Europe, the bull and the Minotaur: the biological legacy of a Neolithic love story

The European cattle was domesticated 10 000 years ago in eastern Turkey, 1000 years later pottery-associated milk fats identify cattle-based dairy activity in western Turkey. Subsequently, the Indo-European language, domesticated animals and plants travel as a Neolithic package along two major routes across Europe. A striking south-east to north-west gradient of a mutation in the current European population (lactase persistence into adulthood) documents the expansion of a Neolithic dairy culture into a Mesolithic hunter society. Using oral tradition (myths), archaeological and written historical evidence and biological data, it is asked whether highly transmissible viral diseases like measles and smallpox entered during the Neolithic from domesticated animals into the human population. The bovine origin of paramyxovirus infections is likely; smallpox comes from camels or from rodents via cattle while mycobacteria and Helicobacter infected humans already before the Neolithic. Microbes adapt constantly and quickly to changing ecological situations. The current global environmental changes will lead to another highly dynamic phase of viral transmissions into the human population.     

Genomics at the origins of agriculture,part one

The causes and consequences of the Neolithic revolution represent a fundamental problem for anthropological inquiry. Traditional archeological evidence, ethnobotanical remains, artifacts, and settlement patterns have been used to infer the transition from foraging to primary food production. Recent advances in genomics (the study of the sequence, structure, and function of the genome) has enhanced our understanding of the process of plant and animal domestication, revealed the impact that adaptation to agriculture has had on human biology, and provided clues to the pathogens and parasites thought to have emerged during the Neolithic. Genomic analysis provides insights into the complexity of the process of domestication that may not be apparent from the physical remains of bones and seeds, and allows us to measure the impact that the shift to primary food production had on the human genome. Questions related to the location and the process of domestication can be answered more fully by analyzing the genomes of the plants and animals brought under human control. The spread of the agriculture package (plants, animals, and technology) by cultural diffusion or demic expansion can also be investigated through this approach. Whether dissemination by farmers or the diffusion of farming knowledge and technology was the source of the Neolithic expansion, this process should be revealed by the patterh of genetic and linguistic diversity and language found from centers of agricultural Neolithic development. In addition, a number of pathogens that were previously thought to have been transmitted from domesticated species to human now appear to have been present in foragers long before the agricultural revolution took place. Furthermore, we now have evidence that humans were the source of the transmission of some parasites to domesticated animals. For all of these reasons, data from genomic studies are providing a more complete understanding of the origins of agriculture, a critical hallmark in human evolution.     

Closed forest or open woodland as natural vegetation in the surroundings of Linearbandkeramik settlements?

Deciduous woodland can be reconstructed as the potential vegetation cover of most parts of the Chernozem (black earth) loess areas settled by the early Neolithic farmers of the Bandkeramik culture in the sixth millennium b.c. The character of the woodland as closed, with few light-demanding plants, or more open is very important for the potential of an agricultural system. Botanical results are not able to indicate the composition of the woods quantitatively, but they can give indirect hints. It is discussed whether these archaeobotanical results, in combination with the characteristics of the wild and domesticated herbivores identified, can be interpreted with regard to the density of the woodland cover in Neolithic times. The use of the floodplains as pasture is interpreted from pollen analytical results.     

Exploitation de la vesce commune (Vicia sativa L.) au Néolithique moyen dans le Sud de la France. Données carpologiques du site de Claparouse (Lagnes, Vaucluse)

Common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) exploitation during middle Neolithic times in Southern France. Archaeobotanical data from Claparouse (Lagnes, Vaucluse). Beginnings of common vetch cultivation are poorly documented. Domestication could have occurred in various places. Common vetch is recorded by rare seeds in pre-Neolithic and Neolithic sites but firm evidence of cultivation does not seem available before Roman times. The Neolithic site of Claparouse is providing evidence of utilization and probable cultivation as early as some 6000 years ago. Even if this pulse is nowadays only a fodder plant, it was more likely used as human food at that time. We do not know whether it was introduced in western Europe from the Near East or locally domesticated. To cite this article: L. Bouby, V. Léa, C. R. Palevol 5 (2006).     

