Elucidating inequality in Nubia: An examination of entheseal changes at Kerma (Sudan)

Located 10 km south of the Third Cataract of the Nile River, the ancient city of Kerma was once capital to the second largest state in Africa. The Eastern Cemetery at Kerma (～4 km east of city center) encompasses 80+ hectares and was used over a period of 1,500 years (3,200–1,500 BC). Excavated in the early 20th century by George Reisner, the cemetery contained an estimated 20,000–40,000 individuals. Reisner classified these burials into multiple categories, including chiefs and human sacrifices, based on burial position and grave goods. This study investigates the skeletal embodiment of social inequality by examining variation in entheseal severity between the Kerma burial classifications. Seventeen entheses were examined using the Hawkey and Merbs (1995) scoring method (n = 205 individuals); age, sex, and body size variables were considered by employing Mann–Whitney U tests and partial Spearman's correlations. This analysis suggests that significant differences in entheseal changes existed between select burial types. Specifically, “corridor sacrifices” had significantly higher rates of entheseal changes while “chiefs” and “subsidiary burials” had similar entheseal changes; furthermore, within these burial categories, males had higher entheseal scores despite body size controls. The elevated entheseal changes in the sacrificial burials may be due to an intensive agro‐pastoral lifestyle or other demanding forms of manual labor. In conclusion, the disparity of entheseal markers between burial subgroups at Kerma might reflect a degree of social inequality within this state level society. This bioarchaeological research informs our understanding of socially‐defined categories of persons as well as everyday life in Ancient Kerma. Am J Phys Anthropol 156:192–202, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The presence of nuclear families in prehistoric collective burials revisited: the bronze age burial of Montanissell Cave (Spain) in the light of aDNA

Ancient populations have commonly been thought to have lived in small groups where extreme endogamy was the norm. To contribute to this debate, a genetic analysis has been carried out on a collective burial with eight primary inhumations from Montanissell Cave in the Catalan pre-Pyrenees. Radiocarbon dating clearly placed the burial in the Bronze Age, around 3200 BP. The composition of the group-two adults (one male, one female), one young woman, and five children from both sexes-seemed to represent the structure of a typical nuclear family. The genetic evidence proves this assumption to be wrong. In fact, at least five out of the eight mitochondrial haplotypes were different, denying the possibility of a common maternal ancestor for all of them. Nevertheless, 50% of the inhumations shared haplogroup J, so the possibility of a maternal relationship cannot be ruled out. Actually, combining different analyses performed using ancient and living populations, the probability of having four related J individuals in Montanissell Cave would range from 0.9884 to 0.9999. Owing to the particularities of this singular collective burial (small number of bodies placed altogether in a hidden cave, the evidence of non-simultaneous interments, close dating and unusual grave goods), we suggest that it might represent a small group with a patrilocal mating system.     

The Poafpybitty Site: A Late Nineteenth Century Kiowa Burial From Southwestern Oklahoma

Abstract

This report concerns the excavation of two Plains Indian burials in southwestern Oklahoma, six miles north of Fort Sill. The landowner, herself a Comanche, had been told by her father that the burials were of Kiowas killed near that place by soldiers from the fort in the latter 1800’s. Removal of the grave fill revealed the skeletons of a middle-aged female and a teenaged boy, plus a large inventory of grave goods acquired both by trade and indigenous manufacture.The grave goods confirm that the burials were Kiowas, buried between 1872 and 1875. The burials from this site are compared to other documented Plains Indian burials.     

New Hydroxyproline Radiocarbon Dates from Sungir,Russia, Confirm Early Mid Upper Palaeolithic Burials in Eurasia

Sungir (Russia) is a key Mid-Upper Palaeolithic site in Eurasia, containing several spectacular burials that disclose early evidence for complex burial rites in the form of a range of grave goods deposited along with the dead. Dating has been particularly challenging, with multiple radiocarbon dates ranging from 19,160±270 to 28,800±240 BP for burials that are believed to be closely similar in age. There are disparities in the radiocarbon dates of human bones, faunal remains and charcoal found on the floor of burials [1], [2], [3]. Our approach has been to develop compound-specific methods using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to separate single amino acids, such as hydroxyproline, and thereby avoid the known human contamination on the bones themselves. Previously, we applied this technique to obtain radiocarbon dates of ∼30,000 BP for Sungir 2, Sungir 3 and a mammoth bone from the occupation levels of the site [4]. The single amino acid radiocarbon dates were in good agreement with each other compared to all the dates previously reported, supporting their reliability. Here we report new hydroxyproline dates for two more human burials from the same site, Sungir 1 and Sungir 4. All five hydroxyproline dates reported are statistically indistinguishable and support an identical age for the group. The results suggest that compound-specific radiocarbon analysis should be considered seriously as the method of choice when precious archaeological remains are to be dated because they give a demonstrably contaminant-free radiocarbon age. The new ages are, together with the previously dated ‘Red Lady of Paviland’ human in the British Isles, the earliest for Mid Upper Palaeolithic burial behaviour in Eurasia, and point to the precocious appearance of this form of rite in Europe Russia.     

