Population affinities of Neolithic Siberians: a snapshot from prehistoric Lake Baikal

Archaeological evidence supports the inhabitation of the Lake Baikal region since the Paleolithic. Both metric and nonmetric osteological studies suggest that Neolithic Cis-Baikal populations are the ancestors of contemporary inhabitants of the region. To date, ancient DNA data have not been used to corroborate this biological continuity hypothesis. This study presents a temporal snapshot of the Cis-Baikal Neolithic by examining mtDNA diversity in two cemetery populations situated on the Angara River downstream of Lake Baikal. The 800 years separating the use of the two cemeteries is thought to represent a biocultural hiatus in the Cis-Baikal region, one that ended when a new group migrated into the area. To assess the likelihood that genetic continuity exists between these two Neolithic groups, we examined both mtDNA coding region and hypervariable region I (HVI) polymorphisms from skeletal remains excavated from both cemeteries (Lokomotiv and Ust'-Ida). The mtDNA haplogroup distributions of the two cemetery populations differ significantly, suggesting that they were biologically distinct groups. When the biological distance between these Neolithic groups is compared with modern Siberian and other East Eurasian groups, the posthiatus group (Serovo-Glazkovo) generally aligns with contemporary Siberians, while the prehiatus (Kitoi) individuals are significantly different from all but modern Kets and Shorians living in the Yenisey and Ob River basins to the west of Lake Baikal. These results suggest that the Lake Baikal region experienced a significant depopulation event during the sixth millennium BP, and was reoccupied by a new immigrant population some 800 years later.     

Rewriting the Central European Early Bronze Age Chronology: Evidence from Large-Scale Radiocarbon Dating

The transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe has often been considered as a supra-regional uniform process, which led to the growing mastery of the new bronze technology. Since the 1920s, archaeologists have divided the Early Bronze Age into two chronological phases (Bronze A1 and A2), which were also seen as stages of technical progress. On the basis of the early radiocarbon dates from the cemetery of Singen, southern Germany, the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe was originally dated around 2300/2200 BC and the transition to more complex casting techniques (i.e., Bronze A2) around 2000 BC. On the basis of 140 newly radiocarbon dated human remains from Final Neolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age cemeteries south of Augsburg (Bavaria) and a re-dating of ten graves from the cemetery of Singen, we propose a significantly different dating range, which forces us to re-think the traditional relative and absolute chronologies as well as the narrative of technical development. We are now able to date the beginning of the Early Bronze Age to around 2150 BC and its end to around 1700 BC. Moreover, there is no transition between Bronze (Bz) A1 and Bronze (Bz) A2, but a complete overlap between the type objects of the two phases from 1900–1700 BC. We thus present a revised chronology of the assumed diagnostic type objects of the Early Bronze Age and recommend a radiocarbon-based view on the development of the material culture. Finally, we propose that the traditional phases Bz A1 and Bz A2 do not represent a chronological sequence, but regionally different social phenomena connected to the willingness of local actors to appropriate the new bronze technology.     

Demographic history of european populations of Arabidopsis thaliana

The model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana is successful at colonizing land that has recently undergone human-mediated disturbance. To investigate the prehistoric spread of A. thaliana, we applied approximate Bayesian computation and explicit spatial modeling to 76 European accessions sequenced at 876 nuclear loci. We find evidence that a major migration wave occurred from east to west, affecting most of the sampled individuals. The longitudinal gradient appears to result from the plant having spread in Europe from the east ~10,000 years ago, with a rate of westward spread of ~0.9 km/year. This wave-of-advance model is consistent with a natural colonization from an eastern glacial refugium that overwhelmed ancient western lineages. However, the speed and time frame of the model also suggest that the migration of A. thaliana into Europe may have accompanied the spread of agriculture during the Neolithic transition.     