Skeletal Pathologies in a Population of Alouatta palliata: Behavioral, Ecological, and Evolutionary Implications

We examined the pathological conditions in a sample of 200 skulls of Alouatta palliata recovered from Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, to investigate the prevalence of disease and injury in a free-ranging monkey population. Forty-five individuals (22.5%) have some type of nondental pathological condition, indicating that illness and injury are relatively common in this population. Ten individuals, all older adult males, exhibit clear signs of antemortem trauma in the form of healed fractures. We attribute the trauma primarily to fighting, and its frequency (16.4% of adult males) contradicts previous assertions that BCI howlers are nonaggressive. Nine of the 37 scorable immature individuals (24%) have signs of a larval infestation, supporting the suggestion that ectoparasites play an important role in BCI howler mortality. Other pathological conditions in the sample include shifted muscle attachments, periostitis, arthritis, neoplasm, periapical abscesses, and facial deformity, as well as various dental abnormalities.     

中国古代人类遗骸的骨折病例

本文记述了作者从河南淅川下王岗新石器时代、湖北长阳深潭湾青铜时代、山西朔州汉代及大同市郊北魏时代等遗址收集的骨折骨骼标本的特征。同时还收集一些已发表的有关古代人类骨骼骨折的资料用于对比,为了解我国古代居民的骨折特征和类型,探索古代人类的行为、环境适应性及疾病历史提供重要依据。     

The chickpea, summer cropping, and a new model for pulse domestication in the ancient near east

The widely accepted models describing the emergence of domesticated grain crops from their wild type ancestors are mostly based upon selection (conscious or unconscious) of major features related either to seed dispersal (nonbrittle ear, indehiscent pod) or free germination (nondormant seeds, soft seed coat). Based on the breeding systems (self-pollination) and dominance relations between the allelomorphs of seed dispersal mode and seed dormancy, it was postulated that establishment of the domesticated forms and replacement of the wild ancestral populations occurred in the Near East within a relatively short time. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), however, appears as an exception among all other "founder crops" of Old World agriculture because of its ancient conversion into a summer crop. The chickpea is also exceptional because its major domestication trait appears to be vernalization insensitivity rather than pod indehiscence or free germination. Moreover, the genetic basis of vernalization response in wild chickpea (Cicer reticulatum Ladiz.) is polygenic, suggesting that a long domestication process was imperative due to the elusive phenotype of vernalization nonresponsiveness. There is also a gap in chickpea remains in the archaeological record between the Late Prepottery Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Contrary to the common view that Levantine summer cropping was introduced relatively late (Early Bronze Age), we argue for an earlier (Neolithic) Levantine origin of summer cropping because chickpea, when grown as a common winter crop, was vulnerable to the devastating pathogen Didymella rabiei, the causal agent of Ascochyta blight. The ancient (Neolithic) conversion of chickpea into a summer crop required seasonal differentiation of agronomic operation from the early phases of the Neolithic revolution. This topic is difficult to deal with, as direct data on seasonality in prehistoric Old World field crop husbandry are practically nonexistent. Consequently, this issue was hardly dealt with in the literature. Information on the seasonality of ancient (Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Early Bronze Age, calibrated 11,500 to 4,500 years before present) Near Eastern agriculture may improve our understanding of the proficiency of early farmers. This in turn may provide a better insight into Neolithic agrotechniques and scheduling. It is difficult to fully understand chickpea domestication without a Neolithic seasonal differentiation of agronomic practice because the rapid establishment of the successful Near Eastern crop package which included wheats, barley, pea, lentil, vetches, and flax, would have preempted the later domestication of this rare wild legume.     

Stable isotopes and dietary adaptations in humans and animals at pre-pottery Neolithic Nevalli Cori, southeast Anatolia

Human and animal bones from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site of Nevali Cori (southeast Anatolia) were analyzed with regard to stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen, and stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in bone carbonate. The reconstruction of the vertebrate food web at this site revealed that humans may have faced difficulties with meat procurement, since their stable-isotope ratios reflect a largely herbivorous diet. This is in contrast with the preceding Pre-Pottery Neolithic A contexts and late Neolithic sites in the Fertile Crescent, where humans are located at the top of the food chain. Conceivably, Nevali Cori represents a community in the transition from a hunting and gathering subsistence to an economy with agriculture and animal husbandry, since domesticated einkorn and sheep, pigs, and probably also goats are in evidence at the site. In the second half of the 9th millennium calibrated (cal.) BC, however, the contribution of stock on the hoof to the human diet still seems modest. Animals kept under cultural control obviously had a dietary spectrum different from their free-ranging relatives. We conclude that these animals had been deliberately nourished by their owners, whereby the overall low delta(15)N-signatures in both humans and livestock might result from the consumption of protein-rich pulses.     

