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。     

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.     

Flax cultivation and textile production in Neolithic wetland settlements on Lake Constance and in Upper Swabia (south-west Germany)

At present there are substantial amounts of archaeological and archaeobotanical data from the Late Neolithic wetland settlements of southern Germany on the oil and fibre plant flax (Linum usitatissimum L.). This is the result of 30 years of intensive excavations and research in 53 settlement areas. This article, on the one hand, will present the significance of flax remains, products made of flax and the inventory of relevant tools for evidence of and reconstruction of the flax production processes. On the other hand, based on the quantitative analysis of flax remains, the changing significance of this important cultivated plant during the course of the Late Neolithic will be demonstrated. From this it will be evident that textile production and in particular flax processing were part of a decisive upheaval in cultural development that initiated the transition to the middle phase of the Late Neolithic in the fields of agriculture and technology.     

Cultural Diffusion Was the Main Driving Mechanism of the Neolithic Transition in Southern Africa

It is well known that the Neolithic transition spread across Europe at a speed of about 1 km/yr. This result has been previously interpreted as a range expansion of the Neolithic driven mainly by demic diffusion (whereas cultural diffusion played a secondary role). However, a long-standing problem is whether this value (1 km/yr) and its interpretation (mainly demic diffusion) are characteristic only of Europe or universal (i.e. intrinsic features of Neolithic transitions all over the world). So far Neolithic spread rates outside Europe have been barely measured, and Neolithic spread rates substantially faster than 1 km/yr have not been previously reported. Here we show that the transition from hunting and gathering into herding in southern Africa spread at a rate of about 2.4 km/yr, i.e. about twice faster than the European Neolithic transition. Thus the value 1 km/yr is not a universal feature of Neolithic transitions in the world. Resorting to a recent demic-cultural wave-of-advance model, we also find that the main mechanism at work in the southern African Neolithic spread was cultural diffusion (whereas demic diffusion played a secondary role). This is in sharp contrast to the European Neolithic. Our results further suggest that Neolithic spread rates could be mainly driven by cultural diffusion in cases where the final state of this transition is herding/pastoralism (such as in southern Africa) rather than farming and stockbreeding (as in Europe).     

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.     

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.     

Changes in skeletal robusticity in an iron age agropastoral group: The samnites from the Alfedena necropolis (Abruzzo,Central Italy)

Cross‐sectional geometrical (CSG) properties of an Iron Age Samnite group from the Alfedena necropolis (Abruzzo, Italy, 2600–2400 B.P.) are compared with a Ligurian Neolithic sample (6000–5500 B.P.). In the period under examination, Samnites were organized in a tribal confederation led by patrilinear aristocracies, indicating incipient social stratification. In comparison, Neolithic society lacked clear signs of social hierarchy. The subsistence of both groups was mainly based on pastoralism and agriculture, but changes in habitual behavior are expected due to the socio‐economic transformations that characterized the Iron Age. The Samnites' warlike ideology suggests that unimanual weapon‐use and training would have become frequent for males. The intensification of agriculture and the adoption of transhumant pastoralism, performed by a smaller subset of the population, likely led to a lower average level of logistic mobility. The strongly genderized ideology of the period suggests a strict sexual division of labor, with women primarily performing sedentary tasks. CSG properties based on periosteal contours were calculated for humeri, femora, and tibiae (N = 61). Results corroborated the expectations: Alfedena males show substantial humeral bilateral asymmetry, indicating prevalent use of one arm, likely due to weapon training. In both sexes lower limb results indicate reduced mobility with respect to the Neolithic group. Sexual dimorphism is significant in both humeral asymmetry and lower limb indicators of mobility. Although both groups could be broadly defined as agropastoral based on archeological and historical evidence, CSG analysis confirmed important differences in habitual behavior. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Origins of the cultivation oflathyrus sativus andL. cicera (fabaceae)

