甘肃五坝墓地人骨反映的史前人群变迁

在跨大陆交流的大背景下,河西走廊史前时期人群的迁徙、扩散、融合及其与古文化发展之间的关系等问题一直备受关注。但人骨材料的缺乏使学界对该区新石器时代人群的来源及其与青铜时代人群的关系并不清楚。本文以地处河西走廊中部的五坝墓地（4400～3800 BP）中出土的14例成年个体颅骨为研究对象,进行了非测量和测量性状的分析。结果显示：五坝人群属东亚类群,与青海省东北部新石器时代晚期人群具有最近的亲缘关系。对河西地区史前时期人群变迁历史的梳理则表明该地区至少经历了两次大规模的人群迁徙：新石器时代晚期,来自河湟地区的农人成规模地向河西走廊扩散,同时带来了波浪式的文化传播;青铜时代早中期,该区人群的颅面部形态特征变得相对复杂,但人群属性并未发生根本性变化。青铜时代晚期以后,欧亚草原游牧人群的大规模南下使河西人群的颅面部形态发生明显改变,也使该地区迎来了考古学文化和生业方式的转型。     

新疆喀什下坂地墓地青铜时代人群颅骨的测量性状

下坂地墓地青铜时代居民是帕米尔高原区早期人群的代表。通过颅骨测量性状特征对该人群来源和流向问题的讨论,为建立欧亚大陆青铜时代人群的流动、变迁史提供了新的素材。与欧亚大陆青铜时代时空相关人群对比分析的结果表明,下坂地青铜组居民的祖先人群,可能是来自东欧南部草原地带的洞室墓文化居民。他们在安德罗诺沃文化的繁盛期,自东欧草原地带迁徙到帕米尔高原区,逐渐发展为安德罗诺沃文化的一个地方变体。     

新疆于田流水墓地青铜时代人类牙齿非测量性状

我国新疆地区自古以来即是东西方文明相互交融的摇篮,以往的考古学、体质人类学研究表明,该区域内不同文化之间的互通有无早在我国青铜-早期铁器时代便已经发生。关于这种交流与融合产生的原因,目前学术界仍未有定论。新疆于田流水墓地(2950±50 BP)是由中国社会科学院考古研究所于2003-2005年主持发掘的青铜时代墓葬群,该墓地共发掘墓葬65座,被视为是昆仑山北麓发现的最早人类文化遗存。本文从采集自流水墓地108例人骨标本的19项牙齿非测量性状研究入手,将其与欧亚大陆范围内的古今人群进行比较研究,并进行史密斯生物学距离的计算以及主成分分析。结果表明:生活在新疆流水地区的古代人类与南西伯利亚地区、日本绳纹、阿富汗/巴基斯坦、中国姜家梁地区人群之间在牙齿非测量性状方面存在某种程度上的相似性,这或许可以说明至少在3000年前,我国新疆西南部地区可能已经存在了东西方的人群迁徙。     

《青铜时代至早期铁器时代新疆哈密地区古代人群的变迁与交流模式研究》评介

新疆地处亚欧大陆腹地,是汉唐时期丝绸之路的枢纽。不仅如此,从考古发现来看,丝绸之路部分路段早在汉代以前就已经发挥了巨大的作用,新疆与中亚和中国内地的联系也可以追溯到更早的青铜时代和早期铁器时代。新疆东部的哈密地区更是连接中原与西域的交通要道,来自甘青地区的古代人群很早就进入该地区,同时也融入了部分来自西方的     

新疆于田流水墓地青铜时代人类颅骨非连续性特征研究

新疆是欧亚大陆东西方人群交流的关键地带,新疆人群是研究东西交流史的主要对象.本文对昆仑山北麓青铜时代的新疆于田流水墓地出土的20具颅骨进行了61项非连续性特征的观察,对其中的20项非连续性特征与世界范围近代和现代人群进行频率数据的主成分分析,计算样本间的史密斯生物学距离,根据距离系数作邻接法聚类分析和多维尺度分析.结果...     

哈密天山北路墓地出土颅骨的测量性状

本文是对出土于新疆哈密地区天山北路青铜时代墓地颅骨测量性状的研究。文中公布了24例天山北路墓地古代人群77项颅骨测量性状基本数据, 在此基础上, 对男、女两性的测量性状特点进行了统计分析, 并结合考古学文化研究和分子生物学研究的相关结论对实验结果进行了讨论和推论。主要研究结论如下: 一是该人群虽已经形成了具有自身特点的、共性的体质特征, 但人群内部也存在些许差异, 尤其是在男性个体数据之中。二是该人群是由分别具有东、西方体质特征的祖先人群混杂融合而成, 是处于当时大人种分布过渡地带的过渡人群。     

