While conducting a review of published archaeobotanical remains from southern and central England, it became apparent that contamination (intrusion and residuality) was a notable, recurring theme in ...many assemblages. This problem is most acute in some key periods in which plant assemblages are generally less abundant than in others, such as the Neolithic and the early medieval (Saxon) periods. While most archaeobotanists are aware of the potential for contamination, without direct dates it is often difficult to demonstrate and it is likely to have obscured the true patterns in the data. Contamination becomes particularly problematic once poorly or incorrectly phased data enter the secondary literature. A number of case studies are presented, including newly dated material from a high profile excavation at Durrington Walls, Wiltshire. The importance of direct dating of plant remains is discussed.
Roseburia inulinivorans is a recently identified motile representative of the Firmicutes that contributes to butyrate formation from a variety of dietary polysaccharide substrates in the human large ...intestine. Microarray analysis was used here to investigate substrate-driven gene-expression changes in R. inulinivorans A2-194. A cluster of fructo-oligosaccharide/inulin utilization genes induced during growth on inulin included one encoding a β-fructofuranosidase protein that was prominent in the proteome of inulin-grown cells. This cluster also included a 6-phosphofructokinase and an ABC transport system, whereas a distinct inulin-induced 1-phosphofructokinase was linked to a fructose-specific phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS II transport enzyme). Real-time PCR analysis showed that the β-fructofuranosidase and adjacent ABC transport protein showed greatest induction during growth on inulin, whereas the 1-phosphofructokinase enzyme and linked sugar phosphotransferase transport system were most strongly up-regulated during growth on fructose, indicating that these two clusters play distinct roles in the use of inulin. The R. inulinivorans β-fructofuranosidase was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and shown to hydrolyze fructans ranging from inulin down to sucrose, with greatest activity on fructo-oligosaccharides. Genes induced on starch included the major extracellular α-amylase and two distinct α-glucanotransferases together with a gene encoding a flagellin protein. The latter response may be concerned with improving bacterial access to insoluble starch particles.
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In a 2019 Internet Archaeology article, Elizabeth Pearson posed the question 'are we back in the Dark Ages?'. This question was made in reference to a developer-funded archaeology sector that was ...generating vast quantities of evidence and, particularly, in recent years, specialist environmental data, but was failing to mobilise this in a theoretical framework that generated meaningful advancement in terms of research. The introduction to the 2021 Internet Archaeology special issue on Digital Archiving in Archaeology (Richards et al. 2021) went on to address 'a digital resource that is now in jeopardy' – not only because of the risk of technical obsolescence, but also because of crucial limitations to its interoperability and discoverability. This article builds on these arguments and complements vital work underway on high-level, internationally focused data infrastructure initiatives (e.g. Wright and Richards 2018). We emphasise here the importance of parallel discussions at a community level, particularly with the people who routinely produce archaeological data, as key to enhancing data synthesis and research potential. Specifically, we report on two surveys conducted by the 'Rewilding' Later Prehistory project at Oxford Archaeology, in collaboration with Historic England and Bournemouth University, which originated in the 'Rewilding' project's concern with improving access to palaeoenvironmental data produced within Britain. Substantial amounts of zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical data remain buried in grey literature, limited-access publications and archive reports (not to mention floppy disks, CDs and microfiche), with no integrative means of searching for particular periods or categories of evidence. This lack of accessibility inhibits specialists from contextualising their findings, and was exemplified recently by the Archaeology on Furlough project tripling the known number of aurochs finds in Britain by trawling online records, journals and museum records (Wiseman 2020). The results of the surveys presented here, which targeted both environmental archaeologists specifically and the wider sector, demonstrate a significant appetite amongst archaeologists to improve data networks and for their work to contribute meaningfully to research agendas. Contextualised within a disciplinary landscape that is increasingly dynamic in its approach to tackling the openness and connectivity of 'big data', we argue that better data synthesis in environmental archaeology, and the developer-funded sector more broadly, can be more than just a mirage on the horizon, particularly once the people who produce the data are given an active voice in the matter.