Emerging genetic patterns of the European Neolithic: perspectives from a late Neolithic Bell Beaker burial site in Germany

The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture in Europe is associated with demographic changes that may have shifted the human gene pool of the region as a result of an influx of Neolithic farmers from the Near East. However, the genetic composition of populations after the earliest Neolithic, when a diverse mosaic of societies that had been fully engaged in agriculture for some time appeared in central Europe, is poorly known. At this period during the Late Neolithic (ca. 2,800-2,000 BC), regionally distinctive burial patterns associated with two different cultural groups emerge, Bell Beaker and Corded Ware, and may reflect differences in how these societies were organized. Ancient DNA analyses of human remains from the Late Neolithic Bell Beaker site of Kromsdorf, Germany showed distinct mitochondrial haplotypes for six individuals, which were classified under the haplogroups I1, K1, T1, U2, U5, and W5, and two males were identified as belonging to the Y haplogroup R1b. In contrast to other Late Neolithic societies in Europe emphasizing maintenance of biological relatedness in mortuary contexts, the diversity of maternal haplotypes evident at Kromsdorf suggests that burial practices of Bell Beaker communities operated outside of social norms based on shared maternal lineages. Furthermore, our data, along with those from previous studies, indicate that modern U5-lineages may have received little, if any, contribution from the Mesolithic or Neolithic mitochondrial gene pool.     

Tools for production,goods for reproduction. The function of knapped stone tools at the Neolithic necropolis of Can Gambus-1 (Sabadell,Spain)

This article presents the results of a functional study of the stone tools found with the burials at the Neolithic necropolis of Can Gambús-1 (Sabadell, Spain). In this study we aim to reconstruct the activities carried out with the stone tools, made from several raw materials, among which the so-called “honey flint” is especially important at this site. Although this is an interim report, we identify a double trend in the preparation of the grave goods for the buried individuals. Whereas in some cases tools were specifically produced to be deposited as offerings without any previous use, on other occasions implements that had been used in everyday activities were recycled and given a final funerary function.     

Archeological Investigations at the Spawn Mound, 39LK201, Lake County,South Dakota

Abstract

The Spawn Mound, 39LK201, overlooking Brant Lake in eastern South Dakota, appears to be a Plains Woodland burial mound later used by historic Dakota for secondary interments. The 1966 excavations revealed two burial pits believed to be contemporaneous with the erection of the mound, which were assigned to the Plains Woodland component, and a third pit at the center of the mound which has been assigned to the historic Dakota. Each of the Woodland burial pits contained at least three individuals buried in the flexed position. The intrusive pit contained the remains of at least two individuals, apparently “bundle” burials. These intrusive burials were accompanied by European trade items.

On the basis of the limited ceramic material from the mound, including one rim sherd of the Ellis Cord Impressed type, as well as various lithic materials recovered in the mound fill, the Plains Woodland component has been tentatively assigned to the Loseke Focus. The historic burials would appear to date between A. D. 1800-1850.     

Patterns of Irregular Burials in Western Europe (1st-5th Century A.D.)

Background

Irregular burials (IB—burials showing features that contrast with the majority of others in their geographic and chronological context) have been the focus of archaeological study because of their relative rarity and enigmatic appearance. Interpretations of IB often refer to supposed fear of the dead or to social processes taking place in time-specific contexts. However, a comprehensive and quantitative analysis of IB for various geographical contexts is still lacking, a fact that hampers any discussion of these burials on a larger scale.

Methods

Here, we collected a bibliographic dataset of 375 IB from both Britain and Continental Europe, altogether spanning a time period from the 1^st to the 5^th century AD. Each burial has been coded according to ten dichotomous variables, further analyzed by means of chi-squared tests on absolute frequencies, non-metric multidimensional scaling, and cluster analysis.

