Early Days
Inequality at the Dawn of the Bronze Age: The Case of Başur Höyük, a 'Royal' Cemetery at the Margins of the Mesopotamian World
David Wengrow et al.
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
On the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates, archaeologists encounter evidence that challenges conventional understandings of early state formation as a transition from 'small-scale, egalitarian' to 'large-scale, stratified' societies. One such location is the Early Bronze Age cemetery of Başur Höyük, which presents evidence of grand funerary rituals -- including 'retainer burials' and spectacular deposits of metallic wealth -- in an otherwise small-scale, egalitarian setting. A further, puzzling feature of this cemetery is the preponderance of teenagers in the richest tombs. Here we describe the combined results of archaeological and anthropological analysis at Başur Höyük, including ancient DNA, and consider the challenges they pose to traditional accounts of early state formation.
A structured coalescent model reveals deep ancestral structure shared by all modern humans
Trevor Cousins, Aylwyn Scally & Richard Durbin
Nature Genetics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Understanding the history of admixture events and population size changes leading to modern humans is central to human evolutionary genetics. Here we introduce a coalescence-based hidden Markov model, cobraa, that explicitly represents an ancestral population split and rejoin, and demonstrate its application on simulated and real data across multiple species. Using cobraa, we present evidence for an extended period of structure in the history of all modern humans, in which two ancestral populations that diverged ~1.5 million years ago came together in an admixture event ~300 thousand years ago, in a ratio of ~80:20%. Immediately after their divergence, we detect a strong bottleneck in the major ancestral population. We inferred regions of the present-day genome derived from each ancestral population, finding that material from the minority correlates strongly with distance to coding sequence, suggesting it was deleterious against the majority background. Moreover, we found a strong correlation between regions of majority ancestry and human-Neanderthal or human-Denisovan divergence, suggesting the majority population was also ancestral to those archaic humans.
Earliest evidence for systematic use of ultrahigh carbon steel in the ancient Aegean in the Archaic Milesia
Ümit Güder et al.
PLoS ONE, March 2025
Abstract:
This study presents the results of archaeometallurgical investigation of iron objects from the Sanctuary of Apollo in ancient Didyma, dating to the Archaic period (7th to the early 5th centuries BCE). The analysed precision work tools and semi-formed objects exhibit distinct material characteristics that differentiate them from other iron-steel artefacts of both small and large formats (weapons, implements, and architectural fittings) so far investigated in the Aegean. They were made of medium, high, and ultra-high carbon steel. Three objects belonging to this latter category consist of remarkably clean, homogeneous, and high-quality steel. After presenting the analytical results, this article discusses various explanatory models for the production of these objects and attempts to answer questions about the motivations for this innovation, highlighting their functional characteristics and context of production and consumption.
Death and Depths: Exploring Early Fifth Millennium BCE Ritual Performance in Har Sifsof Cave, Upper Galilee (Israel)
Micka Ullman et al.
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Exploring and using remote segments of complex karst systems represents the incorporation of one of the wildest and most demanding natural environments into the cultural fabric of Neolithic-Chalcolithic village-based communities in the Levant. The unique preservation of an early fifth-millennium BCE activity phase in Har Sifsof Cave in northern Israel allows for a detailed investigation of an early case of human interaction with the deep underground in this region. The study of archaeological assemblages, environmental and speleological data and spatial distribution of cultural remains form the basis for interpreting the activity inside the cave in the context of fertility cults. The rituals conducted in Har Sifsof Cave revolve around the agricultural cycle of cereal grains and include the interment of multiple individuals, some of whom were buried in remote cul-de-sac passages. The emergence of complex caves as favourable off-settlement arenas dedicated to ritual activity during the later stages of Neolithization marks a conscious effort of 'domestication' of these unique wildscapes, while sowing the seeds for the enduring connection observed in later Levantine societies between mortuary rituals, fertility and the underground.
High continuity of forager ancestry in the Neolithic period of the eastern Maghreb
Mark Lipson et al.
Nature, forthcoming
Abstract:
Ancient DNA from the Mediterranean region has revealed long-range connections and population transformations associated with the spread of food-producing economies. However, in contrast to Europe, genetic data from this key transition in northern Africa are limited, and have only been available from the far western Maghreb (Morocco). Here we present genome-wide data for nine individuals from the Later Stone Age through the Neolithic period from Algeria and Tunisia. The earliest individuals cluster with pre-Neolithic people of the western Maghreb (around 15,000-7,600 years before present (BP)), showing that this 'Maghrebi' ancestry profile had a substantial geographic and temporal extent. At least one individual from Djebba (Tunisia), dating to around 8,000 years BP, harboured ancestry from European hunter-gatherers, probably reflecting movement in the Early Holocene across the Strait of Sicily. Later Neolithic people from the eastern Maghreb retained largely local forager ancestry, together with smaller contributions from European farmers (by around 7,000 years BP) and Levantine groups (by around 6,800 years BP), and were thus far less impacted by external gene flow than were populations in other parts of the Neolithic Mediterranean.
Early evidence of avocado domestication from El Gigante Rockshelter, Honduras
Amber VanDerwarker et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 March 2025
Abstract:
Molecular research suggests that avocados (Persea americana Mill.) were domesticated multiple times in the Americas. Seed exchange, hybridization, and cloning have played an essential role across their wild distribution from Mexico to South America to create the modern varieties of today. Archaeological sites with well-preserved and directly radiocarbon-dated botanical assemblages are rare, however, so we know very little about the complexities of the domestication process. Here, we define an early locus of avocado domestication using well-dated desiccated and carbonized avocado remains from El Gigante rockshelter in western Honduras spanning the last 11,000 y. Measurements of avocado seeds and rinds show evidence for long-term management resulting in selection for larger, more robust fruits through time that culminated by 2,250 to 2,080 calendar B.P. (cal. B.P.). However, human-directed selection for larger fruits with thicker rinds is evident as early as 7,565 to 7,265 cal. B.P. Seed morphology is similar to P. americana var. guatemalensis and is congruent with genetic data for the development of this variety in both the highlands of Guatemala and Honduras. Increases in seed size and rind thickness through time are consistent with genetic evidence for the enrichment of putative candidate genes for fruit development and ripening in this variety.