Most of the early and rich archaeobotanical finds ofLathyrus sect.Cicercula, particularly those of the most ancient periods, came from the Balkan peninsula. It has been found that cultivation ofL. sativus began there in the early Neolithic period, around 6000 b.c.e., as a result of the expansion of Near Eastern agriculture of annuals into the region. This, in turn, encouraged development of a greater variety of legumes by the domestication of an additional native species. Similarly, it is suggested that domestication ofL. cicera in southern France and the Iberian peninsula occurred only after the introduction of agriculture into the area. Cultivation of these two closely related species in adjacent regions led to the raising of a mixed crop in many ancient fields. Lathyrus sativus may perhaps be the first crop domesticated in Europe.     

The ADH1B Arg47His polymorphism in East Asian populations and expansion of rice domestication in history

Background  

The emergence of agriculture about 10,000 years ago marks a dramatic change in human evolutionary history. The diet shift in agriculture societies might have a great impact on the genetic makeup of Neolithic human populations. The regionally restricted enrichment of the class I alcohol dehydrogenase sequence polymorphism (ADH1BArg47His) in southern China and the adjacent areas suggests Darwinian positive selection on this genetic locus during Neolithic time though the driving force is yet to be disclosed.     

Les comportements funéraires au Néolithique en France méridionale : une vue d’ensemble

The research presented in this paper is based on geographical zone chosen as context for a general discussion centred on a critical inventory of graves, burial places and funeral traditions within Neolithic communities between about 6000 and 2200 B.C. It proposes to define the characteristics and the evolution of funeral behaviours during the Neolithic times in Southern France, between about 6000 and 2200 B.C. Southern France has been considered in an extended definition, from Atlantic Ocean to the Alps, a territory constituted of 26 departments. In view of the extent of the territorial limits, the study was directly all-encompassing. It bears on 150 years of archaeological discoveries unevenly distributed on the Neolithic times. The study takes into consideration all the documentation published. The funeral traditions have been considered in the wide sense, that is tomb architecture, laying out and treatment of cadavers, study of archaeological artefacts. The study leads on to an interpretative outline of the funeral traditions whose development was closely linked to the social evolution of southern Neolithic communities. It researchs a social evolution beyond funeral behaviours, a power more and more destined to an elite who prefigures the protohistory.     

The neolithic demographic transition and oral health: The Southeast Asian experience

The purpose of this article is to present new oral health data from Neolithic An Son, southern Vietnam, in the context of (1) a reassessment of published data on other Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Age Southeast Asian dental series, and (2) predictions of the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT). To this end, frequencies for three oral conditions (caries, antemortem tooth loss, and alveolar lesions) were investigated for seven Southeast Asian adult dental series from Thailand and Vietnam with respect to time period, age‐at‐death and sex. A clear pattern of elevated rates for oral disease in the Neolithic followed by a marked improvement in oral health during the Bronze and Iron Ages was observed. Moreover, rates of caries and antemortem tooth loss for females were almost without exception higher than that for males in all samples. The consensus view among Southeast Asian bioarchaeologists that oral health did not decline with the adoption/intensification of agriculture in Southeast Asia, can no longer be supported. In light of evidence for (1) the low cariogenicity of rice; (2) the physiological predisposition of females (particularly when pregnant) to poorer oral health; and (3) health predictions of the NDT model with respect to elevated levels of fertility, the most plausible chief explanation for the observed patterns in oral health in Southeast Asia is increased levels of fertility during the Neolithic, followed by a decline in fertility during the subsequent Bronze and Iron Ages. Am J Phys Anthropol 152:197–208, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

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.     

Possible congenital hemolytic anemia in prehistoric coastal inhabitants of Israel.