Results

Even acknowledging the limits of this study, and in particular the bias represented by the available literature, our results point to interesting patterns. Geographically, IB show a contrast between Britain and Continental Europe, possibly related to historical processes specific to these regions. Different types of IB (especially prone depositions and depositions with the cephalic extremity displaced) present a series of characteristics and associations between features that permit a more detailed conceptualization of these occurrences from a socio-cultural perspective that aids to elucidate their funerary meaning.

Conclusions and Significance

Altogether, the present work stresses the variability of IB, and the need to contextualize them in a proper archaeological and historical context. It contributes to the discussion of IB by providing a specific geographic and chronological frame of reference that supports a series of hypotheses about the cultural processes possibly underlying their occurrence.     

Climbing influences entheseal morphology in the humerus of mice: An experimental application of the VERA methodology

Objectives

When studying hominin skeletal remains, anthropologists commonly assume that the morphology of entheses (muscle and tendon attachment sites) is influenced by physical activity patterns during life. Here, we use samples of mice from a prior experiment (Siegel & Jones [1975] American Journal of Physical Anthropology 42:141–144) to test this assumption. Specifically, we investigate the effects of habitual climbing on entheses of the humerus using a recently developed protocol for analyzing entheseal morphology called the “Validated Entheses-based Reconstruction of Activity” (VERA) method.

Materials and Methods

In the original experiment, young mice were raised for approximately 9 weeks in one of two experimental conditions: a cage designed to limit locomotion to terrestrial quadrupedalism over a flat surface (n = 22), or a cage designed to impel animals to cling to a suspended wire mesh apparatus and limit their locomotion to climbing (n = 21). We μCT-scanned the humeri of these mice and used the VERA method to assess the morphology of the deltoid tuberosity, greater tubercle, lesser tubercle, and supinator crest.

Results

Significant differences in entheseal morphology were detected between climbers and non-climbers when using both multivariate statistics to assess all entheses simultaneously and univariate statistics to assess each enthesis individually.

Discussion

Our results provide new support for the general use of entheseal morphology for inferring hominin physical activity patterns in the past. Furthermore, based on our results, we propose that analyzing entheseal morphology using the VERA method may be a promising strategy for future research on the importance of climbing in hominin locomotor evolution.

     

A unique human-fox burial from a pre-Natufian cemetery in the Levant (Jordan)

New human burials from northern Jordan provide important insights into the appearance of cemeteries and the nature of human-animal relationships within mortuary contexts during the Epipalaeolithic period (c. 23,000-11,600 cal BP) in the Levant, reinforcing a socio-ideological relationship that goes beyond predator-prey. Previous work suggests that archaeological features indicative of social complexity occur suddenly during the latest Epipalaeolithic phase, the Natufian (c. 14,500-11,600 cal BP). These features include sedentism, cemeteries, architecture, food production, including animal domestication, and burials with elaborate mortuary treatments. Our findings from the pre-Natufian (Middle Epipalaeolithic) cemetery of 'Uyun al-Hammam demonstrate that joint human-animal mortuary practices appear earlier in the Epipalaeolithic. We describe the earliest human-fox burial in the Near East, where the remains of dogs have been found associated with human burials at a number of Natufian sites. This is the first time that a fox has been documented in association with human interments pre-dating the Natufian and with a particular suite of grave goods. Analysis of the human and animal bones and their associated artefacts provides critical data on the nature and timing of these newly-developing relationships between people and animals prior to the appearance of domesticated dogs in the Natufian.     

Assessing the Gravettian occupation floor at Krems-Wachtberg

Ten years of excavations at the open-air site Krems-Wachtberg in east Austria have revealed the well-preserved remains of a Gravettian occupation floor with a range of intact evident structures. Most important of these are a large hearth with associated pits and two burials, a double and a single burial of infants. These are connected by a distinct archaeological layer evidencing the structures’ contemporaneity as well as functional interrelations. The occupation floor and its find inventories reflect a high diversity of activities and illustrate distinct spatial distributions. Despite the excellent preservation, however, an unambiguous determination of the site's function remains difficult.     

Les tranchées des Capucins de Ferrières (Martigues,Bouches-du-Rhône,France). Un charnier de l’épidémie de peste de 1720 à 1722 en Provence

We present the global results of the rescue excavation of a burial place linked to the plague epidemic that affected Provence in 1720–1722. The inhumation area, which is in Martigues (“Bouches-du-Rhône” County), consists of five parallel trenches corresponding to as many burials. While the observed funerary customs are all succinct, we could identify some slight nuances in the layout of the corpses’ interment. These variations seem to reflect a fluctuation of epidemic intensity. On the whole, 208 skeletons were collected on the site. This osteoarchaeological series increases the available data from the rescue excavation of another burial place due to the same epidemic in Martigues at the beginning of the 18th century: the “Délos” site (39 individuals).     

