New studies of post-Pleistocene human skeletal remains from the Rift Valley,Kenya

Prehistoric human crania from Bromhead's Site, Willey's Kopje, Makalia Burial Site, Nakuru, and other localities in the Eastern Rift Valley of Kenya are reassessed using measurements and a multivariate statistical approach. Materials available for comparison include series of Bushman and Hottentot crania, South and East African Negroes, and Egyptians. Up to 34 cranial measurements taken on these series are utilized to construct three multiple discriminant frameworks, each of which can assign modern individuals to a correct group with considerable accuracy. When the prehistoric crania are classified with the help of these discriminants, results indicate that several of the skulls are best grouped with modern Negroes. This is especially clear in the case of individuals from Bromhead's Site, Willey's Kopje, and Nakuru, and the evidence hardly suggests post-Pleistocene domination of the Rift and surrounding territory by “Mediterranean” Caucasoids, as has been claimed. Recent linguistic and archaeological findings are also reviewed, and these seem to support application of the term Nilotic Negro to the early Rift populations.     

The biocultural evolution of Khoisan populations of Southern Africa

The research presented here offers new information on the recent evolution of Khoisan populations of southern Africa through the new study of Holocene skeletons. When combined with subfossil and historical remains, these archeological specimens provide a skeletal record for the last 5000–9000 years of southern African prehistory. Multivariate statistical analyses of cranial measurements were used to determine patterns of morphological variation in the skeletal record with which hypotheses of biocultural evolution were tested. These analyses yielded the following results. First, the traditional distinction between Bushmen and Hottentots holds for recent inland individuals. Second, there is a suggestion of a morphologically distinct San population living on the coast of South Africa. The idea of a “Strandloper” population suggested by early scholars is here revived. The third result is that there is little evidence of complete population succession on the coast of South Africa, suggesting that there were no massive population movements associated with the spread of Hottentot pastoralism throughout southern Africa.     

Y-chromosomal variation in sub-Saharan Africa: insights into the history of Niger-Congo groups

Technological and cultural innovations as well as climate changes are thought to have influenced the diffusion of major language phyla in sub-Saharan Africa. The most widespread and the richest in diversity is the Niger-Congo phylum, thought to have originated in West Africa ～ 10,000 years ago (ya). The expansion of Bantu languages (a family within the Niger-Congo phylum) ～ 5,000 ya represents a major event in the past demography of the continent. Many previous studies on Y chromosomal variation in Africa associated the Bantu expansion with haplogroup E1b1a (and sometimes its sublineage E1b1a7). However, the distribution of these two lineages extends far beyond the area occupied nowadays by Bantu-speaking people, raising questions on the actual genetic structure behind this expansion. To address these issues, we directly genotyped 31 biallelic markers and 12 microsatellites on the Y chromosome in 1,195 individuals of African ancestry focusing on areas that were previously poorly characterized (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia). With the inclusion of published data, we analyzed 2,736 individuals from 26 groups representing all linguistic phyla and covering a large portion of sub-Saharan Africa. Within the Niger-Congo phylum, we ascertain for the first time differences in haplogroup composition between Bantu and non-Bantu groups via two markers (U174 and U175) on the background of haplogroup E1b1a (and E1b1a7), which were directly genotyped in our samples and for which genotypes were inferred from published data using linear discriminant analysis on short tandem repeat (STR) haplotypes. No reduction in STR diversity levels was found across the Bantu groups, suggesting the absence of serial founder effects. In addition, the homogeneity of haplogroup composition and pattern of haplotype sharing between Western and Eastern Bantu groups suggests that their expansion throughout sub-Saharan Africa reflects a rapid spread followed by backward and forward migrations. Overall, we found that linguistic affiliations played a notable role in shaping sub-Saharan African Y chromosomal diversity, although the impact of geography is clearly discernible.     

A prehistoric example of polydactyly from the Iron Age site of Simbusenga, Zambia

Human burials, dated AD 1100-1500, were examined from the Iron Age site of Simbusenga, located some 35 miles northwest of Victoria Falls in Zambia. Pedal polydactyly was discovered in the fragmentary remains of a young adult of indeterminate sex aged 14-25. The preaxial form of polydactyly is indicated with bilateral involvement of the first metatarsals. There is incomplete hypoplastic duplication of both first metatarsals with broad heads for the metatarsal-phalangeal joints. No digital malformations were found in the other seven individuals with feet and/or hands from the site. Several studies point to autosomal dominance for cases of isolated polydactyly, but inheritance and patterning of preaxial polydactyly are still incompletely understood. The condition is also found in conjunction with genetic malformation syndromes such as Acrocephalypolysyndactyly, Lambotte, Oro-facio-digital, and VATER. High frequencies of polydactyly are reported for African and African-American populations, but further analysis reveals that the bulk of previously reported cases of polydactyly are representative of the postaxial form as opposed to the preaxial expression seen here.     