The Neolithic Demographic Transition in the Central Balkans: population dynamics reconstruction based on new radiocarbon evidence

In this paper, we test the hypothesis of the Neolithic Demographic Transition in the Central Balkan Early Neolithic (6250–5300 BC) by applying the method of summed calibrated probability distributions to the set of more than 200 new radiocarbon dates from Serbia. The results suggest that there was an increase in population size after the first farmers arrived to the study area around 6250 BC. This increase lasted for approximately 250 years and was followed by a decrease in the population size proxy after 6000 BC, reaching its minimum around 5800 BC. This was followed by another episode of growth until 5600 BC when population size proxy rapidly declined, reaching the minimum again around 5500 BC. The reconstructed intrinsic growth rate value indicates that the first episode of growth might have been fuelled both by high fertility and migrations, potentially related to the effects of the 8.2 ky event. The second episode of population growth after 5800 BC was probably owing to the high fertility alone. It remains unclear what caused the episodes of population decrease.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography''.     

Concordance of cranial and dental morphological traits and evidence for endogamy in ancient Egypt

A biological affinities study based on frequencies of cranial nonmetric traits in skeletal samples from three cemeteries at predynastic Naqada, Egypt, confirms the results of a recent nonmetric dental morphological analysis. Both cranial and dental traits analyses indicate that the individuals buried in a cemetery characterized archaeologically as high status are significantly different from individuals buried in two other, apparently nonelite cemeteries and that the nonelite samples are not significantly different from each other. A comparison with neighbouring Nile Valley skeletal samples suggests that the high status cemetery represents an endogamous ruling or elite segment of the local population at Naqada, which is more closely related to populations in northern Nubia than to neighbouring populations in southern Egypt. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Early Life Conditions and Physiological Stress following the Transition to Farming in Central/Southeast Europe: Skeletal Growth Impairment and 6000 Years of Gradual Recovery

Early life conditions play an important role in determining adult body size. In particular, childhood malnutrition and disease can elicit growth delays and affect adult body size if severe or prolonged enough. In the earliest stages of farming, skeletal growth impairment and small adult body size are often documented relative to hunter-gatherer groups, though this pattern is regionally variable. In Central/Southeast Europe, it is unclear how early life stress, growth history, and adult body size were impacted by the introduction of agriculture and ensuing long-term demographic, social, and behavioral change. The current study assesses this impact through the reconstruction and analysis of mean stature, body mass, limb proportion indices, and sexual dimorphism among 407 skeletally mature men and women from foraging and farming populations spanning the Late Mesolithic through Early Medieval periods in Central/Southeast Europe (~7100 calBC to 850 AD). Results document significantly reduced mean stature, body mass, and crural index in Neolithic agriculturalists relative both to Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fishers and to later farming populations. This indication of relative growth impairment in the Neolithic, particularly among women, is supported by existing evidence of high developmental stress, intensive physical activity, and variable access to animal protein in these early agricultural populations. Among subsequent agriculturalists, temporal increases in mean stature, body mass, and crural index were more pronounced among Central European women, driving declines in the magnitude of sexual dimorphism through time. Overall, results suggest that the transition to agriculture in Central/Southeast Europe was challenging for early farming populations, but was followed by gradual amelioration across thousands of years, particularly among Central European women. This sex difference may be indicative, in part, of greater temporal variation in the social status afforded to young girls, in their access to resources during growth, and/or in their health status than was experienced by men.     

Female and Male Perspectives on the Neolithic Transition in Europe: Clues from Ancient and Modern Genetic Data

