Composition of the founding population of Iceland: biological distance and morphological variation in early historic Atlantic Europe

We examined the composition of the founding population of Iceland through the study of morphological traits in skeletons from Iceland, Ireland, Norway, and Greenland. This is the first study to address this issue from the Settlement Period of Iceland and contemporary samples from Ireland. We pose the following questions: 1) Was the founding population of Iceland of mixed or homogeneous origin? 2) Is there evidence for a significant Irish cohort in the founding population, as suggested in medieval Icelandic literature? Analysis of biodistance revealed that both Settlement Age and later samples from Iceland showed a greater degree of phenetic similarity to contemporary Viking Age Norwegians than to samples obtained from early medieval Ireland. Analysis of among‐individual morphological variation showed that the Settlement Age population of Iceland did not exhibit an increase in variation in comparison to other populations in the sample, suggesting a relatively homogenous origin. However, estimation of admixture between the Irish and Norwegian populations indicated that 66% of the Icelandic settlers were of Norwegian origin. Comparison of the Icelandic samples to hybrid samples produced by resampling the Viking Age Norwegian and early medieval Irish samples revealed that the Icelandic samples are much closer to the Norwegian samples than expected, based on a 66:34 mixture of Norwegian and Irish settlers. We conclude that the Settlement Age population of Iceland was predominantly (60–90%) of Norwegian origin. Although this population was relatively homogenous, our results do not preclude significant contributions from Ireland as well as other sources not represented in our analysis. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The Not-so-Dark Ages: ecology for human growth in medieval and early twentieth century Portugal as inferred from skeletal growth profiles

This study attempts to address the issue of relative living standards in Portuguese medieval and early 20th century periods. Since the growth of children provides a good measure of environmental quality for the overall population, the skeletal growth profiles of medieval Leiria and early 20th century Lisbon were compared. Results show that growth in femur length of medieval children did not differ significantly from that of early 20th century children, but after puberty medieval adolescents seem to have recovered, as they have significantly longer femora as adults. This is suggestive of greater potential for catch-up growth in medieval adolescents. We suggest that this results from distinct child labor practices, which impact differentially on the growth of Leiria and Lisbon adolescents. Work for medieval children and adolescents were related to family activities, and care and attention were provided by family members. Conversely, in early 20th century Lisbon children were more often sent to factories at around 12 years of age as an extra source of family income, where they were exploited for their labor. Since medieval and early 20th century children were stunted at an early age, greater potential for catch-up growth in medieval adolescents results from exhausting work being added to modern adolescent's burdens of disease and poor diet, when they entered the labor market. Although early 20th century Lisbon did not differ in overall unfavorable living conditions from medieval Leiria, after puberty different child labor practices may have placed modern adolescents at greater risk of undernutrition and poor growth.     

Pets and pests in Roman and medieval Britain

Humans and other vertebrates interact in a variety of relationships which are inadequately described by a simple division of these other animals into wild, feral, tame, and domestic taxa. Discussion of the process and semantic meaning of domestication has largely taken place in the context of the adoption of settled agriculture, but is equally relevant to complex urban societies. Certain species adopted a synanthropic relationship in the first 'villages' of the early Holocene, and co-existence with pets has a similar antiquity. The nature of the relationship between people and their pets is complex, and scarcely amenable to archaeological investigation, as part of the mutual benefit has an emotional basis, or centres on the symbolic role of certain species within different societies. The status of Cats in medieval towns in Britain and Ireland is a case in point, with opinions varying from the exploitation of Cats for skins, through neglected feral living, to a pet status much as today. The truth probably subsumes all three interpretations. Rats seem to have adapted to commensalism in northern Europe more slowly than Mice, and there may be evidence that Rats were more vulnerable to changes in habitat. Archaeology can usefully examine the community ecology of Roman and medieval towns, but any such research must move away from simple concepts of wild or domestic status.     