The Origins of Domesticated Cattle

The origin of domestic cattle has perplexed archaeologists for more than a century. Researchers have proposed various theories, which offer alternative spatial and chronological models for the origin and spread of domesticated cattle. One point of discussion is whether domestic cattle had a single or multiple origins; however, most authorities considered that the first steps towards cattle domestication were taken in southwest Asia and that domesticated cattle entered Europe with pastoralists migrating from this region. Domesticated taurine cattle were thought to have entered Africa in successive waves from southwest Asia, while zebu cattle migrated into Africa at a later date from Arabia and the Indian subcontinent. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) shows that taurine and zebu cattle divergence before the Holocene and were probably domesticated independently. Recent mtDNA sequence data shows that African and European taurine cattle were probably domesticated independently, but that there was a process of genetic introgression between taurine and zebu cattle in Africa. Ancient DNA studies over the last 10 years suggest that Northern European aurochsens apparently contributed little or nothing to domestic cattle while Southern European aurochsens apparently made a significant input. However, Middle Eastern aurochsen, unfortunately not typed yet, are expected to be to be very similar to European breeds as well, both because archeological data suggest that the major center of domestication for European Bos taurus breeds was the Fertile Crescent (9), and also because a mtDNA sequence from a Syrian specimen dated at 8,000–9,000 years ago shows a typical European haplotype found both in modern breeds and the Italian aurochsen. Evidence seems to suggest that small to moderate levels of local gene flow from wild Bos primigenius females in selected breeds were either accepted or may be reinforced by Neolithic breeders.     

Patterns of violence‐related skull trauma in neolithic southern scandinavia

This article examines evidence for violence as reflected in skull injuries in 378 individuals from Neolithic Denmark and Sweden (3,900–1,700 BC). It is the first large‐scale crossregional study of skull trauma in southern Scandinavia, documenting skeletal evidence of violence at a population level. We also investigate the widely assumed hypothesis that Neolithic violence is male‐dominated and results in primarily male injuries and fatalities. Considering crude prevalence and prevalence for individual bones of the skull allows for a more comprehensive understanding of interpersonal violence in the region, which is characterized by endemic levels of mostly nonlethal violence that affected both men and women. Crude prevalence for skull trauma reaches 9.4% in the Swedish and 16.9% in the Danish sample, whereas element‐based prevalence varies between 6.2% for the right frontal and 0.6% for the left maxilla, with higher figures in the Danish sample. Significantly more males are affected by healed injuries but perimortem injuries affect males and females equally. These results suggest habitual male involvement in nonfatal violence but similar risks for both sexes for sustaining fatal injuries. In the Danish sample, a bias toward front and left‐side injuries and right‐side injuries in females support this scenario of differential involvement in habitual interpersonal violence, suggesting gendered differences in active engagement in conflict. It highlights the importance of large‐scale studies for investigating the scale and context of violence in early agricultural societies, and the existence of varied regional patterns for overall injury prevalence as well as gendered differences in violence‐related injuries. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Unravelling the complexity of domestication: a case study using morphometrics and ancient DNA analyses of archaeological pigs from Romania

Current evidence suggests that pigs were first domesticated in Eastern Anatolia during the ninth millennium cal BC before dispersing into Europe with Early Neolithic farmers from the beginning of the seventh millennium. Recent ancient DNA (aDNA) research also indicates the incorporation of European wild boar into domestic stock during the Neolithization process. In order to establish the timing of the arrival of domestic pigs into Europe, and to test hypotheses regarding the role European wild boar played in the domestication process, we combined a geometric morphometric analysis (allowing us to combine tooth size and shape) of 449 Romanian ancient teeth with aDNA analysis. Our results firstly substantiate claims that the first domestic pigs in Romania possessed the same mtDNA signatures found in Neolithic pigs in west and central Anatolia. Second, we identified a significant proportion of individuals with large molars whose tooth shape matched that of archaeological (likely) domestic pigs. These large ‘domestic shape’ specimens were present from the outset of the Romanian Neolithic (6100–5500 cal BC) through to later prehistory, suggesting a long history of admixture between introduced domestic pigs and local wild boar. Finally, we confirmed a turnover in mitochondrial lineages found in domestic pigs, possibly coincident with human migration into Anatolia and the Levant that occurred in later prehistory.     