The arrival of agriculture into Europe during the Neolithic transition brought a significant shift in human lifestyle and subsistence. However, the conditions under which the spread of the new culture and technologies occurred are still debated. Similarly, the roles played by women and men during the Neolithic transition are not well understood, probably due to the fact that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome (NRY) data are usually studied independently rather than within the same statistical framework. Here, we applied an integrative approach, using different model-based inferential techniques, to analyse published datasets from contemporary and ancient European populations. By integrating mtDNA and NRY data into the same admixture approach, we show that both males and females underwent the same admixture history and both support the demic diffusion model of Ammerman and Cavalli-Sforza. Similarly, the patterns of genetic diversity found in extant and ancient populations demonstrate that both modern and ancient mtDNA support the demic diffusion model. They also show that population structure and differential growth between farmers and hunter-gatherers are necessary to explain both types of data. However, we also found some differences between male and female markers, suggesting that the female effective population size was larger than that of the males, probably due to different demographic histories. We argue that these differences are most probably related to the various shifts in cultural practices and lifestyles that followed the Neolithic Transition, such as sedentism, the shift from polygyny to monogamy or the increase of patrilocality.     

Mortality Risk and Survival in the Aftermath of the Medieval Black Death

The medieval Black Death (c. 1347-1351) was one of the most devastating epidemics in human history. It killed tens of millions of Europeans, and recent analyses have shown that the disease targeted elderly adults and individuals who had been previously exposed to physiological stressors. Following the epidemic, there were improvements in standards of living, particularly in dietary quality for all socioeconomic strata. This study investigates whether the combination of the selective mortality of the Black Death and post-epidemic improvements in standards of living had detectable effects on survival and mortality in London. Samples are drawn from several pre- and post-Black Death London cemeteries. The pre-Black Death sample comes from the Guildhall Yard (n = 75) and St. Nicholas Shambles (n = 246) cemeteries, which date to the 11^th–12^th centuries, and from two phases within the St. Mary Spital cemetery, which date to between 1120-1300 (n = 143). The St. Mary Graces cemetery (n = 133) was in use from 1350–1538 and thus represents post-epidemic demographic conditions. By applying Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Gompertz hazard model to transition analysis age estimates, and controlling for changes in birth rates, this study examines differences in survivorship and mortality risk between the pre- and post-Black Death populations of London. The results indicate that there are significant differences in survival and mortality risk, but not birth rates, between the two time periods, which suggest improvements in health following the Black Death, despite repeated outbreaks of plague in the centuries after the Black Death.     

Has the transition to agriculture reshaped the demographic structure of prehistoric populations? New evidence from the Levant

This paper presents the demographic changes that followed the transition from a hunting-gathering way of life (Natufian) to an agricultural, food-producing economy (Neolithic) in the southern Levant. The study is based on 217 Natufian (10,500-8,300 BC) skeletons and 262 Neolithic (8,300-5,500 BC) skeletons. Age and sex identification were carried out, and life tables were constructed. A five-parameter competing hazard model developed by Siler ([1979] Ecology 60:750-757) was used to smooth life-table data. No indication of increased mortality with the advent of agriculture was noted. On the contrary, both life expectancy at birth (24.6 vs. 25.5 years) and adults' mean age at death (31.2 vs. 32.1 years) increased slightly from the Natufian to the Neolithic period (assuming stationary populations). Yet the transition to agriculture affected males and females differently: mean age at death in the Natufian was higher for adult females compared to adult males, while in the Neolithic, it was the reverse. One interpretation given to the distribution of female ages at death is that with the onset of the Neolithic period, maternal mortality increased as a result of a concomitant increase in fertility. If the adoption of agriculture in the Levant increased the rate of population growth at the beginning of the Neolithic, expectation of life may have increased dramatically.     

Tracing the origin and spread of agriculture in Europe

The origins of early farming and its spread to Europe have been the subject of major interest for some time. The main controversy today is over the nature of the Neolithic transition in Europe: the extent to which the spread was, for the most part, indigenous and animated by imitation (cultural diffusion) or else was driven by an influx of dispersing populations (demic diffusion). We analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of the transition using radiocarbon dates from 735 early Neolithic sites in Europe, the Near East, and Anatolia. We compute great-circle and shortest-path distances from each site to 35 possible agricultural centers of origin—ten are based on early sites in the Middle East and 25 are hypothetical locations set at 5° latitude/longitude intervals. We perform a linear fit of distance versus age (and vice versa) for each center. For certain centers, high correlation coefficients (R > 0.8) are obtained. This implies that a steady rate or speed is a good overall approximation for this historical development. The average rate of the Neolithic spread over Europe is 0.6–1.3 km/y (95% confidence interval). This is consistent with the prediction of demic diffusion (0.6–1.1 km/y). An interpolative map of correlation coefficients, obtained by using shortest-path distances, shows that the origins of agriculture were most likely to have occurred in the northern Levantine/Mesopotamian area.     