Sequences From First Settlers Reveal Rapid Evolution in Icelandic mtDNA Pool

A major task in human genetics is to understand the nature of the evolutionary processes that have shaped the gene pools of contemporary populations. Ancient DNA studies have great potential to shed light on the evolution of populations because they provide the opportunity to sample from the same population at different points in time. Here, we show that a sample of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences from 68 early medieval Icelandic skeletal remains is more closely related to sequences from contemporary inhabitants of Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia than to those from the modern Icelandic population. Due to a faster rate of genetic drift in the Icelandic mtDNA pool during the last 1,100 years, the sequences carried by the first settlers were better preserved in their ancestral gene pools than among their descendants in Iceland. These results demonstrate the inferential power gained in ancient DNA studies through the application of population genetics analyses to relatively large samples.     

Vegetation change during the Mesolithic and Neolithic on the Mizen Peninsula,Co. Cork,south-west Ireland

Despite being rich in later prehistoric and historic archaeology that includes megalithic monuments, Bronze age copper mines and medieval castles, the Mizen Peninsula, south-west Ireland, has revealed little about its stone age past. Evidence for a Mesolithic presence in SW Ireland is rare and, to date, all archaeological finds of this age in Co. Cork are further north and east of the Mizen Peninsula. However a recent palaeoecological study of pollen, non-pollen palynomorph, plant macrofossil and microscopic charcoal data from a peat bog located near Mount Gabriel has provided evidence for disturbances, characterised by fire disturbance of woodland and exploitation of wetlands, since ca. 8400 years b.p. Two working hypotheses are considered to explain these disturbances: human activity or natural agencies. If the human activity hypothesis is accepted, they represent the first possible evidence of a Mesolithic presence on the Mizen Peninsula.     

Vegetation history of mid- to western Ireland in the 2nd millennium a.d.; fresh evidence from tephra-dated palynological investigations

The historic Icelandic tephra layers, from Hekla in a.d. 1104 and Öræfajökull in a.d. 1362 that have been found in four peat profiles obtained from lowland and upland mid to western Irish bogs, provide the dating for high-resolution palynological investigations of regional land use over the last thousand years. Marginal agriculture is investigated through the study of an upland blanket peat and a lowland Atlantic blanket peat. At the lowland site, the landscape has been altered, primarily by removal of hazel scrub, while in the uplands, there has been little scrub woodland throughout the last millennium. Pastoral agriculture has a long, unbroken history at both sites, with a short period of arable agriculture, dated to the early 19th century, detected in the uplands. At the two lowland sites, changes in land use associated with medieval monastic and secular activity were similar but not synchronous. The a.d. 1362 tephra in one lowland profile provides high-resolution dating of the palynological evidence for agricultural collapse in the aftermath of the Black Death. The palynological evidence of late medieval woodland clearance is contrasted with the written record. The effects of 19th century population expansion on land use are considered. A synthesis of regional land use in Ireland during the last thousand years is presented.     

Palatine torus in the Greenlandic Norse.

Physical anthropologists have long been intrigued by the distinctive oral tori expressed by the medieval Norse populations of Iceland and Greenland. To assess the temporal and spatial variation of one form of oral tori, palatine torus, observations were made on all available Greenlandic Norse skeletons, as well as on samples of medieval Icelanders and Norwegians. In terms of temporal variation, 12th to 14th century (medieval) Greenlanders from the Eastern and Western settlements exhibited higher frequencies and more pronounced expressions of palatine torus compared with early 11th century Greenlanders. The early Greenlandic sample closely approximated the medieval Icelandic and Norwegian samples for total torus frequency, although the Norwegians exhibited the trait to a less pronounced degree. As degree of expression is the most distinctive aspect of torus variation among the Norse, some combination of environmental factors, including increased masticatory stress and chronic undernutrition, probably accounts for most of the difference between settlement period and medieval Greenlanders. Although palatine torus may be hereditary in part, environmental factors play a significant role in the expression of this trait.     

Allozyme evidence for reproductively isolated sympatric populations of brown trout Salmo trutta L. in Lough Melvin, Ireland

Electrophoretic studies of five polymorphic enzyme loci ( G-3-PDH-2, LDH-I, LDH-5, PGI-2, PGI-3 ) in brown trout from Lough Melvin in northwestern Ireland have demonstrated that the morphotypes known by the vernacular names of 'ferox', 'gillaroo' and 'sonaghen', are not merely ecophenotypes but represent genetically distinct and reproductively isolated populations. The results suggest that the long life and higher growth potential of ferox trout of this lake, and possibly others, has a genetic basis. These separate demes of brown trout are probably the result of multiple invasions in post-glacial times of allopatrically derived stocks. Lough Melvin's isolated position and absence of pike, Esox lucius , and large cyprinids have probably contributed to its pristine condition. As such it is one of the few remaining examples of what may once have been a widespread situation in Britain and Ireland.     