Bantu language trees reflect the spread of farming across sub-Saharan Africa: a maximum-parsimony analysis

Linguistic divergence occurs after speech communities divide, in a process similar to speciation among isolated biological populations. The resulting languages are hierarchically related, like genes or species. Phylogenetic methods developed in evolutionary biology can thus be used to infer language trees, with the caveat that 'borrowing' of linguistic elements between languages also occurs, to some degree. Maximum-parsimony trees for 75 Bantu and Bantoid African languages were constructed using 92 items of basic vocabulary. The level of character fit on the trees was high (consistency index was 0.65), indicating that a tree model fits Bantu language evolution well, at least for the basic vocabulary. The Bantu language tree reflects the spread of farming across this part of sub-Saharan Africa between ca. 3000 BC and AD 500. Modern Bantu subgroups, defined by clades on parsimony trees, mirror the earliest farming traditions both geographically and temporally. This suggests that the major subgroups of modern Bantu stem from the Neolithic and Early Iron Age, with little subsequent movement by speech communities.     

Tracing the Origin of the East-West Population Admixture in the Altai Region (Central Asia)

A recent discovery of Iron Age burials (Pazyryk culture) in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia may shed light on the mode and tempo of the generation of the current genetic east-west population admixture in Central Asia. Studies on ancient mitochondrial DNA of this region suggest that the Altai Mountains played the role of a geographical barrier between West and East Eurasian lineages until the beginning of the Iron Age. After the 7th century BC, coinciding with Scythian expansion across the Eurasian steppes, a gradual influx of East Eurasian sequences in Western steppes is detected. However, the underlying events behind the genetic admixture in Altai during the Iron Age are still unresolved: 1) whether it was a result of migratory events (eastward firstly, westward secondly), or 2) whether it was a result of a local demographic expansion in a ‘contact zone’ between European and East Asian people. In the present work, we analyzed the mitochondrial DNA lineages in human remains from Bronze and Iron Age burials of Mongolian Altai. Here we present support to the hypothesis that the gene pool of Iron Age inhabitants of Mongolian Altai was similar to that of western Iron Age Altaians (Russia and Kazakhstan). Thus, this people not only shared the same culture (Pazyryk), but also shared the same genetic east-west population admixture. In turn, Pazyryks appear to have a similar gene pool that current Altaians. Our results further show that Iron Age Altaians displayed mitochondrial lineages already present around Altai region before the Iron Age. This would provide support for a demographic expansion of local people of Altai instead of westward or eastward migratory events, as the demographic event behind the high population genetic admixture and diversity in Central Asia.     

Environmental drivers of freshwater macrophyte diversity and community composition in calcareous warm‐water rivers of America and Africa

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Cytogenetic studies in the Hottentot population: count distribution, report of a fragment, and preliminary description of morphology

As part of a general investigation of the biology and morphological variation of the Hottentot population, this study deals with the karyotype analysis of a sample from that population. The modal number overall is 46; however, a high percentage of aneuploid cells, both hypomodal and hypermodal, is found. The rate of increase of aneuploidy with age is considered in detail. The rates for hypomodality with age for Hottentot females are positive and significantly higher than those for other populations previously reported. A fragment of chromatin is described. The fragment occurs in the two Hottentot males and in 22 of the 23 Hottentot females studied. Cells from the one non-steatopygic female successfully cultured show fragments, as do cells from a Bushman female. In the Hottentots the average incidence of the single anomaly equals or exceeds the incidence of the total of all chromosome lesions in published studies giving control data. Metaphases from five individuals are figured, and several unusual features of the chromosomes are described. The findings are discussed in terms of functional integration at a cytological level karyotype pictures to be expected in hybridization between demes long isolated, and microevolution of the Hottentot population.     

Revising the Bantu tree

Phylogenetic methods offer a promising advance for the historical study of language and cultural relationships. Applications to date, however, have been hampered by traditional approaches dependent on unfalsifiable authority statements: in this regard, historical linguistics remains in a similar position to evolutionary biology prior to the cladistic revolution. Influential phylogenetic studies of Bantu languages over the last two decades, which provide the foundation for multiple analyses of Bantu sociocultural histories, are a major case in point. Comparative analyses of basic lexica, instead of directly treating written words, use only numerical symbols that express non-replicable authority opinion about underlying relationships. Building on a previous study of Uto-Aztecan, here we analyse Bantu language relationships with methods deriving from DNA sequence optimization algorithms, treating basic vocabulary as sequences of sounds. This yields finer-grained results that indicate major revisions to the Bantu tree, and enables more robust inferences about the history of Bantu language expansion and/or migration throughout sub-Saharan Africa. “Early-split” versus “late-split” hypotheses for East and West Bantu are tested, and overall results are compared to trees based on numerical reductions of vocabulary data. Reconstruction of language histories is more empirically based and robust than with previous methods.     

