Things of the Past
Chronology of the Late Roman Antiquity walls of Le Mans (France) by OSL, archaeomagnetism and radiocarbon
Gwenaël Hervé et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, October 2023
Abstract:
The Late Roman Antiquity walls of Le Mans in northwest France are one of the most representative and preserved examples of the urban fortifications that developed in the Roman provinces of Gaul and Germany at this period. Because of a lack of reliable chronological data, the construction of the walls was poorly dated, which made unclear its historical context. The main objective of this study was to reassess the date of construction using several methods on a well-preserved sector (sector 11) of the Late Roman Antiquity walls. The dated masonries, thoroughly studied in building archaeology beforehand, are characterized by an alternating of stone and brick courses. Sampling focused on one hand on mortars with four radiocarbon dates (14C) and six single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (SG-OSL) dates, and on the other hand on bricks with two OSL dates (quartz fine grain technique) and one archaeomagnetic date on a set of 104 bricks. The consistency between the dates on the two types of materials discards a possible reuse of the bricks from former Roman buildings. They were produced for the construction of the walls with the presence of several types of bricks likely reflecting a supply from at least two workshops. The dating program in the sector 11 also included 21 14C dates and six SG-OSL on protohistoric structures, Early Empire masonries and large medieval buildings, in order to investigate the evolution of the area over the long-term and to better constrain the chronology of the Late Roman Antiquity walls in Bayesian modelling. The chronological model (Chronomodel software) dates this construction between 301 and 423 CE at 95% of confidence. This date clearly excludes that the Late Roman Antiquity walls were built during the crises of the 3rd century, as previously thought, but rather in the stable political and economic context of the 4th century.
Increased homozygosity due to endogamy results in fitness consequences in a human population
Natalie Swinford et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 October 2023
Abstract:
Recessive alleles have been shown to directly affect both human Mendelian disease phenotypes and complex traits. Pedigree studies also suggest that consanguinity results in increased childhood mortality and adverse health phenotypes, presumably through penetrance of recessive mutations. Here, we test whether the accumulation of homozygous, recessive alleles decreases reproductive success in a human population. We address this question among the Namibian Himba, an endogamous agro-pastoralist population, who until very recently practiced natural fertility. Using a sample of 681 individuals, we show that Himba exhibit elevated levels of “inbreeding,” calculated as the fraction of the genome in runs of homozygosity (FROH). Many individuals contain multiple long segments of ROH in their genomes, indicating that their parents had high kinship coefficients. However, we do not find evidence that this is explained by first-cousin consanguinity, despite a reported social preference for cross-cousin marriages. Rather, we show that elevated haplotype sharing in the Himba is due to a bottleneck, likely in the past 60 generations. We test whether increased recessive mutation load results in observed fitness consequences by assessing the effect of FROH on completed fertility in a cohort of postreproductive women (n = 69). We find that higher FROH is significantly associated with lower fertility. Our data suggest a multilocus genetic effect on fitness driven by the expression of deleterious recessive alleles, especially those in long ROH. However, these effects are not the result of consanguinity but rather elevated background identity by descent.
Beyond subsistence: Evidence for red rice beer in 8000-year old Neolithic burials, north China
Li Liu et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, October 2023
Abstract:
The domestication of rice and the brewing of rice-based alcoholic beverages in pottery vessels were closely intertwined during the early Neolithic period in China. This practice may have originated in the Shangshan culture of the lower Yangzi River valley around 9000 cal. BP. The brewing process involved the preparation of qu starter using rice and molds to produce rice beer. Over time, this fermentation tradition spread northward to the Yellow River region, although the exact timing of this diffusion process remains unclear. To shed light on this issue, our study focuses on two early Neolithic Peiligang culture sites, namely Peiligang and Shuiquan, dating to 8000–7600 cal. BP in the middle Yellow River region. Through microfossil analysis of ceramic vessels, we have discovered multiple lines of evidence indicating the use of rice and Monascus mold as ingredients for preparing qu starter in the production of fermented alcoholic beverages. These beverages included a variety of ingredients such as rice, millet, Job's tears, wild Triticeae, foxnut, and yam. During the early stage of rice domestication, when rice was still a minor crop serving to partially fulfill subsistence needs, the development of rice-based fermentation technology played a significant role in the provision of alcoholic beverages, particularly in the context of mortuary rituals within the Peiligang culture.