Paleodemography of a medieval population in Japan: analysis of human skeletal remains from the Yuigahama-minami site

The purpose of this study is to obtain demographic data regarding the medieval population buried at the Yuigahama-minami site in Kamakura, Japan, and to detect a secular trend in the life expectancy of Japanese population over the last several thousand years. The Yuigahama-minami skeletal sample consists of 260 individuals, including 98 subadults (under 20 years old) and 162 adults. A Yuigahama-minami abridged life-table analysis yielded a life expectancy at birth (e0) of 24.0 years for both sexes, a life expectancy at age 15 years (e15) of 15.8 years for males, and an e15 of 18.0 years for females. The reliability of the estimated e0 was confirmed by analysis of the juvenility index. Demographic profiles comparing the Yuigahama-minami series with other skeletal series indicated that both the survivorship curve and life expectancy of the Yuigahama-minami sample are similar to those of the Mesolithic-Neolithic Jomon population, but are far lower than those of the early modern Edo population. These comparisons strongly suggest that life expectancy changed little over the thousands of years between the Mesolithic-Neolithic Jomon and medieval periods, but then improved remarkably during the few hundred years between the medieval period and early modern Edo period. The short-lived tendency of the Yuigahama-minami sample does not contradict the archaeological hypothesis of unsanitary living conditions in medieval Kamakura. This is the first investigation to address the demographic features of a medieval population in Japan, and will help refine our understanding of long-term trends in the demographic profiles of inhabitants of Japan.     

The potential of pollen analyses from urban deposits: multivariate statistical analysis of a data set from the medieval city of Prague, Czech Republic

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the land which is now the Czech Republic underwent deep social and landscape changes, defined by historians and archaeologists as a transitional period between the early and late medieval periods. This study aims to analyze this transition as reflected by 142 pollen spectra from urban deposits so far excavated in the city of Prague. Multivariate statistics and critical assessment of the results has brought general conclusions on the potential of pollen analysis for urban archaeological research. They reveal an early medieval urban environment as a fine mosaic formed by extensive management, and composed of many habitats without sharp borders between them. Since human impact increased with time and the use of land became more rationalized and intensive, this mosaic developed a relatively coarser structure in the high medieval period. Our results support findings of the earlier subjective and uncertain characteristics of two differing types of medieval pollen spectra (Cerealia-dominated ones with low pollen diversity versus those with a higher proportion of arboreal and wild herbal pollen and high pollen diversity) obtained from various archaeological sites.     

Molecular identification of Babesia parasites isolated from Ixodes ricinus ticks collected in northwestern Poland

In the present study, PCR has been applied to detect and analyze DNA of Babesia spp. extracted from Ixodes ricinus ticks. Collection of I. ricinus was made in 6 forested areas of Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship, Poland, during 2 seasonal peaks of tick activity, i.e., spring and autumn, 2001. In total, 1,328 I. ricinus were collected and processed for PCR with F34 and R323 primers. Babesia spp. was detected in 28 (2% of 1,328 tested) ticks; 26 were identified as B. divergens. The other 2 were identified as B. microti. PCR was conducted with 18S rRNA specific primers and sequencing was processed to precisely identify and compare these isolates with B. microti and B. divergens sequences from Europe, North America, and Asia obtained from the GenBank. Analysis revealed that sequences of B. microti from northwestern Poland are almost identical (99.94%) with those referred to as "Munich strain"; both form a clade different from other European strains, as well as those from Asia and North America (called B. microti, sensu stricto). An investigation performed with B. divergens sequences showed that the sequence from northwestern Poland is 99.94% homologous to an isolate from Ireland ("Purnel"), and differs in just a few nucleotides from other European sequences. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the sequence of B divergens isolated from Polish ticks form a group that comprise 4 European sequences from Great Britain and Ireland and is, therefore, closely related to other European and North American B. divergnens sequences.     