The spread of thalassemia among prehistoric populations of the Mediterranean Basin has been linked to the increased risk to early agriculturalists posed by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. The diagnosis of the disease in human skeletal remains, however, has usually been based on a single pathological criterion, porotic hyperostosis. This paper reports on what we believe to be the earliest case of thalassemia yet identified in the prehistoric record. Our diagnosis of the disease in an individual from the submerged Prepottery Neolithic B village of Atlit-Yam off the Israeli coast is based on a pathological humerus demonstrating a pattern of deformation characteristic of clinical thalassemia. The implications of these findings for our understanding of human societies undergoing the transition from foraging to agriculture in the Near East are discussed.     

Neolithic urban primacy: The case against the invention of agriculture

It is proposed that sowing seed preceded agriculture by many millenia and that the invention of sowing is independent of the Neolithic Revolution. The advantages of using permanent seed stores as the source of seed grain is much more difficult to perceive and it is upon this accident that full-scale agriculture waited. Jacobs' (1969) model of cities before agriculture is the explanation of permanent seed bins for purely economic reasons. It is the role of bin permanence in switching the selective mechanism towards cultivars that explains the precipitous events c. 8000 B.C. Once cultivars are developed, true large-scale agriculture becomes an obvious advantage but not until the cultivars are there. Jacobs' model seeks to put hunters and traders into a positive loop that alone produces the city. This could not be so for there is not enough food at appropriate points in the model; but if casual sowing can be invoked as a long-standing precursor, then the extra forcing function allows the vital transition to genetic continuity in the harvested grain.     

Assessing change in diet and biological affinity between the 4th and 3rd millennia cal BCE in the Portuguese Estremadura: A preliminary dental comparison of Feteira II and Bolores

Although the social and political changes accompanying the transition from the Neolithic through Copper Age, between the 4th and 3rd millennia cal BCE, in southwestern Iberia are reasonably well understood, much less is known about whether population movements and dietary changes accompanied these transformations. To address this question, human dental remains from the Middle through Late Neolithic site of Feteira II (3600–2900 cal BCE) and the Late Neolithic site of Bolores (2800–2600 cal BCE) in the Portuguese Estremadura were used to examine diet (microwear) and affinity (dental non-metrics). Microwear features were not found to be significantly different between Feteira II and Bolores, suggesting that the emergence of social complexity during this period did not result in large-scale changes in subsistence practices during the period of use at these sites. Using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System and supporting statistics, no significant difference between the samples from Feteira II and Bolores was observed, suggesting that no population replacement occurred between the Middle Neolithic and Late Neolithic/Copper Age. However, at Bolores there is some indication that there may have been demographic exchanges between southern Iberian and North African populations during the Late Neolithic/Copper Age.     

Insights into the earliest agriculture of Central Portugal: Sickle implements from the Early Neolithic site of Cortiçóis (Santarém)

Direct evidence of agriculture in Early Neolithic Portugal is almost non-existent, so there are very disparate estimates of the role played by agriculture during the period. Recent excavations at Cortiçóis, a newly discovered Early Neolithic site in central Portugal, revealed the first recognizable sickle implements and therefore relevant artefactual evidence of agricultural practices. These are typologically similar to Andalusian and Valencian sickles, reflecting a common technological tradition in southern Iberia during the period (c. 5600–4000 cal BC). Based on this fact, we summarize all available evidence for early agriculture in central Portugal and compare it with the Andalusian and Valencian records in order to tentatively present a model to be tested locally in future research.     

News from the west: Ancient DNA from a French megalithic burial chamber

Recent paleogenetic studies have confirmed that the spread of the Neolithic across Europe was neither genetically nor geographically uniform. To extend existing knowledge of the mitochondrial European Neolithic gene pool, we examined six samples of human skeletal material from a French megalithic long mound (c.4200 cal BC). We retrieved HVR‐I sequences from three individuals and demonstrated that in the Neolithic period the mtDNA haplogroup N1a, previously only known in central Europe, was as widely distributed as western France. Alternative scenarios are discussed in seeking to explain this result, including Mesolithic ancestry, Neolithic demic diffusion, and long‐distance matrimonial exchanges. In light of the limited Neolithic ancient DNA (aDNA) data currently available, we observe that all three scenarios appear equally consistent with paleogenetic and archaeological data. In consequence, we advocate caution in interpreting aDNA in the context of the Neolithic transition in Europe. Nevertheless, our results strengthen conclusions demonstrating genetic discontinuity between modern and ancient Europeans whether through migration, demographic or selection processes, or social practices. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 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.     