Approximal grooving of teeth

Approximal grooving of teeth is a form of tooth wear seen in some fossil hominids (Neandertal Man and Pekin Man) and in some primitive peoples (Bushmen, Australian aborigines and American Indians). Previous workers have claimed the grooves were produced either by an acid secreted from the gum or by constant probings with a tooth-pick. The purpose of this paper is to refute these hypotheses, and to suggest from observations on the morphology of the grooves in four Bushman skulls, one American Indian skull, and one South African Negro skull that the approximal grooves are produced by dietary grit (sand and soil in the food and drinking water) being sucked from the vestibule into the oral cavity proper during the mouth-cleansing phase of swallowing.     

Multivariate assessments of activity-related skeletal changes: Interpreting Bell Beaker specialized male archery and social organization in Central Europe

Objectives

The Bell Beaker period witnessed the rise of individual inhumations with “wealthy” burial contexts containing archery-related grave goods, leading archaeologists to label the individuals in these tombs as “archers.” This study looks to (1) compare the skeletons from male “archer” burials with those from male “non-archer” burials—those not having archery-related grave goods—in order to assess a possible link between burial context and physical activity, and (2) apply a biomechanics profile to evaluate whether the individuals associated with these “archer” burials practiced specialized archer activity.

Materials and Methods

The corpus (males only) included 46 “archers” and 40 “non-archers” from Bell Beaker individual inhumations. Osteological data included measurements, scores of entheseal changes, and a diagnosis of certain pathologies. Data analyses involved visual observations, hypothesis tests, dimension reduction, and MANOVA, with approaches aimed at exploring the treatment of data missingness.

Results

Measurement data revealed no differences between the two groups. Evaluations of entheseal changes found that “non-archers” had consistently more instances of bone surface modifications than “archers.” Individual assessments of specialized archer occupation identified 11 possible specialized archers.

Discussion

These findings indicate a possible labor differentiation represented through the presence of a probably prestigious “archer” burial context. This suggests a link between grave good presence and labor, but not between a Bell Beaker archery occupation and an “archer” burial context. Data analyses support the application of biomechanics to osteological analyses in order to assess specialized activity on the skeleton.     

Morphometric cranial identity of prehistoric Malawians in the light of sub-Saharan African diversity

Little has been described of the Holocene populations of South‐Central Africa, despite the region demonstrating major subsistence shifts relating to dispersals of agriculturalists at least 2,000 years ago. Seven sites with associated human skeletal remains were selected. Hora, Chencherere, Fingura, and Mtuzi represent the Middle Holocene (2,000–5,000 years ago), and Phwadze, Mtemankhokwe, and Nkudzi Bay represent the Late Holocene and the arrival of agriculturalists between 500–2,000 years ago. Focusing on the identity of Hora and Chencherere specimens, two questions were addressed: are the various Holocene Malawians similar to each other, or do they suggest morphological change over time? What modern populations are closest to the prehistoric specimens? The archaeological sample was compared to modern sub‐Saharan Africans from four regions, plus a historic Khoi‐San foraging group. Factor analyses were performed in order to identify complex patterns of variation in metric traits of the skull. According to the results, prehistoric Malawians showed only slight differences between the Late and Middle Holocene, suggesting a population change without any major discontinuity. Later Stone Age skulls did not exclusively show similarities with the Khoi‐San, as they frequently fit well within the variation of modern Bantu‐speaking groups, especially West‐Central Africa. Therefore, we reject the hypothesis that Middle Holocene South‐Central Africans have an exclusively Khoi‐San ancestry, and support an alternative hypothesis that both Middle and Late Holocene groups share a common biological heritage originating in West‐Central Africa in earlier times. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

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.     