线粒体全基因组揭示嫩江流域史前人群遗传结构的动态变化

嫩江流域是中国东北地区古代先民的重要栖息地之一。自新石器时代开始这里的先民一直以渔猎经济为主要生活方式,直到新石器时代晚期至早期青铜时代才开始兼营畜牧业和少量的种植业。嫩江流域青铜时代的生业模式的转变是否伴随着外来人群的融合与替代一直是考古研究的热点。为了探讨嫩江流域新石器时代与青铜铁器时代人群的构成是否改变,我们对嫩江流域新石器时代至青铜铁器时代的24个个体进行了线粒体全基因组分析。分析结果表明：嫩江流域青铜铁器时代人群与新石器时代人群具有一定遗传连续性的同时,晚期人群与西辽河地区古代人群有着更近的遗传联系,表明西辽河地区古代居民对嫩江流域青铜铁器时代人群具有部分遗传贡献。结合考古学文化、古气候学数据以及语言学证据,我们推测距今4000-3000年间,西辽河地区古代居民曾迁入到嫩江流域,并留下遗传印记。     

新疆且末县加瓦艾日克墓地人骨研究

本文通过对新疆且末县托乎拉克勒克乡加瓦艾日克村29座墓地出土的人骨标本进行了观察和分析。共鉴定出150例个体,其中男性73例、女性50例、性别不明者27例。男性、女性平均死亡年龄分别为36.3岁和35.6岁。形态学的分析指出且末人群更多地具有欧洲人种的特点,如鼻根凹陷深、鼻骨明显突起及犬齿窝深等。聚类分析结果显示且末人群与新疆古代人群焉布拉克C组、察吾呼四号组、多岗等人群较为接近。文章还根据线粒体DNA的分析结果讨论了且末古代人群的种族属性,古DNA的分析揭示出且末人群存在欧亚大陆东、西部人群的基因交流,并进一步指出其西部类型的成分来源极有可能来自西伯利亚,其东部成分可能来自西伯利亚或中国甘肃,只是东西方人群的基因融合规模小而且处于初级阶段,所以并未在颅面部形态特征上有大规模明显的改变。此外,本文从考古学文化、体质人类学研究以及古DNA等几个方面探讨了新疆地区古代人群的种族成分来源。本文还对且末人群的身高进行了推算,对一例变形颅骨以及骨骼上的创伤作了简要描述。     

乌鲁木齐萨恩萨依墓地出土头骨的人种学研究

本文研究了乌鲁木齐萨恩萨依墓地出土的人头骨材料, 这些材料大部分属于公元前七世纪左右的墓葬。通过观察其颅、面部特点,对其颅、面部进行测量分析, 结果显示萨恩萨依墓地出土头骨的人种总体来说属于蒙古人种类型。     

内蒙古凉城县忻州窑子墓地东周时期的人骨

忻州窑子墓地是近年来内蒙古中南部地区重要的考古发现之一,该墓地出土人骨标本是内蒙古中南部地区东周时期最具有代表性的古代人类标本,在探讨该时期中原王朝北扩疆土与北方民族南下冲突融合的历史过程问题上具有重要的学术价值。本文对出土的31例东周时期的颅骨标本(男性21例,女性10例)进行了体质人类学的研究,根据颅骨形态特征的差异,我们将该墓地的人群分为两组,即忻州窑子A组和忻州窑子B组。经过对比分析可知,忻州窑子A组居民的颅骨形态特征与先秦时期的"古蒙古高原类型"居民十分一致,忻州窑子B组居民则与"古中原类型"居民较为接近。忻州窑子墓地中未见有不同文化系统的葬俗,但在人群构成上却包括了两类体质特征差异显著的群体,佐证了这一时期该地区古代人群的构成具有强烈的融合性与多源性。     

Genetic Continuity of Bronze Age Ancestry with Increased Steppe-Related Ancestry in Late Iron Age Uzbekistan

Although Uzbekistan and Central Asia are known for the well-studied Bronze Age civilization of the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), the lesser-known Iron Age was also a dynamic period that resulted in increased interaction and admixture among different cultures from this region. To broaden our understanding of events that impacted the demography and population structure of this region, we generated 27 genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism capture data sets of Late Iron Age individuals around the Historical Kushan time period (∼2100–1500 BP) from three sites in South Uzbekistan. Overall, Bronze Age ancestry persists into the Iron Age in Uzbekistan, with no major replacements of populations with Steppe-related ancestry. However, these individuals suggest diverse ancestries related to Iranian farmers, Anatolian farmers, and Steppe herders, with a small amount of West European Hunter Gatherer, East Asian, and South Asian Hunter Gatherer ancestry as well. Genetic affinity toward the Late Bronze Age Steppe herders and a higher Steppe-related ancestry than that found in BMAC populations suggest an increased mobility and interaction of individuals from the Northern Steppe in a Southward direction. In addition, a decrease of Iranian and an increase of Anatolian farmer-like ancestry in Uzbekistan Iron Age individuals were observed compared with the BMAC populations from Uzbekistan. Thus, despite continuity from the Bronze Age, increased admixture played a major role in the shift from the Bronze to the Iron Age in southern Uzbekistan. This mixed ancestry is also observed in other parts of the Steppe and Central Asia, suggesting more widespread admixture among local populations.     