Late Holocene land-use and vegetation dynamics in an upland karst region based on pollen and coprophilous fungal spore analyses: an example from the Burren, western Ireland

The late Holocene environmental history of two karstic uplands in the Burren, western Ireland is reconstructed. The palaeoecological investigations focus on species-rich, upland plant communities of high biogeographic interest that include Sesleria-dominated grasslands and heath communities with Dryas octopetala, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi and Empetrum nigrum. Short monoliths taken from shallow peats were pollen analytically investigated. Particular attention was paid to non-pollen palynomorphs, and especially coprophilous fungal spores as indicators of environmental change and pastoral activity at local level. The exposed north-west Burren uplands carried Pinus sylvestris-dominated woodland during the mid and late Bronze Age. The demise of pine on these uplands at ca. 600 B.C. is ascribed to human impact. Evidence is presented for increased pastoral activity in the uplands from early medieval times (ca. sixth century A.D.) onwards. Farming, involving intensive grazing of the uplands, attained greatest intensity during the late 18th and early 19th century, and resulted in more or less total clearance of Corylus scrub which, prior to that, was common in both the upland and lowland Burren. The potential of non-pollen palynomorphs and especially the coprophilous fungal spore record for elucidating traditional Burren farming practices, including winterage (a type of transhumance), is highlighted.     

Plant remains from the early medieval lakeshore settlement Fonyód-Bélatelep (Lake Balaton,Hungary) with especial emphasis on the history of fruit cultivation in Pannonia

During the excavation of an early medieval lakeside settlement at Fonyód-Bélatelep, Balaton (7th-9th century A.D.), remains of cultivated and wild plants were found in the culture layer. The main cereal crops of the Avar culture were Hordeum, Triticum and Secale. Panicum also played an important role. In addition to the cereals, 13 species of fruit trees were present. It appears that fruit cultivation survived from Roman times into the early medieval period.     

The ups and downs of the building trade in a medieval city: Tree-ring data as proxies for economic,social and demographic dynamics in Bruges (c. 1200–1500)

The exceptional preservation of the cityscape in the medieval city of Bruges (Belgium) triggered dendrochronological research on numerous preserved roof constructions in historical buildings, that date from the Middle Ages up to the early modern period. As many of these oak timbers lack the preservation of waney edge, a method was developed to combine sapwood estimates of felling dates within each building phase and to compute a summed probability distribution (SPD) for those felling dates. These summed probabilities now allow us to reconstruct temporal trends in building trade activity in an expanding medieval city. When linked to the social status of the patrons of the building projects, it is observed that resilience to demographic crisis and political turmoil differs among the social groups and political elite of a medieval society. Furthermore the dating results of decades of tree-ring research now provide a typo-chronological framework of roof constructions and shows that it took nearly two centuries before more advanced technological skill in the construction of roofs completely replaced the traditional common rafter roofs.     

ABO blood groups in medieval remains (Ras,Novi Pazar,X-XII A.D.)

Bone samples from a medieval cemetery (Ras, Novi Pazar, Serbia, X-XII A.D.) were serologically examined in order to determine ABO blood groups. The frequency of the AB blood group was much higher in the inhabitants of the medieval Ras than in the inhabitants of the Ras region of the 20th century. On the other hand, the incidence of the O blood group was smaller in the Ras population of the early Middle Ages. It was assumed that migrations which took place in that part of the Balkan Peninsula and Serbia influenced the distribution of ABO blood groups.     

Infant feeding practice in medieval Japan: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human skeletons from Yuigahama‐minami

A longer breastfeeding duration provides various positive effects in subadult health because of abundant immunological factors and nutrients in human breast milk, and decreases the natural fertility of a population through lactational amenorrhea. In this study, we measured stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in the bone collagen of three adults and 45 subadults from the Yuigahama‐minami site (from 12th to 14th century) in Kamakura, the early medieval capital of Japan. Marine foods, C₃‐based terrestrial foods, and freshwater fish are the primarily protein sources for adults. The changes in the nitrogen isotope ratios of subadults suggest that the relative dietary protein contribution from breast milk started to decrease from 1.1 years of age and ended at 3.8 years. The age at the end of weaning in the Yuigahama‐minami population was greater than that in the typical non‐industrial populations, a premodern population in the Edo period Japan, and medieval populations in the UK. Skeletons of townspeople from medieval Kamakura indicate severe nutritional stress (e.g., enamel hypoplasia and cribra orbitalia), yet this longer duration of breastfeeding did not compensate adverse effects for nutritional deficiency. The longer breastfeeding period may have been a consequence of complementary food shortage and bad health of subadults. Kamakura experienced urbanization and population increase in the early medieval period. The younger age‐at‐death distribution and high nutritional stresses in the Yuigahama‐minami population and later weaning, which is closely associated with longer inter‐birth interval for mothers, suggests that Kamakura developed and increased its population by immigration during urbanization. Am J Phys Anthropol 156:241–251, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

