Natural Histories
The Ant and the Grasshopper: Seasonality and the Invention of Agriculture
Andrea Matranga
Quarterly Journal of Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
The Neolithic revolution saw the independent development of agriculture among at least seven unconnected hunter-gatherer populations. I propose that the rapid spread of agricultural techniques resulted from increased climatic seasonality causing hunter-gatherers to adopt a sedentary lifestyle and store food for the season of scarcity. Their newfound sedentary lifestyle and storage habits facilitated the invention of agriculture. I present a model and support it with global climate data and Neolithic adoption dates, showing that higher seasonality increased the likelihood of agriculture’s invention and its speed of adoption by neighbors. This study suggests that seasonality patterns played a dominant role in determining our species’ transition to farming.
A pivot point in Maya history: Fire-burning event at K'anwitznal (Ucanal) and the making of a new era of political rule
Christina Halperin et al.
Antiquity, forthcoming
Abstract:
Key tipping points of history are rarely found directly in the archaeological record, not least because an event's significance often lies in the perception of the participants. This article documents an early-ninth-century ritual fire-burning event at the Maya site of Ucanal in Guatemala and argues that it marked a public dismantling of an old regime. Rather than examine this event as part of a Classic period Maya collapse, the authors propose that it was a revolutionary pivot point around which the K'anwitznal polity reinvented itself, ushering in wider political transitions in the southern Maya Lowlands.
Archaeological evidence of rodent consumption in North Africa: The Middle Stone Age of the rock shelter Ifri n'ammar in northeastern Morocco
Touria Mouhsine, Fethi Amani & Abdeslam Mikdad
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, May 2024
Abstract:
This study presents undeniable evidence of anthropogenic exploitation of small mammals in Ifri n'Ammar rock shelter, located in the northeast of Morocco. Among the rodent species found at this site, Ctenodactylus gundi predominates in the assemblage of small mammals between approximately 130 ± 8 ka and 83 ± 6 ka. The taphonomic analysis of the fossil remains of this species, discovered alongside other components of the archaeological assemblage, clearly indicates that during the Middle Stone Age (MSA), humans consumed this species. Therefore, they are considered the main agents responsible for the accumulation of dental and postcranial remains of this species recorded in the shelter. Since the early Upper Pleistocene, bone elements bearing cut-marks and burn traces unequivocally attest to the consumption of this rodent by the hunter-gatherers at the Ifri n'Ammar rock shelter. Our findings regarding the exploitation of this species by humans in the northeastern region of Morocco are corroborated by ethnographic data, demonstrating that North African populations captured and consumed this large-sized rodent until the last century. The species Ctenodactylus gundi is known for its diurnal activity, gregarious and social habits, as well as its preference for rocky and arid environments.
Teotihuacan ancient culture affected by megathrust earthquakes during the early Epiclassic Period (Mexico)
Raúl Pérez-López et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, May 2024
Abstract:
Teotihuacan was one of the thriving cultures in the Mesoamerica pre-Hispanic times, located in the Central Valley of Mexico. The city-state was a dominant centre point during the Classic period and its influence affected other contemporaneous cultures. Around the year 550 CE, a continuous decrease in urban population and selective building destruction was noted, accompanied by widespread fire. The layout of the city is identified by an avenue that articulates the political-administrative and religious centres, with such significant and impressive buildings as the Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Temple of Feathered Serpent. A systematic analysis of building damage in the pyramids reveals several Earthquake Archaeological Effects, (EAEs) potentially related to seismic loading. A damage pattern compatible with a strong ground shaking was also identified in the west staircase of the Old Temple of the Feathered Serpent, in the first rows of the west staircase of the Adosada platform (New Temple), and in the Pyramid of the Sun. In total, five ancient earthquakes have been determined from the damage, dated from the Tzacualli cultural period (1–100 CE), to the Xolalpan – Metepec period (450–550 CE). Unfortunately, this methodology does not determine the earthquake source. Therefore, we consider the possibility that repetitive megathrust earthquakes (Mw > 8.5) from the Middle American Trench (Pacific coast) could be responsible for the spatial pattern of the building damage. This proposal does not conflict with other existing theories for the Teotihuacan abrupt collapse, considering that the sudden overlapping of natural disasters like earthquakes could increase internal warfare (uprising), and civil unrest.
Network of large pedigrees reveals social practices of Avar communities
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone et al.
Nature, forthcoming
Abstract:
From AD 567–568, at the onset of the Avar period, populations from the Eurasian Steppe settled in the Carpathian Basin for approximately 250 years. Extensive sampling for archaeogenomics (424 individuals) and isotopes, combined with archaeological, anthropological and historical contextualization of four Avar-period cemeteries, allowed for a detailed description of the genomic structure of these communities and their kinship and social practices. We present a set of large pedigrees, reconstructed using ancient DNA, spanning nine generations and comprising around 300 individuals. We uncover a strict patrilineal kinship system, in which patrilocality and female exogamy were the norm and multiple reproductive partnering and levirate unions were common. The absence of consanguinity indicates that this society maintained a detailed memory of ancestry over generations. These kinship practices correspond with previous evidence from historical sources and anthropological research on Eurasian Steppe societies. Network analyses of identity-by-descent DNA connections suggest that social cohesion between communities was maintained via female exogamy. Finally, despite the absence of major ancestry shifts, the level of resolution of our analyses allowed us to detect genetic discontinuity caused by the replacement of a community at one of the sites. This was paralleled with changes in the archaeological record and was probably a result of local political realignment.
Revisiting palaeolithic combustion features of Theopetra Cave: A diachronic use of dung and peat as fuel
Panagiotis Karkanas & Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika
Journal of Archaeological Science, May 2024
Abstract:
The chemical diagenesis and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Palaeolithic sequence of Theopetra Cave have been studied extensively, but little information is available regarding the details of its combustion structures. The cave is characterized by extensive beds of multi-sequence combustion layers dated between 140 and 50 ka BP, and thick, often stratigraphically complex bodies of ash and charred remains dated between 16 and 13 ka BP. All combustion features contain large amounts of charred and partially charred fibrous organic matter of non-wood plant material and very little charcoal. The structure, fabric, composition, and chemistry of these remains suggest that a mixture of peat and dung was used as a fuel, occasionally enriched with amounts of wood fuel. The integrity of the sequence of combustion structures precludes the possibility that dung was produced by animals inside the cave as their traffic on its wet substrate would have destroyed the burnt layers and homogenized the sediment. The mixture of peat and dung was most likely collected from peatlands associated with swamps of the former so called Karditsa Lake that probably existed in the area until the beginning of the Holocene. Peat and dung were used as a fuel when wood fuel was not available, during the relatively cold intervals of the glacial periods, but also during the last interglacial when the area close to the cave was wooded. Of great interest is that this same fuel was used during both the Middle and the Upper Palaeolithic, presumably by different human species. Although Theopetra appears to be the first site that peat and dung was used as a fuel during the Middle Palaeolithic, it is suggested that other sites may have used this fuel as well. This has important consequences in understanding the evolution of human pyrotechnology particularly during glacial periods.