Carbonized plant remains from a pre-Roman Iron Age house site at Opperdoes,West Friesland,The Netherlands

The eastern part of the region of West Friesland (The Netherlands) was densely inhabited in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (Hoogkarspel culture). In the whole of this area, Iron Age settlement has only been found around Opperdoes. Carbonized plant remains from features associated with a pre-Roman Iron Age house near Opperdoes are discussed and compared with Bronze Age data from the region. The evidence suggests that the Iron Age food economy was different from that in the Bronze Age. Barley and linseed were possibly imported, while gold-of-pleasure was cultivated at the site.     

Horse‐mounted invaders from the Russo‐Kazakh steppe or agricultural colonists from western Central Asia? A craniometric investigation of the Bronze Age settlement of Xinjiang

Numerous Bronze Age cemeteries in the oases surrounding the T?klamakan Desert of the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, western China, have yielded both mummified and skeletal human remains. A dearth of local antecedents, coupled with woolen textiles and the apparent Western physical appearance of the population, raised questions as to where these people came from. Two hypotheses have been offered by archaeologists to account for the origins of Bronze Age populations of the Tarim Basin. These are the "steppe hypothesis" and the "Bactrian oasis hypothesis." Eight craniometric variables from 25 Aeneolithic and Bronze Age samples, comprising 1,353 adults from the Tarim Basin, the Russo-Kazakh steppe, southern China, Central Asia, Iran, and the Indus Valley, are compared to test which, if either, of these hypotheses are supported by the pattern of phenetic affinities possessed by Bronze Age inhabitants of the Tarim Basin. Craniometric differences between samples are compared with Mahalanobis generalized distance (d2), and patterns of phenetic affinity are assessed with two types of cluster analysis (the weighted pair average linkage method and the neighbor-joining method), multidimensional scaling, and principal coordinates analysis. Results obtained by this analysis provide little support for either the steppe hypothesis or the Bactrian oasis hypothesis. Rather, the pattern of phenetic affinities manifested by Bronze Age inhabitants of the Tarim Basin suggests the presence of a population of unknown origin within the Tarim Basin during the early Bronze Age. After 1200 B.C., this population experienced significant gene flow from highland populations of the Pamirs and Ferghana Valley. These highland populations may include those who later became known as the Saka and who may have served as "middlemen" facilitating contacts between East (Tarim Basin, China) and West (Bactria, Uzbekistan) along what later became known as the Great Silk Road.     

The house mouse progression in Eurasia: a palaeontological and archaeozoological approach

A palaeontological and archaeozoological survey has allowed us to establish the different steps in the colonization of western Eurasia and northern Africa by the house mouse Mus musculus . After successive immigration waves of the genus Mus into this zone from the late Pliocene to the upper Pleistocene, the house mouse appeared and remained confined to the easternmost Mediterranean Basin at the uppermost Pleistocene. The first progression of this species into the Mediterranean Basin occurred in the Middle East from the Epipaleolithic to the Neolithic. Subsequently, this species was found in the western Mediterranean Basin during the Bronze Age and in north-west Europe during the Iron Age. In comparison to this latter zone, north central Europe was colonized relatively early, from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age which may, in fact, not only correspond to a much earlier invasion of Europe by M. musculus musculus but also suggest that the distribution of this subspecies extended much further west than it does nowadays, at a time when M. musculus domesticus was restricted to the Mediterranean zone. This archaeological survey is in agreement with genetic data which provide indications as to the speed, steps and pathways of progression of house mouse populations in western Eurasia.     

Madonna del Piano (Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, central Italy) ox and dog: a case of intentional Iron Age inhumation

Two almost complete and articulated skeletons of a small-sized 15-year-old shorthorn ox and of a 3-4-year-old dog were found associated to Iron Age human burials at Madonna del Piano, in Sesto Fiorentino, near Florence. The two skeletons were ritually buried. The find adds to another case of cattle burial also found in the area, and therefore attests to a penetration and persistence of late Neolithic and Bronze Age northern and eastern European practices in Italy. The specimens provide important evidence on the habits and believes of Iron Age circum-Mediterranean human populations. The ox reveals that castration was accomplished late in the animal’s growth, but also that cattle were used for heavy work, though being worshiped animals.     

