Dental indicators of health and stress in early Egyptian and Nubian agriculturalists: a difficult transition and gradual recovery

Although agriculture is now the globally predominant mode of food production, studies of the skeletal remains of early agriculturalists have indicated high levels of physiological stress and poor health relative to hunter-gatherers in similar environments. Previous studies identifying this trend in different regions prompt further research of the causes and effects of subsistence transitions in human societies. Here, 242 dentitions from five ancient Egyptian and Nubian populations are examined: 38 individuals from Jebel Sahaba (Upper Paleolithic), 56 from Badari (Predynastic), 54 from Naqada (Predynastic), 47 from Tarkhan (Dynastic), and 47 from Kerma (Dynastic). These populations span the early period of agricultural intensification along the Nile valley. Skeletal remains were scored for the presence of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) of the dentition, an established indicator of physiological stress and growth interruption. The prevalence of LEH was highest in the "proto-agricultural" (pastoralist) Badari population, with a gradual decline throughout the late Predynastic and early Dynastic periods of state formation. This suggests that the period surrounding the emergence of early agriculture in the Nile valley was associated with high stress and poor health, but that the health of agriculturalists improved substantially with the increasing urbanization and trade that accompanied the formation of the Egyptian state. This evidence for poor health among proto- and early agriculturalists in the Nile valley supports theories that agricultural intensification occurred as a response to ecological or demographic pressure rather than simply as an innovation over an existing stable subsistence strategy.     

Sexual dimorphism in stature and women's work: a phylogenetic cross-cultural analysis.

The following cultural variables were tested for their association with sexual dimorphism: sexual division of labor, type of subsistence (hunting and agriculture), and polygyny. The transmission of these traits among populations was investigated. All the traits were found to be associated with phylogeny, indicating that they are inherited from mother to daughter populations. A cross-cultural comparative method was used which controls for the statistical effects of similarity due to common ancestry (Galton's problem). Cross-cultural variation in sexual dimorphism in stature is negatively associated with women's contribution to subsistence. Women are taller, relative to men, in societies where women contribute more to food production. This may be because female nutritional status is better in these societies. No relationship was found between sexual dimorphism and other aspects of subsistence or polygyny. These results are discussed in relation to other studies of sexual dimorphism in modern and archaeological populations, and in relation to cross-cultural variation in sex-biased parental investment.     

From the mouths of babes: Dental caries in infants and children and the intensification of agriculture in mainland Southeast Asia

Many bioarchaeological studies have established a link between increased dental caries prevalence and the intensification of agriculture. However, research in Southeast Asia challenges the global application of this theory. Although often overlooked, dental health of infants and children can provide a sensitive source of information concerning health and subsistence change. This article investigates the prevalence and location of caries in the dentition of infants and children (less than 15 years of age) from eight prehistoric mainland Southeast Asian sites collectively spanning the Neolithic to late Iron Age, during which time rice agriculture became an increasingly important subsistence mode. Caries prevalence varied among the sites but there was no correlation with chronological change. The absence of evidence of a decline in dental health over time can be attributed to the relative noncariogenicity of rice and retention of broad‐spectrum subsistence strategies. No differences in caries type indicating differences in dental health were found between the sites, apart from the Iron Age site of Muang Sema. There was a higher prevalence of caries in the deciduous dentition than the permanent dentition, likely due to a cariogenic weaning diet and the higher sensitivity of deciduous teeth to decay. The level of caries in the permanent dentition suggests an increased reliance on less cariogenic foods during childhood, including rice. The absence of a temporal decline in dental health of infants and children strengthens the argument that the relationship between caries and agricultural intensification in Southeast Asia was more complex than the general model suggests. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Upper pleistocene fossil hominids from Sri Lanka

Between 1978 and 1983 hominid skeletal remains were collected from the cave sites of Batadomba lena and Beli lena Kitulgala in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). These are the most ancient specimens of anatomically modern Homo sapiens found thus far in South Asia, radiocarbon dates placing them in the Upper Pleistocene. Morphometric analysis of the remains of some 38 individuals from the two sites indicates that these populations were characterized by medium stature, moderate to pronounced cranial and postcranial robusticity, medium-size permanent tooth crown measurements, prognathic alveolar facial proportions, and low incidence of osseous and dental pathological conditions. Comparisons of these ancient Sri Lankans with other prehistoric skeletal series from South Asia and elsewhere support the hypothesis that muscular-skeletal robusticity was a significant physical adaptation of earlier hunting-foraging populations. A trend towards reduction of sexual dimorphism and development of more gracile body form and smaller teeth appears to have accelerated with the socioeconomic transition to food-production strategies involving agriculture and pastoralism and refinement of technologies for food procurement and preparation, as documented by morphometric studies of later prehistoric inhabitants of South Asia.     