Origin and Diffusion of the House Mouse in the Mediterranean

The house mouse (Mus musculus), after humans, is the most widespread mammal on earth and one of the worst invasive species for both biological diversity and human health. This ubiquity is the consequence of its strong ecological relationship with humans, namely commensalism. Human activities promote its diffusion by eliminating ecological barriers and by increasing the human environment suitable for this species. This paper deals with recent zooarchaeological data that has helped to decipher the main factors of human evolution involved in the origin of commensal behaviour in the house mouse and in its invasive process throughout the Mediterranean. Understanding this process contributes to our overall knowledge on how human activities modelled mammalian diversity during Holocene. In the Near Eastern core of European Neolithisation, two factors are recognised as the main driving forces to explain the beginning of house mouse commensalism: rise of farming practices (cultivated fields, large scale grain storage, domestication of plants) and human dispersal of domesticated plants through the cultural area of the pre-ceramic Neolithic. These factors increased the attractiveness of the anthropic ecosystem as well as the diffusion vectors of mice by passive transport. Nevertheless, the Neolithisation of the Mediterranean did not promote the house mouse’s invasion of Europe. The commercial and demographic expansions of Phoenicians and Greeks during the last millennium bc were the vectors that allowed the house mouse to overwhelm the ecological barriers that previously prevented its westward invasion of the human environment.     

Histomorphometric study of bone microstructure of primates and domestic animal with the goal of species identification with reference to the effects of domestication

Functional bone microstructure of long limb bones is a function of species-specific biomechanical properties such as locomotion and weight. Histomorphometry and statistics were used to identify various primate species (Hylobates moloch, Pongo satyrus borneensis, Pan tr. troglodytes, Gorilla g. gorilla, Homo sapiens), equid species (Equus caballus, Equus asinus, Equus mulus, Equus hemionus kulan, Equus ferus przewalskii) and also extinct horses e.g. iron age, medieval and neolithic forms on the microstructural level. Furthermore, bones from domesticated cattle, their Neolithic forms, pigs, sheep and goats (Bos taurus, Sus scrofa, Ovis aries, Capra hircus) were examined. Thin sections from proximal metacarpi or radii per species were taken in case of the domesticated animals and from distal humeri in case of the primates. Areas, perimeters, minimal and maximal axis of Haversian canals and secondary osteons were measured on digital images. Canonical discriminant analysis permits a differentiation of the species by these parameters of bone microstructure. Thus it is possible to distinguish between the different primate species, sheep and goats, horses, extinct horses, donkeys, mules and kulans on the microstructural level, however not between cattle and pig, E. f. przewalskii and Equus caballus, medieval and iron age horses. Neolithic cattle and horses do overlap, yet they are different from the modern forms.     

宝鸡、华县新石器时代人骨的错畸形

本文选宝鸡、华县发掘的新石器时代人骨中牙列较完整的颌骨标本进行观察及测量,以了解我国新石器时代人类中错(牙合)畸形的发病情况。发现在该时期的人类中已可见到多种今天常见的错(牙合)畸形。统计了错(牙合)的发病率,并对一例颜面不对称畸形标本的病理机制和病因进行了分析和讨论。     

Ancient DNA from an Early Neolithic Iberian population supports a pioneer colonization by first farmers

The Neolithic transition has been widely debated particularly regarding the extent to which this revolution implied a demographic expansion from the Near East. We attempted to shed some light on this process in northeastern Iberia by combining ancient DNA (aDNA) data from Early Neolithic settlers and published DNA data from Middle Neolithic and modern samples from the same region. We successfully extracted and amplified mitochondrial DNA from 13 human specimens, found at three archaeological sites dated back to the Cardial culture in the Early Neolithic (Can Sadurní and Chaves) and to the Late Early Neolithic (Sant Pau del Camp). We found that haplogroups with a low frequency in modern populations-N* and X1-are found at higher frequencies in our Early Neolithic population (～31%). Genetic differentiation between Early and Middle Neolithic populations was significant (F(ST) ～0.13, P<10(-5)), suggesting that genetic drift played an important role at this time. To improve our understanding of the Neolithic demographic processes, we used a Bayesian coalescence-based simulation approach to identify the most likely of three demographic scenarios that might explain the genetic data. The three scenarios were chosen to reflect archaeological knowledge and previous genetic studies using similar inferential approaches. We found that models that ignore population structure, as previously used in aDNA studies, are unlikely to explain the data. Our results are compatible with a pioneer colonization of northeastern Iberia at the Early Neolithic characterized by the arrival of small genetically distinctive groups, showing cultural and genetic connections with the Near East.     