Outside St. Jørgen: leprosy in the medieval Danish city of Odense

Leprosy was a common and dreaded disease in the Danish Middle Ages (AD 1050-1536). Starting in the second half of the 13th century, leprosaria were established in many Danish towns and cities. In the city of Odense (on the island of Funen, Denmark), the cemetery of the leprosarium was totally excavated, and four nonleprosarium medieval and early modern cemeteries have been partly excavated. This paper explores the frequency of leprosy in the nonleprosarium cemeteries in Odense, and looks for evidence of selective exclusion from the ordinary population. The analyses are based on 733 skeletons from four cemeteries in Odense: the Gray Friars monastery, St. Albani parish church, St. Knuds cathedral, and Black Friars monastery. Seven lesions are scored and, based on known epidemiological properties (i.e., specificity and sensitivity) of these lesions, scores were transformed to statistics characterizing an individual's risk of having suffered from leprosy. This statistical approach remains of primary theoretical value, pending confirmation by independent research groups at other sites. Prevalence of the skeletal manifestation of leprosy at death varied between 0-17% among the different cemeteries in Odense. The highest prevalence was seen in cemeteries with many burials before AD 1400. It is estimated that before AD 1400, between 14-17% of those buried in the nonleprosarium cemeteries suffered from leprosy. In all nonleprosarium cemeteries, there was evidence for selective exclusion of people with facial leprosy lesions. For a short period just up to AD 1300, the cemetery of the Odense leprosarium had, on average, more than 20 yearly burials. The establishment of the leprosarium was followed within a relatively short period by a dramatic decline in the number of sufferers of leprosy in the nonleprosarium cemeteries. The number of yearly burials in the leprosarium cemetery also declined rapidly during the 14th century. The present analyses do not permit conclusions about the reasons for this decline in leprosy prevalence.     

A craniometric perspective on the transition to agriculture in Europe

Debates surrounding the nature of the Neolithic demographic transition in Europe have historically centered on two opposing models: a "demic" diffusion model whereby incoming farmers from the Near East and Anatolia effectively replaced or completely assimilated indigenous Mesolithic foraging communities, and an "indigenist" model resting on the assumption that ideas relating to agriculture and animal domestication diffused from the Near East but with little or no gene flow. The extreme versions of these dichotomous models were heavily contested primarily on the basis of archeological and modern genetic data. However, in recent years a growing acceptance has arisen of the likelihood that both processes were ongoing throughout the Neolithic transition and that a more complex, regional approach is required to fully understand the change from a foraging to a primarily agricultural mode of subsistence in Europe. Craniometric data were particularly useful for testing these more complex scenarios, as they can reliably be employed as a proxy for the genetic relationships among Mesolithic and Neolithic populations. In contrast, modern genetic data assume that modern European populations accurately reflect the genetic structure of Europe at the time of the Neolithic transition, while ancient DNA data are still not geographically or temporally detailed enough to test continent-wide processes. Here, with particular emphasis on the role of craniometric analyses, we review the current state of knowledge regarding the cultural and biological nature of the Neolithic transition in Europe.     