The Relative Decline in Women's Contribution to Agriculture with Intensification

This paper suggests why the intensification of agriculture is associated with a relative decline in women's participation in agriculture. The statistical evidence described here is consistent with the theory that women contribute relatively less to agriculture when it becomes intensive because their domestic work and fertility have increased. It is also argued that most men may be able to contribute more to agriculture in societies cultivating intensively because hunting, warfare, and trade are not so likely to pull them away from crop production [women's contribution to subsistence, agricultural intensification, time allocation, fertility, cross-cultural]     

Sexual Division of Labor in African Agriculture: A Network Autocorrelation Analysis

A model of causes and consequences of sexual division of labor in agriculture is tested using a sample of African societies. Crop type and the presence or absence of slavery are shown to be effective predictors of the degree of female contribution to agricultural subsistence, and the degree of polygyny is shown to be affected by female agricultural contribution and the form of residence. Autocorrelation effects are found and are shown to be a consequence of Bantu societies having higher female participation in agriculture than would otherwise be expected. This effect is an example of one of the kinds of phenomena that anthropologists have referred to as Galton's problem . [sexual division of labor, cultural ecology, Galton's Problem, Africa]     

Intensively Cultivated Landscape and Varroa Mite Infestation Are Associated with Reduced Honey Bee Nutritional State

As key pollinators, honey bees are crucial to many natural and agricultural ecosystems. An important factor in the health of honey bees is the availability of diverse floral resources. However, in many parts of the world, high-intensity agriculture could result in a reduction in honey bee forage. Previous studies have investigated how the landscape surrounding honey bee hives affects some aspects of honey bee health, but to our knowledge there have been no investigations of the effects of intensively cultivated landscapes on indicators of individual bee health such as nutritional physiology and pathogen loads. Furthermore, agricultural landscapes in different regions vary greatly in forage and land management, indicating a need for additional information on the relationship between honey bee health and landscape cultivation. Here, we add to this growing body of information by investigating differences in nutritional physiology between honey bees kept in areas of comparatively low and high cultivation in an area generally high agricultural intensity in the Midwestern United States. We focused on bees collected directly before winter, because overwintering stress poses one of the most serious problems for honey bees in temperate climates. We found that honey bees kept in areas of lower cultivation exhibited higher lipid levels than those kept in areas of high cultivation, but this effect was observed only in colonies that were free of Varroa mites. Furthermore, we found that the presence of mites was associated with lower lipid levels and higher titers of deformed wing virus (DWV), as well as a non-significant trend towards higher overwinter losses. Overall, these results show that mite infestation interacts with landscape, obscuring the effects of landscape alone and suggesting that the benefits of improved foraging landscape could be lost without adequate control of mite infestations.     

Nutritional consequences of the transformation from subsistence to commercial agriculture in Tabasco,Mexico

Recent changes in the area of the Plan Chontalpa in Tabasco have greatly reduced the production of subsistence crops by rural families, resulting in decreased crop diversity and a concomitant increase in the degree of dependence on outside sources of food. Results from a nutrition survey of 149 families demonstrate that dietary diversity, dietary quality, and nutritional status of preschool children are negatively associated with lower crop diversity and increased dependence on purchased foods. Dietary deterioration is illustrated by the negative relationship found between nutritional status and increased sugar consumption. The assumption that a rise in income accompanying the adoption of commercial production will automatically lead to improved nutrition is challenged: income levels were not found to be consistently related to nutritional status. Children of families that have converted to cattle production, despite greater land availability and family incomes, do not have improved nutritional status. In the study area, where wages are low and food prices are very high, the value of a higher degree of self-sufficiency in food is recognized, yet families continue to switch to cash crops due to the environmental, economic, and time constraints imposed by the system of commercial agriculture in which they participate. The solution is not to return to traditional subsistence farming, however, but to determine under what conditions a more progressive form of agricultural change can occur.     