广西顶蛳山遗址人骨的龋齿病理观察

顶蛳山遗址位于广西壮族自治区南宁市邕宁区,保存了丰富的新石器时代文化遗存以及大量的古人类骨骼遗存。本文主要从龋齿研究入手,对顶蛳山二、三期文化(8-7 ka BP)中大于15岁的169个体的2737枚恒齿进行了观察。分别统计了龋齿等级和个体和牙齿患龋率以评估人群患龋情况,进而分析顶蛳山遗址人群的口腔健康状况,并探讨了食物构成、饮食行为与社会经济等。统计结果表明,顶蛳山遗址人群的个体和牙齿患龋率都较高。患龋率在两性、葬式、年龄段间都存在差异,女性患龋程度要高于男性;不同葬式之间差异也显著,随着年龄的增长患龋的比例和程度也随之加深。通过与其他8组新石器时代国内遗址人群的个体和牙齿患龋率的对比,我们看到包含顶蛳山在内的三组华南渔猎采集遗址的个体和牙齿患龋率都要高于其他遗址,农业遗址的人群要低于华南遗址的患龋率,而混合经济遗址的患龋率最低。龋齿的出现与人类饮食中的碳水化合物关系密切。据此,我们推测顶蛳山及其他两组华南遗址的高患龋与碳水化合物的摄入关系密切,但这与一般所认为的农业的出现没有联系。三组遗址都是以渔猎采集主导的社会经济形态,并且这时期农业并未传播至华南地区。因此我们的分析表明高患龋率与农业并没有必然联系,而华南地区当时人群所食用的碳水化合物可能源于当地的块茎类和含蔗糖类植物。     

New evidence for Neolithic rice cultivation and Holocene environmental change in the Fuzhou Basin,southeast China

A stratified profile of the Zhuangbianshan (ZBS) archaeological site (Fuzhou Basin, Fujian) was studied to investigate Neolithic era anthropogenic influence and associated environmental changes. Analysis of the archaeological sediments focused on phytoliths, palynomorphs and microcharcoal. Until now, a lack of direct evidence for agriculture has made it difficult to know if Neolithic cultures of this area relied on the exploitation of wild plants such as nuts and sago palm, or a combination of farming and foraging. Three types of rice phytoliths were found in ZBS archaeological deposits, providing robust evidence for rice farming as part of a broad-spectrum Neolithic subsistence economy centered on fishing and hunting. Chronologies based on AMS ¹⁴C dates and artifact typology place the earliest rice during the Tanshishan (TSS) Period (5,000–4,300 cal bp) followed by a shift to economic dependency on rice in the Huangguashan (HGS) Period (4,300–3,500 cal bp). The ZBS phytolith assemblage contains high frequencies of rice husk (peaked-shape glume cells) phytoliths, with far fewer leaf and stem types. This indicates late stage processing activities such as dehusking, implying a focus on consumption rather than rice production. High concentrations of charcoal in the Neolithic ZBS deposits indicate local human settlement and peaks in fire use. The ZBS pollen record also reflects human settlement and peaks in local forest clearance during the Neolithic. Forest cover was renewed when the site was temporarily abandoned following the Neolithic. Rapid formation of the Min River floodplain began ~2,000 cal bp in association with retreating sea level and intensifying anthropogenic influence. Prior to that, rice farming in the Fuzhou Basin was limited by the scarcity of wetlands suitable for agriculture.