The Black Death in Hereford,England: A demographic analysis of the Cathedral 14th-century plague mass graves and associated parish cemetery

Objectives

This study explores the paleoepidemiology of the Black Death (1348–52 AD) mass graves from Hereford, England, via osteological analysis. Hereford plague mortality is evaluated in the local context of the medieval city and examined alongside other Black Death burials.

Methods

The Hereford Cathedral site includes mass graves relating to the Black Death and a 12th-16th century parish cemetery. In total, 177 adult skeletons were analyzed macroscopically: 73 from the mass graves and 104 from the parish cemetery. Skeletal age-at-death was assessed using transition analysis, and sex and stress markers were analyzed.

Results

The age-at-death distributions for the mass graves and parish cemetery were significantly different (p = 0.0496). Within the mass graves, young adults (15–24 years) were substantially over-represented, and mortality peaked at 25–34 years. From 35 years of age onwards, there was little variation in the mortality profiles for the mass graves and parish cemetery. Males and females had similar representation across burial types. Linear enamel hypoplasia was more prevalent within the mass graves (p = 0.0340) whereas cribra orbitalia and tibial periostitis were underrepresented.

Conclusions

Mortality within the Hereford mass graves peaked at a slightly older age than is seen within plague burials from London, but the overall profiles are similar. This demonstrates that young adults were disproportionately at risk of dying from plague compared with other age groups. Our findings regarding stress markers may indicate that enamel hypoplasia is more strongly associated with vulnerability to plague than cribra orbitalia or tibial periostitis.     

Italian palaeolithic and mesolithic burials

More than 50 skeletons have been found in Italy in Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic burials, most of them being of Pleistocene age. As for as Upper Palaeolithic is concerned, two distinct phases are recognized, with a gap in records between them of several millennia: 1) a first phase, in which rich burials, generally of adult or adolescent males, are found. Associated industries are of Gravettian — Early Epigravettian type. Strict rules are followed in funerary practices. Sites of this period are only a few in Italy, but most of them yelded burials; 2) a second phase, of late Würm IV age, with burials found in several sites all over Italy, associated with Final Epigravettian industries. Women as well as children are now buried in single graves, but men still outnumber women. Grave goods are scarce or lacking, except at Arene Candide, where very rich burials, customarily attributed to Mesolithic, but actually of Dryas III age, were found. Truly Mesolithic sepultures are only a few, and burial goods are scarce or lacking.     

Les objets en ivoire des sépultures gravettiennes de la Barma Grande de Grimaldi (Ligurie,Italie). Étude descriptive et technologique

Thirteen ivory objects found associated to two Gravettian burials in the Barma Grande (burial II and III) are housed at present in the Balzi Rossi Museum. They are represented by nine claviform pendants and by four buttons formerly defined as “double-olive pendants”. Their decoration is composed of sets of grooves. The micromorphology of their surface will be described in this paper and some technological implications will be discussed.     

Lakeside cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 years of holocene population and environmental change

Background

Approximately two hundred human burials were discovered on the edge of a paleolake in Niger that provide a uniquely preserved record of human occupation in the Sahara during the Holocene (∼8000 B.C.E. to the present). Called Gobero, this suite of closely spaced sites chronicles the rapid pace of biosocial change in the southern Sahara in response to severe climatic fluctuation.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Two main occupational phases are identified that correspond with humid intervals in the early and mid-Holocene, based on 78 direct AMS radiocarbon dates on human remains, fauna and artifacts, as well as 9 OSL dates on paleodune sand. The older occupants have craniofacial dimensions that demonstrate similarities with mid-Holocene occupants of the southern Sahara and Late Pleistocene to early Holocene inhabitants of the Maghreb. Their hyperflexed burials compose the earliest cemetery in the Sahara dating to ∼7500 B.C.E. These early occupants abandon the area under arid conditions and, when humid conditions return ∼4600 B.C.E., are replaced by a more gracile people with elaborated grave goods including animal bone and ivory ornaments.