Aspects of health in prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia: Indicators of stress in response to the intensification of rice agriculture

Numerous bioarcheological investigations have suggested that as agriculture intensifies, levels of physiological stress and poor health increase. However, previous research in Southeast Asia suggests that a decline in health was not universal. This study aimed to provide the first investigation of human health during the intensification of rice agriculture in the large skeletal sample from the prehistoric site of Ban Non Wat, Northeast Thailand (1750–420 b.c .). Health was analysed using two indicators of childhood stress, the prevalence of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH), a measure of early childhood stress, and stature, as a measure of late childhood stress, were collated for 190 adults. Sex‐specific diachronic relationships between the prevalence of LEH and stature were explored. For both sexes, initially the prevalence of LEH was found to decrease and then increase over time. Stature remained constant over time for males, although for females stature increased initially, then decreased. Early childhood stress was not significantly correlated with stature in females (P = 0.185), but high levels of LEH were unexpectedly correlated with taller male stature (P = 0.017). Our findings suggest an initial improvement in health during agricultural intensification at this site, likely related to a reduction in physiological perturbations and maintenance of a nutritious diet during this time. The subsequent deterioration in health may reflect geomorphologically and archaeologically indicated variation in environmental conditions and consequential sociocultural changes. We suggest that the sex‐differences in the relationship between stature and LEH may relate to the timing of stress and/or catch‐up growth. Am J Phys Anthropol 153:484–495, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Changing Patterns of Infant Mortality and Maternal Fertility among Pumé Foragers and Horticulturalists

National census data show that the modern demographic transition—the recent trend toward declining mortality and fertility—is well underway in most countries. A different picture emerges when data from small-scale societies in unindustrialized parts of the world are considered. Many of these small-scale societies are also adapting to rapid changes in their subsistence economies. In this article, we examine the relationship between the pace of acculturation, infant mortality, and fertility levels among Pumé foragers and horticulturalists, two related groups of native South Americans. During the earliest stages of acculturation, Pumé horticulturalists experience not only a rapid drop in infant mortality but also a rise in birth rates. An anthropological view of demographic transitions provides important insight into how small-scale societies are affected by exposure to the labor market economy and has practical applications to effective development initiatives and public health policies.     

Agriculture: the real nexus for enhancing bioavailable micronutrients in food crops

Human existence requires that agriculture provide at least 50 nutrients (e.g., vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, essential fatty acids) in amounts needed to meet metabolic demands during all seasons. If national food systems do not meet these demands, mortality and morbidity rates increase, worker productivity declines, livelihoods are diminished and societies suffer. Today, many food systems within the developing world cannot meet the nutritional needs of the societies they support mostly due to farming systems that cannot produce enough micronutrients to meet human needs throughout the year. Nutrition transitions are also occurring in many rapidly developing countries that are causing chronic disease (e.g., cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and osteoporosis) rates to increase substantially. These global developments point to the need to explicitly link agricultural technologies to human health. This paper reviews some ways in which agriculture can contribute significantly to reducing micronutrient malnutrition globally. It concludes that it is imperative that close linkages be forged between the agriculture, nutrition and health arenas in order to find sustainable solutions to micronutrient malnutrition with agriculture becoming the primary intervention tool to use in this fight.     

新石器时代关中地区人类生业模式演变的生物考古学证据

农业的起源与发展,改变了人类食物资源的获取方式。作为史前文化发展的中心,关中地区史前人类生业模式演变规律与影响因素的探索,将为北方地区农业的起源、发展与传播,文化交流对农业发展的影响,人类对环境变迁的适应等热点问题研究提供重要依据。本文对关中地区史前不同文化、不同遗址人与动物骨骼的稳定同位素以及动植物遗存进行了综合分析。结果显示,受文化的发展与交流、区域地理环境的差异、气候的演变等因素影响,关中地区史前先民生业模式呈现时空差异。老官台文化先民的生业模式中旱作农业与狩猎采集并重。仰韶文化早期,旱作农业成为先民生业模式的主体,但不同区域发展水平不同;另外,家畜饲养的发展速度要滞后于农作物。仰韶文化中、晚期至龙山文化早期,水稻与小麦先后传入,形成以粟、黍旱作农业为主,兼营水稻、大豆等的多元化农业结构;水稻对仰韶文化中期先民的食谱产生影响,而同时期家畜饲养主要依赖于粟黍类农作物。龙山文化,黍、粟农业比重下降,水稻含量相对增加,并对先民与家畜的食谱产生影响;肉食获取方式以饲养活动为主,渔猎活动为辅。     