Genetic perspectives on “Lion Conservation Units” in Eastern and Southern Africa

Current understanding of genetic variation in lions (Panthera leo) is inadequate to guide many management decisions necessary for conservation of the species. We studied sequence variation in the mitochondrial cytochrome-b (cyt-b) gene of 75 lions and nuclear variation at 11 microsatellite loci of 480 lions across 8 range states (Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia) and 13 Lion Conservation Units (LCUs) plus two other unassigned sites (Cameroon and Zimbabwe). A total of 11 cyt-b haplotypes were found, whose variation follows an isolation-by-distance model. In combination with previously known sequences, the haplotypes document the close relationship, derived position, and limited variability of Asian and West and Central African lions relative to other extant lions. Both phylogenetic analyses and substitution networks identify two clades in Eastern and Southern Africa—one restricted to Namibia and South Africa and the other more widespread across the region. However, these analyses are equivocal on which of these is closest to the ancestor of modern lions. Microsatellite analyses showed high levels of variation within and among populations, subdivision among most LCUs, and evidence of isolation by distance. While rates of gene flow are generally low, admixture among lions in northern Botswana, Caprivi Strip (Namibia) and Zambia is apparent from STRUCTURE analyses. Conservation management plans should incorporate information on genetic variability and gene flow in delimiting management units and in guiding translocations of lions to minimize inbreeding and to control problem animals.     

Madonna del Piano (Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, central Italy) ox and dog: a case of intentional Iron Age inhumation

Two almost complete and articulated skeletons of a small-sized 15-year-old shorthorn ox and of a 3-4-year-old dog were found associated to Iron Age human burials at Madonna del Piano, in Sesto Fiorentino, near Florence. The two skeletons were ritually buried. The find adds to another case of cattle burial also found in the area, and therefore attests to a penetration and persistence of late Neolithic and Bronze Age northern and eastern European practices in Italy. The specimens provide important evidence on the habits and believes of Iron Age circum-Mediterranean human populations. The ox reveals that castration was accomplished late in the animal’s growth, but also that cattle were used for heavy work, though being worshiped animals.     

A conservation assessment of the freshwater crabs of southern Africa (Brachyura: Potamonautidae)

Recent taxonomic revisions of the freshwater crabs of southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe) allow accurate depictions of their diversity, distribution patterns and conservation status. The southern African region is home to nineteen species of freshwater crabs all belonging to the genus Potamonautes (family Potamonautidae). These crabs show high levels of species endemism (84%) to the southern African region and to the country of South Africa (74%). The conservation status of each species is assessed using the IUCN (2003) Red List criteria, based on detailed compilations of the majority of known specimens. The results indicate that one species should be considered vulnerable, fifteen species least concern and three species data deficient. The results have been utilized by the IUCN for Red Lists, and may prove useful when developing a conservation strategy for southern Africa’s endemic freshwater crab fauna.     

L'orgasme de l'homme adulte

We provide data on several aspects of sexual behaviour: masturbation, age at first intercourse, sexual practices during first intercourse, homosexuality and heterosexuality, sexual practices over a lifetime, sexual activity in the past twelve months, frequency of sexual intercourse, last sexual intercourse, achieving orgasm (through vaginal penetration, masturbation by partners, fellatio and cunnilingus), sexual dysfunctions. Data come from recent national sex surveys in: Great Britain (1990–91; n=18.876), Finland (1991–92; n=2250), the United States (1992; n="3432) and especially from the ACSF survey (n=20.055), the French national telephone survey on sexual behaviour conducted between September 1991 and February 1992. Some results about the prevalence of sexual dysfunctions in sexually active men 18 to 69 years old, in France (in %):

- “You do not have an erection (impotence)”

- “often”: 7%, “sometimes”: 12%

-“You ejaculate too early, even before entering you partner” “often”: 5%; “sometimes”: 16%

- “You ejaculate too soon, upon or shortly after entering your partner” “often”: 10%; “sometimes”: 27%

- “It takes you too long to ejaculate once you have entered your partner” “often”: 4%; “sometimes”: 16%

- “You fail to ejaculate at all” “often”: 2%; “sometimes”: 5%

- “You don't have an orgasm” “often”: 7%; “sometimes”: 7%

- “You feel no or insufficient sexual desire” “often”: 3%; “sometimes”: 16%.

     

Early hominid hunting and scavenging: A zooarcheological review

Before the early 1980s, the prevailing orthodoxy in paleoanthropology considered Early Stone Age archeological sites in East Africa to represent a primitive form of hominid campsites. The faunal evidence preserved in these sites was viewed as the refuse of carcass meals provided by hominid males in a social system presumptively characterized by sexual division of labor. This interpretation of early hominid life ways, commonly known as the “Home Base” or “Food Sharing” model, was developed most fully by Glynn Isaac.^1–4 As Bunn and Stanford⁵ emphasized, this model was greatly influenced by a paradigm that coalesced between 1966 and 1968, referred to as “Man the Hunter.”⁶