to improve our understanding of the human past.

Twelve human skeletons, approximately 2000 years old, were recovered from the Faraoskop archaeological site in the Western Cape Province, South Africa (Manhire 1993). Several of the skeletons were well enough preserved to determine the osteological profiles (sex, age and stature etc.). Additionally, paleopathological and traumatic changes were observed on some of these skeletal remains. Given suggested context that these human remains were drawn from a single mortuary event, this paper investigates the possibility of familial relationships between the individuals by establishing maternal profiles from mitochondrial DNA. The mitochondrial DNA analysis resulted in the identification of four full genomes from the Faraoskop (FK) individuals and the two Khoesan pastoralist individuals chosen as reference samples for the analysis. Three other FK individuals provided partial genomes which could be assigned to incomplete haplotypes. Five individuals could not be sequenced due to poor DNA preservation. Molecular sex could be confirmed for five FK and two reference individuals, adding to the sex assessment from osteological data. All but one of the mitochondrial haplotypes were L0d1 or L0d2 which is consistent with mtDNA from living Khoesan populations in southern Africa. One individual (FK1) was L0f1, a haplotype which is not present southern African Khoesan, but is currently centred in Uganda and Tanzania. It is occasionally found amongst southern African Bantu speakers which suggests that the presence of L0f1 is a remnant of an earlier distribution which is now lost. The three L0 mitochondrial haplotypes from the six Faraoskop individuals (L0d1, L0d2, and L0f) suggest a diversity of maternal lineages compatible with the diversity of Khoesan groups but given the simultaneity of the burial, it is tempting to suggest that those with similar maternal haplotypes were closely related.

Micro-archaeological data from sites located in central and eastern Europe show that, in comparison with other Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, Gravettian foragers used fire more intensively and for a wider range of purposes. At these sites, this shift in pyrotechnology overlaps with the onset of periglacial conditions. Gravettian occupations of non-periglacial regions have been poorly investigated with micro-archaeological methods, and it remains to be further demonstrated whether these foragers also made a similar intensive and multipurpose use of fire. To further investigate this topic, we studied the sequence preserved at the cave of Fuente del Salín, in Cantabria, where previous excavations unearthed potential fire residues of Gravettian age. Using micromorphology, µ-X-ray fluorescence, and Scanning Electron Microscopy we reconstructed multiple phases of human visits to the site. Our results show that, during the main Gravettian occupation, foragers made intensive use of fire, as indicated by abundant heated bones and seashells, charcoals, amorphous char, fat-derived char, and in situ remains of potential stacked open hearths as well as burnt grass beddings. The intensive burning, systematic reuse of combustion features, and multiple purposes of the fires at Fuente del Salín are comparable with Gravettian sites from central and eastern Europe, indicating that these fire-use behaviors probably do not reflect a regional adaptation to periglacial environments but a cultural trait of the Gravettian tradition across Europe.

In this paper we report the study of shell midden taphonomy using archaeological soil micromorphology on an experimentally constructed shell midden. Using common cockle shells, and two different cooking techniques (boiling and roasting), we study the changes occurring in the shells, and in the soil below the shells. Our aim is to provide a clearer picture of trampling and various cooking techniques on prehistoric shell middens. Examples from Northern European contexts are provided as a comparison to our experimental analysis. We find that discolouration of the shell matrix occurs also at boiling temperatures. Differentiation between boiling and roasting can be done by studying the cracking of the shells. The temperature difference between boiling and roasting however does not lead to important differences in breakage resulting from trampling. Most importantly, our study highlights the need to incorporate the transformation of deposited shells into the formation processes of a shell midden accumulation.

Lasting for nearly 1,500 years, the Dawenkou Culture, especially the middle-late phase, was a critical period for the evolution from a relatively equal to a stratified community, as well as the formation of social complexity in the Haidai region. It was worth noting that the uniquely high-level funeral practices in this period was strikingly characterized by the specific tomb structure and exquisite funerary objects. As an essential part of human society, animals have played important roles in mortuary practices for millennia. This report presents a preliminary analysis of funerary animals, dating approximately to 5000–4500 BP., excavated in 2016–2017 from Jiaojia site, one of the most important high-ranking settlement sites discovered in recent years in the northern Shandong Province. Based on the investigation of faunal composition, skeletal elements, burial location and their relationship with diachronicity, burial grade, gender and identity of the deceased, we discussed the differences in the choice and preference for animals in the burial practices at Jiaojia community during the Dawenkou Culture period. These differences highlight the functional, social, or religious significance of specific species, which played a crucial role in exploring the unique funerary treatment for elite groups. Additionally, our findings offer new insights into the subsistence economy and habitat of the ancients during the Dawenkou Culture period at the Jiaojia site.

Evidence of violence has been documented previously in the late Holocene foraging communities of the south-western Cape of South Africa, but never suggested as a group attack by adversaries. Here we report on what appears to be a single violent event involving several individuals buried at the Faraoskop rock shelter. The human skeletal remains were reassessed for commingled parts and were re-assembled as individuals. Particular focus was placed on sex, age and osteological changes. The results show that the estimated number of individuals is 12 and not 14 as reported previously. Their preservation and completeness vary; eight have crania and four are without. Six individuals (50%) show peri-mortem fractures produced by localised blunt-force trauma to the skull or mandible; the particulars of the instruments remain unknown. No post-cranial remains show injuries. Five individuals with trauma are male and one is of unknown sex. With the exception of one, all fractures occur on the left side of the skull, which suggests that they were sustained through intentional rather than accidental action. Given that these traumas were most likely fatal, the presence of multiple blows on at least one individual (FK 2) implies an intention to kill. This case adds to the developing picture of violence among late Holocene foragers, though different in its higher prevalence of trauma in males than in females as reported previously. Together, the archaeological and bio-anthropological data from Faraoskop proposes that this incident might be the result of clashing between a hunter-gatherer group and a pastoralist one.

Here we make the case that the interment of twelve skeletons in a small Western Cape rock shelter should be viewed as a single event. We present evidence of the partially disarticulated, clearly overlapping arrangement of human remains and the radiocarbon dating results from the individuals that point to a hasty but coordinated burial at a critical moment in the prehistory of the Cape. The moment was marked by the earliest appearance of the pastoralist lifestyle in an area previously dominated by hunting and gathering (Sadr PLoS ONE 10(8):e0134215, 2015). Because, as others show (Dlamini et al., this volume), these interments are associated with peri-mortem violence, the demonstration of contemporaneity and entanglement implies a rare occurrence of so many deaths at a time when conflict between pastoralists and hunter-gatherers in the area seems likely. In describing the circumstances of bone recovery, the positioning of body parts and the associated radiocarbon ages, we lay the platform for further micro-stratigraphic, biological, genetic and isotopic studies of the twelve individuals and some contemplation on the nature of the event.