Conclusions/Significance

The principal significance of Gobero lies in its extraordinary human, faunal, and archaeological record, from which we conclude the following:

1. The early Holocene occupants at Gobero (7700–6200 B.C.E.) were largely sedentary hunter-fisher-gatherers with lakeside funerary sites that include the earliest recorded cemetery in the Sahara.
2. Principal components analysis of craniometric variables closely allies the early Holocene occupants at Gobero with a skeletally robust, trans-Saharan assemblage of Late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene human populations from the Maghreb and southern Sahara.
3. Gobero was abandoned during a period of severe aridification possibly as long as one millennium (6200–5200 B.C.E).
4. More gracile humans arrived in the mid-Holocene (5200–2500 B.C.E.) employing a diversified subsistence economy based on clams, fish, and savanna vertebrates as well as some cattle husbandry.
5. Population replacement after a harsh arid hiatus is the most likely explanation for the occupational sequence at Gobero.
6. We are just beginning to understand the anatomical and cultural diversity that existed within the Sahara during the Holocene.

     

Effect of archer density on elk pregnancy rates and conception dates

Archery hunting in Oregon has increased dramatically over the past 2 decades. At the same time, spring juvenile to adult female ratios of Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) have been declining. This has raised concern that archery seasons may be disrupting elk breeding and contributing to the decline in recruitment. Two mechanisms could contribute to reduced juvenile:female ratios: 1) reduced pregnancy rates, and 2) delayed conception dates because of human disturbance during the rut. We varied the number of archery hunters at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range over 13 years to evaluate effects of archer density on reproduction of elk. Archer densities were maintained at high densities during 4 years , low densities during 3 years , and no archers during 6 years. We determined pregnancy status, age, kidney fat index (KFI), lactation status, and fetus conception dates for 622 female elk harvested in December. We found pregnancy rate differences of 0.105, 0.080, and 0.021 between high and no archer density years (P = 0.004), high and low archer density years (P = 0.054), and low and no archer density years (P = 0.616), respectively. Conception dates were 4 days later for high archer density compared to low archer density (P = 0.006), but did not differ between high and no archer years (2 days; P = 0.136) or between low and no archer years (2 days; P = 0.108). We compared generalized linear model estimates of pregnancy rates and determined pregnancy rates for 28% of the lactating female elk to be affected by high archer density, whereas archer densities had no significant affect on pregnancy rate estimates for non-lactating females. We found no difference in conception dates among archer densities when comparing model estimates. Our results suggest that archer density and its interaction with nutritional condition of elk influence pregnancy rates of lactating females with low KFI levels; however, the effect of archer density alone does not explain the magnitude of decline in juvenile to female ratios observed in Oregon. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.     

Le monde des morts au Néolithique en Aquitaine : essai de synthèse

This paper proposes to define the main characteristics of the burials and the evolution of funeral behaviours during the Neolithic times, between about 5500 and 2300/2200 B.C., in the present territory of Aquitaine. For the moment, no burial was found for early Neolithic. During the middle Neolithic, about 4500 B.C., appear the first megalithic graves, passage graves (Angoumoisin type) and barrow cists, as well as burial caves. Late Neolithic, between 3700 and 2300/2200 B.C. is the great period of megalithic graves. Single quadrangular dolmen (Caussenard type) were built in Dordogne and in the Entre-deux-Mers in Gironde, gallery graves, the “allées d’Aquitaine” as to the “allées girondines” extended in the centre of the Aquitaine country while in the western Pyrénées the single quadrangular dolmen increased. In return, caves and rock shelter were, it seems to me, less prized by the people during the end of Neolithic times to leave the dead.     

Diet and social status on Taumako,a Polynesian outlier in the Southeastern Solomon Islands

Stable isotopes (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, and δ³⁴S) are used to characterize the diet of the adult individuals (n = 99) interred in the Namu burial ground located on the Polynesian outlier of Taumako (～300–750 BP). Polynesian outliers are islands on the fringe of Remote Oceania that were inhabited by a back migration of populations from Polynesia during prehistory. As a result of admixture with nearby island communities, little is known about the social structure and social diversity of the prehistoric inhabitants of Taumako. The distribution of prestige grave goods within the Namu cemetery has been used as evidence to support the premise that Taumakoan social structure was stratified like Polynesian societies. Here we test the hypothesis that “wealthy” individuals and males will display isotopic ratios indicative of the consumption of “high status” foods in the Pacific islands such as pork, chicken, sea turtle, and pelagic fish. The isotope results suggest the δ³⁴S values were diagenetically altered, possibly an effect of volcanism. The carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios indicate that the diet of all the individuals included a mixture of C₃ terrestrial plant foods (likely starchy staples such as yam, taro, and breadfruit, in addition to nuts) and a variety of marine resources, including reef and pelagic fish. The stable isotope results indicate that wealthy individuals and males were eating more foods from higher trophic levels, interpreted as being high status animal foods. The socially differentiated food consumption patterns are discussed within a Pacific island context. Am J Phys Anthropol 151:589–603, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.