群体遗传学下动物驯化研究进展

动物驯化是将野生动物改变为能够长期稳定饲养的家养动物的过程。作为新石器时代农业革命的内容,驯化是人类社会文明进步的重要标志之一。由于和人类的密切关系,驯化不仅改变了动物的野生状态,也改变了人类的生活习性和文明进程。动物驯化研究的关键问题包含驯化祖先是谁、驯化所产生的改变及驯化时间地点等。随着高通量基因组技术和对应分析方法的发展,目前研究动物驯化一般基于群体水平,在群体遗传学的框架下研究动物驯化过程中的重要事件。本文总结了群体遗传学下动物驯化研究的相关内容,包括群体动态历史、选择信号、基因交流等,着重介绍了基因选择初始时间和基因交流时间两个新的拓展内容及分析方法,概述了家猪(Sus scrofa f. domestica)、家鸡(Gallus gallus domesticus)、绵羊(Ovis aries)和山羊(Caprine hircus)等几种主要农业动物近期驯化研究的进展,以期为动物驯化研究提供了新的方向和视角。     

The ripples of "The Big (agricultural) Bang": the spread of early wheat cultivation.

Demographic expansion and (or) migrations leave their mark in the pattern of DNA polymorphisms of the respective populations. Likewise, the spread of cultural phenomena can be traced by dating archaeological finds and reconstructing their direction and pace. A similar course of events is likely to have taken place following the "Big Bang" of the agricultural spread in the Neolithic Near East from its core area in southeastern Turkey. Thus far, no attempts have been made to track the movement of the founder genetic stocks of the first crop plants from their core area based on the genetic structure of living plants. In this minireview, we re-interpret recent wheat DNA polymorphism data to detect the genetic ripples left by the early wave of advance of Neolithic wheat farming from its core area. This methodology may help to suggest a model charting the spread of the first farming phase prior to the emergence of truly domesticated wheat types (and other such crops), thereby increasing our resolution power in studying this revolutionary period of human cultural, demographic, and social evolution.     

福建漳平奇和洞发现的新石器时代早期人类头骨

2011年在福建漳平奇和洞发现的距今1万年左右的新石器时代早期人类遗骸"奇和洞III号",是迄今在福建地区发现的最早、最完整的古人类头骨,为探讨华南更新世晚期向全新世过渡阶段人类的体质特征及现代人群的形成与分化提供了重要的研究材料。本文对这件头骨进行了研究,奇和洞III号为35岁左右的男性个体,牙齿龋病严重,推测当时人类的经济模式主要以农耕为主。通过与更新世晚期柳江、山顶洞101号及14组新石器时代人类头骨的比较,发现奇和洞III号头骨兼有更新世晚期人类及新石器南、北方居民的混合体质特征:奇和洞III号头骨长而脑量大,似更新世晚期人类;其高而狭窄的面部、宽阔而低矮的鼻部,呈现出不同于南、北方人群的特殊体质特征。主成分分析显示,奇和洞III号与对比的新石器时代各组在头骨的测量数据上没有表现为明显的南、北地区间差异,但在头骨的测量指数或形状上存在时代和地区间的不同。本文研究为新旧石器过渡阶段人类体质特征的变异提供了进一步证据。     

From foraging to farming in the southern Levant: the development of Epipalaeolithic and Pre-pottery Neolithic plant management strategies

This paper reviews the archaeobotanical record of the transition from foraging to farming in the southern Levant. The concise presentation of the published botanical evidence follows a critical assessment of: (a) the nature of Epipalaeolithic plant management strategies, (b) the place of the southern Levant in the polycentric development of Near Eastern plant cultivation and domestication, and (c) region-specific pathways for the emergence of domesticated crop “packages”. Some inferences are drawn and suggestions are made concerning the potential contribution of archaeobotanical research to questions of broader archaeological significance about socio-economic change in the southern Levant during the Pre-pottery Neolithic.     

Paleopathology and the origin of agriculture in the Levant

This study addresses changes in health which were consequential to the Neolithic transition in the southern Levant, judged on the basis of the study of specific and nonspecific stress indicators, trauma, and degenerative joint disease in 200 Natufian (hunter‐gatherer) skeletons (10,500–8300 BC) and 205 Neolithic (agricultural) skeletons (8300–5500 BC) from the southern Levant. The comparison of the health profiles of pre‐Neolithic (Natufian) and Neolithic populations reveals a higher prevalence of lesions indicative of infectious diseases among the Neolithic population, and an overall reduction in the prevalence of skull trauma among males. No change over time was observed in the prevalence of degenerative joint disease. These results indicate that in the southern Levant the Neolithic transition did not simply lead to an overall deterioration in health but rather resulted in a complex health profile which was shaped by 1) an increase exposure to disease agents, 2) changes in diet, 3) population aggregation in larger and denser settlements, 4) changes in activity patterns and the division of labor, and possibly 5) a higher resistant immunological system and response capacity to environmental aggressions (mainly infections). Am J Phys Anthropol 143:121–133, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.