Mild dietary zinc deprivation in humans and rodents has little effect on blood plasma zinc levels, and yet cellular consequences of zinc depletion can be detected in vascular and other tissues. We ...proposed that a zinc‐regulated humoral factor might mediate the effects of zinc deprivation. Using a novel approach, primary rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) were treated with plasma from zinc‐deficient (<1 mg Zn/kg) or zinc‐adequate (35 mg Zn/kg, pair‐fed) adult male rats, and zinc levels were manipulated to distinguish direct and indirect effects of plasma zinc. Gene expression changes were analyzed by microarray and qPCR, and incubation of VSMCs with blood plasma from zinc‐deficient rats strongly changed the expression of >2500 genes, compared to incubation of cells with zinc‐adequate rat plasma. We demonstrated that this effect was caused by a low‐molecular‐weight (~2‐kDa) zinc‐regulated humoral factor but that changes in gene expression were mostly reversed by adding zinc back to zinc‐deficient plasma. Strongly regulated genes were overrepresented in pathways associated with immune function and development. We conclude that zinc deficiency induces the production of a low‐molecular‐weight humoral factor whose influence on VSMC gene expression is blocked by plasma zinc. This factor is therefore under dual control by zinc.— Ou, O., Allen‐Redpath, K., Urgast, D., Gordon, M.‐J., Campbell, G., Feldmann, J., Nixon, G. F., Mayer, C.‐D., Kwun, I.‐S., and Beattie, J. H. Plasma zinc's alter ego is a low‐molecular‐weight humoral factor. FASEB J. 27, 3672–3682 (2013). www.fasebj.org
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Following the Roman conquest, agricultural production in Britain faced increasing demand from large urban and military populations. While it has long been thought that this necessitated an increase ...in agricultural production, direct archaeological evidence for changes in cultivation practices has been scarce. Using a model that conceptualises cereal farming strategies in terms of intensive or extensive practices, this paper is the first study to address this question using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data of crop remains. We report δ
15
N and δ
13
C values from 41 samples of spelt, emmer and barley from Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman Stanwick (Northants., UK), in order to assess the intensiveness of arable farming and investigate shifts in cultivation practices in prehistoric and Roman Britain. The results demonstrate a decline in δ
15
N in the Roman period, suggesting that farming practices moved to lower levels of manuring and, by implication, became more extensive. δ
13
C values are comparable in all periods, supporting the suggestion that changes observed in human stable isotope data between the Iron Age and Roman period are best explained by dietary change rather than a shift towards higher δ
13
C values in plants at the base of the food chain.
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The onset of prehistoric farming brought unprecedented changes to landscapes and their biodiversity. Past biodiversity patterns are broadly understood for different parts of Europe, and demonstrate ...trajectories that have been linked to prehistoric and historic demographic transitions, and associated land-use practices. To our knowledge, this paper is the first attempt to directly link evidence of agricultural practice from the archaeological record to biodiversity patterns. Records of fossil pollen are used to estimate plant and landscape diversity patterns, and novel approaches are employed to analyse 1194 harmonised archaeobotanical samples (plant macrofossil remains) spanning the prehistoric and Roman periods, from southern England. We demonstrate changes in the use of crops and gathered edible plants and non-linear trends in cultivation practices. Whilst, overall, cereal production is characterised by ever larger and extensive regimes, different trajectories are evident for most of early prehistory, the Middle Iron Age and the Late Roman period. Comparisons with the Shannon diversity of fossil pollen records from the same region suggest a positive relationship between developing agricultural regimes and landscape scale biodiversity during the prehistoric period. The Roman period represents a tipping point in the relationship between expanding agriculture and pollen diversity, with declining pollen diversity evident in the records from the region.
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The term ‘vitrified’ is used to describe the glassy appearance of some charcoals recovered in the archaeological record. It has been generally considered that this phenomenon is a result of wood ...being subjected to high temperatures similar to the role of temperature in the formation of glass and pottery. Charcoals displaying characteristics of vitrification from three distinct archaeological contexts were analysed using reflectance microscopy to determine their temperature of formation. Charcoal was also generated in laboratory charring experiments at temperatures of 900–1100
°C for durations of 1, 6, 12 and 24
h to determine if subjection to high temperature led to vitrification. None of the laboratory-produced charcoals displayed characteristics of vitrification. Mean random reflectance of the vitrified archaeological fragments indicated temperature of formation from 310 to 530
°C. A charring experiment was also conducted, at 500
°C for 6
h, using green wood with some bark attached, and added sugars, but no evidence of vitrification was seen. Therefore vitrified charcoals do not result from high temperature charring or primarily from the use of green wood.
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The thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3) is known to affect energy balance. Recent evidence points to an action of T3 in the hypothalamus, a key area of the brain involved in energy homeostasis, but ...the components and mechanisms are far from understood. The aim of this study was to identify components in the hypothalamus that may be involved in the action of T3 on energy balance regulatory mechanisms.
Sprague Dawley rats were made hypothyroid by giving 0.025% methimazole (MMI) in their drinking water for 22 days. On day 21, half the MMI-treated rats received a saline injection, whereas the others were injected with T3. Food intake and body weight measurements were taken daily. Body composition was determined by magnetic resonance imaging, gene expression was analyzed by in situ hybridization, and T3-induced gene expression was determined by microarray analysis of MMI-treated compared to MMI-T3-injected hypothalamic RNA.
Post mortem serum thyroid hormone levels showed that MMI treatment decreased circulating thyroid hormones and increased thyrotropin (TSH). MMI treatment decreased food intake and body weight. Body composition analysis revealed reduced lean and fat mass in thyroidectomized rats from day 14 of the experiment. MMI treatment caused a decrease in circulating triglyceride concentrations, an increase in nonesterified fatty acids, and decreased insulin levels. A glucose tolerance test showed impaired glucose clearance in the thyroidectomized animals. In the brain, in situ hybridization revealed marked changes in gene expression, including genes such as Mct8, a thyroid hormone transporter, and Agrp, a key component in energy balance regulation. Microarray analysis revealed 110 genes to be up- or downregulated with T3 treatment (± 1.3-fold change, p<0.05). Three genes chosen from the differentially expressed genes were verified by in situ hybridization to be activated by T3 in cells located at or close to the hypothalamic ventricular ependymal layer and differentially expressed in animal models of long- and short-term body weight regulation.
This study identified genes regulated by T3 in the hypothalamus, a key area of the brain involved in homeostasis and neuroendocrine functions. These include genes hitherto not known to be regulated by thyroid status.
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