Moving metals V: The question of shared copper sources between Scandinavia and Hungary 1700–1500 BC
Johan Ling et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, October 2023
Abstract:
The remarkable typological parallels between Carpathian and Scandinavian metalwork, especially from around 1700 to 1500 BC, have long been stressed as evidence that the Carpathian tell communities supplied the Scandinavians with copper. Thus, this study's main objective was to investigate if Bronze Age societies in Scandinavia and the Carpathian basin utilized the same copper sources. To test this hypothesis, analyses, comprising lead isotopes and trace elements, were executed on bronzes from Scandinavia and Hungary. In the current study, the Hungarian data set of 31 artefacts from the famous Százhalombatta hoard and its nearby settlement, is in detail compared to 62 Scandinavian artefacts of various types. The outcome points to that Scandinavia and Hungary partly shared copper sources between 1700 and 1500 BC. The most potential sources are the ones from the Slovak Ore Mountains and Mitterberg in Austria. However, the Scandinavian artefacts from this period also show consistency with additional copper sources, such as Great Orme in Wales and in the Italian Alps. The findings of this study support both the traditional theory, which stated that metal supplies and metalworking traditions were closely related, and the more recent insight, which suggests that style and content may have entirely separate origins. As a result, the intricacy of the production, exchange, and consumption patterns of metal throughout Bronze Age Europe cannot be explained by a simple model that equates stylistic influence and metal suppliers.
The impact of farming on prehistoric culinary practices throughout Northern Europe
Alexandre Lucquin et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 October 2023
Abstract:
To investigate changes in culinary practices associated with the arrival of farming, we analysed the organic residues of over 1,000 pottery vessels from hunter-gatherer-fisher and early agricultural sites across Northern Europe from the Lower Rhine Basin to the Northeastern Baltic. Here, pottery was widely used by hunter-gatherer-fishers prior to the introduction of domesticated animals and plants. Overall, there was surprising continuity in the way that hunter-gatherer-fishers and farmers used pottery. Both aquatic products and wild plants remained prevalent, a pattern repeated consistently across the study area. We argue that the rapid adaptation of farming communities to exploit coastal and lagoonal resources facilitated their northerly expansion, and in some cases, hunting, gathering, and fishing became the most dominant subsistence strategy. Nevertheless, dairy products frequently appear in pottery associated with the earliest farming groups often mixed with wild plants and fish. Interestingly, we also find compelling evidence of dairy products in hunter-gatherer-fisher Ertebølle pottery, which predates the arrival of domesticated animals. We propose that Ertebølle hunter-gatherer-fishers frequently acquired dairy products through exchange with adjacent farming communities prior to the transition. The continuity observed in pottery use across the transition to farming contrasts with the analysis of human remains which shows substantial demographic change through ancient DNA and, in some cases, a reduction in marine consumption through stable isotope analysis. We postulate that farmers acquired the knowledge and skills they needed to succeed from local hunter-gatherer-fishers but without substantial admixture.
Sound from the past. A Neolithic clay whistle from Kiełczewo (western Poland)
Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, October 2023
Abstract:
A unique ornitomorphic clay whistle was discovered at an archaeological site in Kiełczewo (western Poland) in an archaeological context indicating its Neolithic provenance and association with the Funnel Beaker communities. The authors, through various analyses (microscopic, CT, XRF, acoustic) and experiments investigating the sound of the whistle, discuss the object’s manufacture, sound, and possible function.
Not up in smoke: Lipid and phytolith evidence for the function of combustion features at CA-ALA-11, a San Francisco Bay area shellmound
Tammy Buonasera, Alison Damick & Daniel Shoup
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, October 2023
Abstract:
Ash and black char samples from seven combustion features at CA-ALA-11, an Early to Middle Period (ca. 2500 cal BCE to 585 cal CE) shellmound site on the San Francisco Bay shoreline, were analyzed for lipid, isotope, and phytolith content. Three features were intermingled with human burials and four were from nearby contexts not directly associated with human remains. Unlike more fragile biomolecules and floral remains, lipids and phytoliths can survive exposure to high temperatures. Together, these techniques supply independent and complementary lines of data for considering past cultural practices, local ecology, and post-depositional contributions. Our results shed light on the function and content of several combustion features, highlighting the untapped potential of such applications in the archaeology of California and elsewhere in North America. We focus on two combustion features with very different purposes. One appears to be the burnt remains of a basket (or possibly, a woven mat) coated with bitumen. This feature was associated with a burial and the basket or other woven object may have been burned as part of the funerary ceremony. Another feature, not directly associated with a burial, was composed of burned oyster shells and layered with leaves from a broadleaf tree -- seemingly the remains of an ancient cooking feature for baking/steaming shellfish. Though small, this study demonstrates that analysis of sediments from combustion features can provide behavioral and ecological insights while avoiding destructive analysis of artifacts or human remains. We conclude with simple recommendations for integrating phytolith and lipid analysis of combustion features in future archaeological projects.