Fluctuating asymmetry and stress in a medieval Nubian population

Fluctuating asymmetry is commonly used as a bioindicator of developmental stress. This study addresses asymmetry under nutritional/systemic stress in the human craniofacial skeleton and its utility as an indicator of developmental instability. Crania from the diachronic Christian cemeteries at Kulubnarti (Sudanese Nubia) were chosen as a model for nutrition/systemic stress. Previous studies indicate that individuals from the Early Christian cemetery were subjected to greater developmental stress when compared with individuals from the Late Christian cemetery. Therefore, crania from the Early Christian cemetery should display a greater magnitude of fluctuating asymmetry than crania from the Late Christian cemetery. Thirty adult crania of comparable age and sex were selected from each population. Landmark coordinates were digitized in two separate trials and averaged to minimize error. Euclidean distance matrix analysis (EDMA) was used to measure and compare the magnitude of fluctuating asymmetry in each sample. Results indicate that crania from the Early Christian cemetery display greater amounts of fluctuating asymmetry than those from the Late Christian cemetery, as predicted. The degree of fluctuating asymmetry for each linear distance is highly correlated between the cemeteries, suggesting that all humans may share common patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in the skull. In contrast, there is little correlation between magnitude of fluctuating asymmetry and length of linear distance, between-subject variability, or measurement error. These results support the hypothesis that poor nutrition/systemic stress increases developmental instability in the human skull and that increased fluctuating asymmetry constitutes morphological evidence of this stress.     

A Predominantly Neolithic Origin for European Paternal Lineages

The relative contributions to modern European populations of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers from the Near East have been intensely debated. Haplogroup R1b1b2 (R-M269) is the commonest European Y-chromosomal lineage, increasing in frequency from east to west, and carried by 110 million European men. Previous studies suggested a Paleolithic origin, but here we show that the geographical distribution of its microsatellite diversity is best explained by spread from a single source in the Near East via Anatolia during the Neolithic. Taken with evidence on the origins of other haplogroups, this indicates that most European Y chromosomes originate in the Neolithic expansion. This reinterpretation makes Europe a prime example of how technological and cultural change is linked with the expansion of a Y-chromosomal lineage, and the contrast of this pattern with that shown by maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA suggests a unique role for males in the transition.     

Patterns of long-bone fracture in two nubian cementeries

The analysis of traumatic fractures can provide valuable information concerning the affects of sociopolitical factors upon the health of prehistoric populations. However, such information can only be acquired by implementing a quantitative demographic approach. The present research applies such a method to longbone fractures in two medieval Christian populations excavated from ancient Nubia. Long-bones of two hundred and eighteen individuals from an early (550 to 750 A.D.) Christian cemetery and 188 individuals from a late (750 to 1450 A.D.) Christian cemetery were examined for evidence of traumatic fracture. Analysis included a determination of fracture rates, age and sex related fracture patterns, and rate of fracture per years at risk. The results of this study indicate that the majority of fractures in both cemeteries were likely caused by accidental falls. Fractures resulting from direct (possibly interpersonal) violence were found in both samples, though at a higher frequency in the early Christian population (27% versus 16%). Middle-aged adults (particularly males) of the early cemetery exhibited a higher than expected risk to fractures indicating an activity related cause of injury. In contrast, the late Christian population showed a marked increase in fractures among both children and the elderly. This distribution may reflect changes in health and residential architecture which occurred during the late Christian period.     

黄陵寨头河与史家河墓地人骨的碳氮稳定同位素

戎人在古代多样性文化历史发展进程中有着不可忽视的作用,由于文献记载的匮乏,对其生活历史信息的认知极少。陕西延安黄陵寨头河与史家河战国时期戎人墓地的考古发掘,为了解古代关中地区戎人的社会生活提供了珍贵的实物资料。本文则以两墓地出土的人骨为研究对象,采用C、N稳定同位素分析方法,讨论先民的饮食结构,探索其经济模式。结果表明：寨头河与史家河墓地先民的食谱相似,食谱中植物性食物主要来自粟、黍等C₄类作物;除史家河墓地两个个体外,其余先民动物蛋白摄入较少,且未因性别不同而产生食谱差异。史家河墓地战国晚期秦人与早中期戎人的饮食结构相似。结合其他考古资料以及文献可知,寨头河与史家河墓地先民吸收关中农业文化后,利用当地良好的自然环境发展农业,形成了以农业种植为主、农牧混合的经济模式。     