MtDNA Haplogroup A10 Lineages in Bronze Age Samples Suggest That Ancient Autochthonous Human Groups Contributed to the Specificity of the Indigenous West Siberian Population

BackgroundThe craniometric specificity of the indigenous West Siberian human populations cannot be completely explained by the genetic interactions of the western and eastern Eurasian groups recorded in the archaeology of the area from the beginning of the 2^nd millennium BC. Anthropologists have proposed another probable explanation: contribution to the genetic structure of West Siberian indigenous populations by ancient human groups, which separated from western and eastern Eurasian populations before the final formation of their phenotypic and genetic features and evolved independently in the region over a long period of time. This hypothesis remains untested. From the genetic point of view, it could be confirmed by the presence in the gene pool of indigenous populations of autochthonous components that evolved in the region over long time periods. The detection of such components, particularly in the mtDNA gene pool, is crucial for further clarification of early regional genetic history.

Results and Conclusion

We present the results of analysis of mtDNA samples (n = 10) belonging to the A10 haplogroup, from Bronze Age populations of West Siberian forest-steppe (V—I millennium BC), that were identified in a screening study of a large diachronic sample (n = 96). A10 lineages, which are very rare in modern Eurasian populations, were found in all the Bronze Age groups under study. Data on the A10 lineages’ phylogeny and phylogeography in ancient West Siberian and modern Eurasian populations suggest that A10 haplogroup underwent a long-term evolution in West Siberia or arose there autochthonously; thus, the presence of A10 lineages indicates the possible contribution of early autochthonous human groups to the genetic specificity of modern populations, in addition to contributions of later interactions of western and eastern Eurasian populations.     

Bioarchaeological analysis of cultural transition in the southern Levant using dental nonmetric traits

To many Near Eastern archaeologists, the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age transition in the southern Levant indicates the emergence of a new ethnicity. The question remains, however, whether changes in the material culture are the result of an invasion of foreigners, or instead arose from shifting cultural and technical practices by indigenous peoples. This study utilized dental morphological traits to assess phenetic relationships between the Late Bronze Age site of Dothan (1500-1100 BC) and the Iron Age II site of Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir, 701 BC). Information on 30 dental crown and root traits was collected for 4,412 teeth, representing 392 individuals from Lachish and a minimum of 121 individuals from Dothan, using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System. Seventeen traits from Dothan and Lachish were compared with dentitions from a Byzantine Jerusalem monastery, Iron Age Italy, a Natufian group (early agrarians from the Levant), and a Middle Kingdom Egyptian site using C.A.B. Smith's mean measure of divergence statistic. The findings suggest that there are more similarities between Dothan and Lachish than either of them and other sites. This analysis indicates that the material culture changes were not the result of a foreign invasion. Rather, the Iron Age people of the southern Levant were related to their Bronze Age predecessors.     

From forest to open pastures and fields: cultural landscape development in western Norway inferred from two pollen records representing different spatial scales of vegetation

The cultural landscape development of a farming community in western Norway was investigated through pollen analyses from a lake and a peat/soil profile. The pollen record from the lake indicates that there was a decrease in arboreal pollen (AP) by the end of the Mesolithic period (ca. 4200 cal b.c.), and that a substantial forest clearance occurred during the Bronze Age (ca. 1500 cal b.c.). The latter, together with grazing indicators and cereals, suggests a widespread establishment of farming. At the beginning of the Roman Iron Age there is an increase in heath communities. The pollen diagram from the peat/soil profile shows the forest clearance in the Bronze Age more clearly than the lake profile. This local pollen diagram is compared with modern pollen samples from mown and grazed localities in western Norway. Both analogue matching and ordination (PCA) indicate that the site was characterised by pastures and cereal fields from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age. An expansion of cereal cultivation took place during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and an arable field was established at the site after ca. a.d. 800. This investigation illustrates the potential of selecting pollen sites reflecting different spatial scales, and complements the cultural history of the area as inferred from archaeological and historical records.     

Population history of the middle Euphrates valley: Dental non-metric traits at Tell Ashara,Tell Masaikh and Jebel Mashtale,Syria

Fifty-nine dental non-metric traits were scored using Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System on a sample of teeth from 350 human skeletons excavated at three sites in the lower middle Euphrates valley. The dataset was divided into six chronological subsets: Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Early Iron Age with Neo-Assyrian period, Classical/Late Antiquity, Early Islamic (Umayyad and Abbasid) period and Modern period. The matrix of Mean Measure of Divergence values exhibited temporal homogeneity of the sample with only dental non-metric trait scores in the Modern subset differing significantly from most other subsets. Such a result suggests that no major gene flow occurred in the middle Euphrates valley between the 3rd millennium BCE and the early 2nd millennium CE. Only after the Mongolian invasion and large depopulation of northern Mesopotamia in the 13th century CE a major population change occurred when the area was taken over in the 17th century by Bedouin tribes from the Arabian Peninsula.