河南项城贾庄和后高老家遗址炭化植物遗存揭示的仰韶时期的原始农业

豫东地区是史前中原文化系统、海岱文化系统等的中介地带,由于这里地处黄泛区且人口密集,史前遗址或被掩埋在地下数米深处,或位于岗地、堌堆之上,后期破坏严重,目前缺乏相关植物考古资料,对史前农业发展的认识并不清晰。本研究对河南项城市贾庄和后高老家遗址开展浮选,获取了仰韶时代中期的炭化植物遗存,其中炭化植物种子主要包括粟、黍、水稻三种农作物和狗尾草属、马唐属、稗属、黍亚科等野生植物,可食用野生植物的核壳来自菱属、芡实、柿属、栎属、桃属等。农作物及典型田间伴生杂草遗存的量化结果显示,两处遗址仰韶时代中期的农作物结构以粟、黍为主,水稻的比重很低,具备黄淮地区稻粟兼作农业的地域性和时代特征。多种可食用野生植物遗存显示了植物性食物资源的多样性。各类植物遗存的绝对数量和出土概率表明,农业在生业经济中占据主体地位,采集野生植物仍然是先民获取植物性食物资源的重要方式。贾庄和后高老家遗址炭化植物遗存分析结果为了解豫东地区仰韶时代原始农业发展状况提供了重要资料,对探索中华文明早期阶段的农业发展状况及其与文明演进的关系有重要意义。     

Human dietary change.

The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and animal husbandry in the Near East and Mediterranean Region began some 12,000 years ago. The ecological changes associated with this change are known to have been related to higher levels of stress from undernutrition and infectious disease. Certain pathologies found in human skeletal remains from this time are indicative of anaemia and osteoporosis, although it is not clear whether they had clear nutritional aetiologies. In this paper, dietary changes associated with changes in subsistence practices in this region are described. In addition, quantitative modelling of possible patterns of dietary and nutrient intakes of adult males before, and soon after, the establishment of agrarian economies is used to examine the proposition that the skeletal pathologies porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis may have been due to nutritional deficiencies. The results suggest that protein deficiency was only likely if subjects were suffering from chronic energy deficiency (CED) and their diet contained no meat. Dietary calcium deficiency was possible after the transition to cultivation and animal husbandry, in the presence of moderate or severe CED. Anaemias, although present after the transition, were unlikely to have had dietary aetiologies, regardless of the severity of CED.     

The Energetic Metabolism of Societies: Part II: Empirical Examples

Part I of this set of articles proposed methods to account for the energetic metabolism of societies. In this second part, the methods explicated in Part I are used to analyze the energy flows of societies with different "modes of subsistence": hunter-gatherers, a contemporary agricultural society in southeastern Asia, and a contemporary industrial society (Austria). The empirical examples are used to demonstrate differences in the "characteristic metabolism" of different modes of sub-sistence. The energy system of hunter-gatherers can be described as an "uncontrolled solar energy system," based mainly upon harvesting biomass without attending to its reproduction. Hunter-gatherers use only about 0.001% to 0.01% of the net primary production (NPP) of the territory they inhabit. Agricultural societies harness NPP to a much higher extent: Although agriculture often reduces NPP, the amount of biomass that agricultural societies use is much higher (about 20% of potential NPP). Because ecological energy flows are the main source of energy for agricultural societies, NPP strictly limits the energetic metabolism of agricultural societies. Industrial society uses area-independent energy sources (fossil and nuclear energy), which, however, result in new sustainability problems, such as greenhouse gas emissions. By providing methods to account for changes in energy flows, the metabolism approach proves itself to be a useful concept for analyzing society-environment interactions. The article demonstrates the difference between the metabolism approach and conventional energy statistics and discusses the significance of the proposed approach for sustainable development.     

Evolutionary demography of agricultural expansion in preindustrial northern Finland

A shift from nomadic foraging to sedentary agriculture was a major turning point in human evolutionary history, increasing our population size and eventually leading to the development of modern societies. We however lack understanding of the changes in life histories that contributed to the increased population growth rate of agriculturalists, because comparable individual-based reproductive records of sympatric populations of agriculturalists and foragers are rarely found. Here, we compared key life-history traits and population growth rate using comprehensive data from the seventieth to nineteenth century Northern Finland: indigenous Sami were nomadic hunter-fishers and reindeer herders, whereas sympatric agricultural Finns relied predominantly on animal husbandry. We found that agriculture-based families had higher lifetime fecundity, faster birth spacing and lower maternal mortality. Furthermore, agricultural Finns had 6.2% higher annual population growth rate than traditional Sami, which was accounted by differences between the subsistence modes in age-specific fecundity but not in mortality. Our results provide, to our knowledge, the most detailed demonstration yet of the demographic changes and evolutionary benefits that resulted from agricultural revolution.     