Spreading Waves in a Farmers and Hunter-Gatherers Model of the Neolithic Transition in Europe

The Neolithic transition began the spread of early agriculture throughout Europe through interactions between farmers and hunter-gatherers about 10,000 years ago. Archeological evidence produced by radiocarbon dating indicates that the expanding velocity of farming is roughly constant all over Europe. Theoretical understanding of such evidence has been performed from mathematical modeling viewpoint. However, the expanding velocity determined by existing modeling approaches is faster than the observed velocity. For understanding this difference, we propose a three-component reaction–diffusion system which consists of two different types of farmers (sedentary and migratory) and hunter-gatherers from the viewpoint of the influence of farming technology. Our purpose is to study the relation between the expanding velocity of farmers and the farming technology parameter (say, \(\gamma \)). In this paper, we mainly focus on the one-dimensional traveling wave solution with minimal velocity and show that the minimal velocity decreases, as \(\gamma \) increases. This can be compatible with the observed velocity when farming technology is developed. Our results suggest that the reason for the slowdown of the Neolithic transition might be related to the increase in the development of farming technology.     

Lower limb activity in the Cis‐Baikal: Entheseal changes among middle holocene siberian foragers

Lower limb entheseal changes are evaluated in order to reconstruct activity levels and more fully understand cultural and behavioral variation among the middle Holocene (ca. 9,000–3,000 years BP) foragers of Siberia's Cis‐Baikal region. The four cemetery samples examined span a period of diachronic change characterized by an 800‐ to 1,000‐year discontinuity in the use of formal cemeteries in the region. Two of the cemetery samples represent the early Neolithic Kitoi culture, dating from 8,000 to 7,000/6800 cal. BP; the other two represent the late Neolithic‐early Bronze Age Isakovo‐Serovo‐Glazkovo (ISG) cultural complex, dating from 6,000/5,800 to 4,000 cal. BP. Findings suggest a dynamic pattern of cultural variability in the Cis‐Baikal, with spatial distribution (i.e., site location within particular microregions) appearing to be just as important a factor as cultural/temporal affiliation in explaining intersample differences in entheseal morphology. In addition, intrasample comparisons reveal increasing sexual disparity with advancing age at death, emphasizing the influence of sex‐related activities on lower limb entheseal changes. Finally, results from the separate fibrous and fibrocartilaginous datasets appear to be largely congruous, implying that activity patterns in the Cis‐Baikal may have similar effects on the morphology of both types of entheses. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Medieval monastic mortality: Hazard analysis of mortality differences between monastic and nonmonastic cemeteries in England

Scholarship on life in medieval European monasteries has revealed a variety of factors that potentially affected mortality in these communities. Though there is some evidence based on age‐at‐death distributions from England that monastic males lived longer than members of the general public, what is missing from the literature is an explicit examination of how the risks of mortality within medieval monastic settings differed from those within contemporaneous lay populations. This study examines differences in the hazard of mortality for adult males between monastic cemeteries (n = 528) and non‐monastic cemeteries (n = 368) from London, all of which date to between AD 1050 and 1540. Age‐at‐death data from all cemeteries are pooled to estimate the Gompertz hazard of mortality, and “monastic” (i.e., buried in a monastic cemetery) is modeled as a covariate affecting this baseline hazard. The estimated effect of the monastic covariate is negative, suggesting that individuals in the monastic communities faced reduced risks of dying compared to their peers in the lay communities. These results suggest better diets, the positive health benefits of religious behavior, better living conditions in general in monasteries, or selective recruitment of healthy or higher socioeconomic status individuals. Am J Phys Anthropol 152:322–332, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.