泥河湾盆地东端2007年新发现的旧石器地点

泥河湾盆地东端的岑家湾台地西北缘是盆地内旧石器地点分布最为集中的地段。2007年春夏, 笔者在该地区方圆5km2的范围内进行了为期3个月的旧石器考古调查, 在许家坡至水草湾、麻地沟以及官厅村至钱家沙洼等处发现16处旧石器地点, 获得石制品68件, 动物碎骨47件。石制品个体较小, 属于华北小石器工业传统。从地层发育和对比判断,麻地沟一带地点大致与东谷坨文化层同期, 官厅村西南地点则与后沟文化期相当。其中庙梁沟、沙梁、麻地沟E2和E3地点具备进一步发掘前景。此次调查丰富了泥河湾盆地东端早期人类活动的信息,对探讨古人类在泥河湾盆地的生存方式和技术交流具有重要意义。     

Genealogical Relationships between Early Medieval and Modern Inhabitants of Piedmont

In the period between 400 to 800 AD, also known as the period of the Barbarian invasions, intense migration is documented in the historical record of Europe. However, little is known about the demographic impact of these historical movements, potentially ranging from negligible to substantial. As a pilot study in a broader project on Medieval Europe, we sampled 102 specimens from 5 burial sites in Northwestern Italy, archaeologically classified as belonging to Lombards or Longobards, a Germanic people ruling over a vast section of the Italian peninsula from 568 to 774. We successfully amplified and typed the mitochondrial hypervariable region I (HVR-I) of 28 individuals. Comparisons of genetic diversity with other ancient populations and haplotype networks did not suggest that these samples are heterogeneous, and hence allowed us to jointly compare them with three isolated contemporary populations, and with a modern sample of a large city, representing a control for the effects of recent immigration. We then generated by serial coalescent simulations 16 millions of genealogies, contrasting a model of genealogical continuity with one in which the contemporary samples are genealogically independent from the medieval sample. Analyses by Approximate Bayesian Computation showed that the latter model fits the data in most cases, with one exception, Trino Vercellese, in which the evidence was compatible with persistence up to the present time of genetic features observed among this early medieval population. We conclude that it is possible, in general, to detect evidence of genealogical ties between medieval and specific modern populations. However, only seldom did mitochondrial DNA data allow us to reject with confidence either model tested, which indicates that broader analyses, based on larger assemblages of samples and genetic markers, are needed to understand in detail the effects of medieval migration.     

The presence of the brown bear Ursus arctos in Holocene Britain: a review of the evidence

相似文献   

Leprosy in the early medieval Lauchheim community

Leprosy was a well-recognized and dreaded disease in medieval Europe (5th-15th century AD). It is reported to have reached Germany with the Roman invasion. A much larger fraction than previously assumed appears to have been affected by leprosy in the medieval period. This article estimates the frequency (i.e., the prevalence at death) of leprosy among adult people buried in the Lauchheim early medieval cemetery. Seven different dichotomous osteological lesions indicative of leprosy are analyzed, and it is possible to score at least one of these conditions on 110 adult skeletons (aged 15 or more). The scores were transformed to a statistic--lambda (lambda)--indicating the likelihood that the person to whom the skeleton belonged suffered from leprosy. The analyses indicate that 16% (95% confidence interval: 9-23%) of adult people in Lauchheim died with osteological signs of leprosy. Leprosy was significantly more prevalent among men than women. The lambda statistic indicates that people who died with signs of leprosy did not differ in the distribution of age at death from those who did not have such signs. Some of the leprosy-related lesions had a statistically significant nonrandom dispersal on the cemetery; but there is no clear pattern to this and the significant results could be easily attributed to a type-1 error in the statistical analysis.