Irrigation planning to transform subsistence agriculture: Lessons From El Salvador

Experience with irrigation schemes designed to improve the productivity of subsistence farmers in Latin America seems to parallel the results of the green revolution in Southeast Asia. Although in some cases the impact on the productivity has been significant, in far too many cases the pervasive pattern of inequity has been reinforced. This case study of the Irrigation District of Zapotitan in El Salvador analyses some of the reasons for the unexpected results, with particular reference to the planning process. It essentially illustrates that the transformation of subsistence agriculture through irrigation demands new institutions designed not only to service agricultural production but also to ensure the accrual of benefits on the targeted group.     

Health and agricultural intensification in the prehistoric Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico

The effects of agricultural intensification on health are examined in prehistoric populations of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Agriculture was practiced in the Valley of Oaxaca by the beginning of the Early Formative period (ca. 1400 B.C.), and had intensified by the Late Formative (ca. 500 B.C.). Skeletal remains from 14 archaeological sites in the Valley are pooled by temporal affiliation into a nonintensive agriculture group (1400-500 B.C.) and an intensive agriculture group (500 B.C.-1400 A.D.). The health effects of agricultural intensification are assessed by comparing the frequency of periosteal reactions, cribra orbitalia, and enamel hypoplasia between the intensive and nonintensive agricultural groups. Overall, no significant differences (alpha = 0.05) are found between the nonintensive and intensive groups. Power analyses of the chi-square tests indicate that the tests have a high probability of rejecting a false null hypothesis. The intensification of agriculture does not appear to have had a deleterious effect on the health of the prehistoric population of the Valley. The differences between this study and previous studies of health and agricultural development may be explained by differences between the processes of intensification and development or by differences between primary and secondary centers of agricultural development.     

Cytokines as adjuvants for avian vaccines

The worldwide trend towards a reduced reliance on in-feed antibiotics has increased the pressure to develop alternative strategies to manage infectious diseases in poultry. With this in mind, there is a great emphasis on vaccine use and the enhancement of existing vaccines to provide long-term protection. Currently existing adjuvants for poultry can have deleterious side-effects, such as inflammation, resulting in the down-grading of meat quality and a subsequent reduction in profits. Therefore, to enhance the use of vaccination, alternative adjuvants must be developed. The use of recombinant cytokines as adjuvants in poultry is attracting considerable attention, and their potential role as such has been addressed by several studies. The recent identification of a number of chicken cytokine genes has provided the possibility to study their effectiveness in enhancing the immune response during infection and vaccination. This review focuses on the recent studies involving the assessment of cytokines as vaccine adjuvants.     

Agriculturalists and pastoralists: Bronze Age economy of the Murghab alluvial fan,southern Central Asia

Archaeological investigations of pastoral economies often emphasize exchange relations with agricultural populations, though for Bronze Age Eurasia the notion of a ubiquitous ‘pastoral realm’ has masked various forms of mixed subsistence economies. In Central Asia, there are few attempts to specifically identify the domestic crops utilized by mobile pastoralists or what they may suggest about the role of agriculture in mobile pastoral production or subsistence strategies. This study reports the macrobotanical remains from two Late/Final Bronze Age (ca. 1950–1300 bc) mobile pastoralist habitation sites in the Murghab alluvial fan region of southern Turkmenistan. We compare our results with published macrobotanical data from contemporary agricultural settlements in the Murghab region, as well as with other sites in broader prehistoric Eurasia. We find that mobile pastoralists in the Murghab utilized some of the same domestic crops as their sedentary neighbors. While the data presented here do not preclude the possibility that mobile pastoralists may have practiced some low-investment cultivation (particularly of millet), we hypothesize an economic model that places mobile pastoralists in direct contact with nearby sedentary farming communities through exchange for pre-processed grains. These results highlight one of the possible strategies of mobile pastoral subsistence in Central Asia, and are a further step toward identifying the various degrees of agricultural involvement in the conceptually outdated pastoral realm of Eurasia.