Because hard tissues can be radiocarbon dated, they are key to establishing the archaeological chronologies, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and historical-biogeographical processes of the last ...50,000 years. The advent of accelerator mass spectrometers (AMS) has revolutionized the field of archaeology but routine AMS dating still requires 60-200 mg of bone, which far exceeds that of small vertebrates or remains which hold a patrimonial value (e.g. hominid remains or worked bone artefacts). Here, we present the first radiocarbon dates obtained from minute amounts of bone (3-60 mg) using a MIni CArbon DAting System (MICADAS). An optimized protocol allowed us to extract enough material to produce between 0.2 and 1.0 mg of carbon for graphite targets. Our approach was tested on known-age samples dating back to 40,000 BP, and served as proof of concept. The method was then applied to two archaeological sites where reliable dates were obtained from the single bones of small mammals. These results open the way for the routine dating of small or key bone samples.
In temperate latitudes sheep have a seasonal reproductive behaviour, which imposes strong constraints on husbandry in terms of work organization and availability of animal products. During the last ...50 years, researchers have focused on understanding the mechanisms driving small ruminants’ reproduction cycles and finding ways to control them. This characteristic is inherited from their wild ancestor. However, the history of its evolution over the 10 millennia that separates present day European sheep from their Near Eastern ancestors’ remains to be written. This perspective echoes archaeologists’ current attempts at reconstructing ancient pastoral societies’ socio-economical organization. Information related to birth seasonality may be retrieved directly from archaeological sheep teeth. The methodology consists of reconstructing the seasonal cycle record in sheep molars, through sequential analysis of the stable oxygen isotope composition (δ
18O) of enamel. Because the timing of tooth development is fixed within a species, inter-individual variability in this parameter reflects birth seasonality. A review of the data obtained from 10 European archaeological sites dated from the 6th to the 3rd millennia BC is provided. The results demonstrate a restricted breeding season for sheep: births occurred over a period of 3 to 4 months, from late winter to early summer at latitudes 43°N to 48°N, while a later onset was observed at a higher latitude (59°N). All conclusions concurred with currently held expectations based on present day sheep physiology, which, aside from the historical significance, contributes to the reinforcing of the methodological basis of the approach. Further study in this area will permit regional variability attributable to technical choices, within global schemes, to be fully reported.
The antiquity of the use of seaweed to feed domestic animals was investigated through carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analysis of tooth enamel bioapatite. The analysis was performed on sheep ...and cattle teeth from two Neolithic sites in Orkney (Scotland). At the Knap of Howar, c. 3600 bc, carbon isotopes reflect grazing on terrestrial plants throughout the year for both sheep and cattle, with no contribution of seaweed to their diet. At the Holm of Papa Westray North (HPWN), c. 3000 bc, significant contribution of seaweed to the sheep diet during winter is indicated by bioapatite δ13C values as high as −5.7‰, far outside of the range of values expected for the feeding on terrestrial C3 plants, and δ18O values higher than expected during winter, possibly caused by ingestion of oceanic water with seaweed. Ingestion of seaweed by sheep at HPWN might have been necessitated by severe reduction of pastures during winter. Results suggest that sheep ingested fresh seaweed rather than dry fodder, perhaps directly on the shore as sheep do nowadays on North Ronaldsay. A significant difference between the two populations is the exclusive reliance on seaweed by the North Ronaldsay sheep, which have developed physiological adaptations to this diet. Contribution of seaweed to the sheep winter diet at HPWN might have been a first step towards this adaptation.
The house mouse invasion of the European continent has crucial implications for our understanding of the synanthropization process of European small mammals during the Holocene. Mice remains ...collected from a Chalcolithic burnt house in southern Romania, provided a unique opportunity to document which of the two house mouse subspecies was the commensal taxa of the late Neolithic Romania and question the factors of its invasive process. To obtain the subspecific status of the Mus remains, we performed molar shape analysis with geometric morphometrics, using 160 specimens sampling the extant Eastern European Mus taxa as modern comparatives. Along with an overwhelming majority of eastern house mice (Mus musculus musculus) living constantly in the Chalcolithic house, indigenous small mammals (common hamster, field mice, voles and white toothed shrews) were also occupying the settlement sporadically, highlighting the antiquity of the synanthropisation of European small mammals. This secured occurrence of the eastern house mouse in late Neolithic Romania, led us to propose two testable research hypotheses: first, an eastern house mouse commensalism center in Eastern Europe happening during the sixth millennium bc, when neolithization reached the natural distribution of free living populations of Mus musculus musculus in the Pontic steppes of Ukraine; second, new trajectories of trading networks, stimulated by copper metallurgy around the fifth millennium bc, having allowed long-distance translocation of the commensal eastern house mouse from Eastern to Southern Europe Neolithic settlements.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Among the lizards in the Lesser Antillean Islands, iguanas are undoubtedly the most emblematic, especially the endemic species, Iguana delicatissima. However, although much effort is currently made ...for the conservation of this species as a result of the present biodiversity crisis, nearly nothing is known of the history of this animal on these islands during the last millennia. Here we present the first data relating to the distribution, morphology, and interaction of past iguanas with human populations in the Lesser Antilles. To do so, we review the archaeological Iguana remains collected over the past 15 years on the Guadeloupe Islands. Our results show that the only Iguana species occurring in pre-Columbian archaeological deposits is Iguana delicatissima. Moreover, we demonstrate that this species occurred on all the islands of Guadeloupe during pre-Columbian times and then suddenly became extinct between 1960 and 1990 on most of these islands. We also confirm the modern introduction of I. iguana to the Guadeloupe Islands. In addition, zooarchaeological research demonstrates that pre-Columbian human populations occasionally used iguanas as a source of food, but with no apparent impact on the native population. However, the first data relating to past size variations of I. delicatissima on the Guadeloupe Islands indicate that archaeological iguanas were much larger than the largest remnant modern specimens and that a marked decrease in body length (more than 20%) occurred in these lizards after contact with European populations. This evidence of widespread extinction and morphological change during modern times is another demonstration of the extensive effects of disturbance and selection induced by modern human societies on endemic insular faunas.
•We studied iguanas pre-Columbian remains found in Guadeloupe islands (25 deposits).•Only the endemic I. delicatissima occurred during pre-Columbian times (no I. iguana).•Past iguanas occurred on all islands and could be very large (body length >50 cm).•Selection of hunted iguanas by pre-Columbian people differs among islands.•I. delicatissima is now largely extinct and undergone a 20% size reduction.
Evolutionary biologists have recently solicited archaeologists to help document and understand the morphological evolution of animals in response to human activities and, more generally, to help ...reconstruct the history and significance of the anthropogenic impact on worldwide ecosystems. Artificial selection associated with domestication is the best-known example of a major anthropogenic morphological evolution preserved in the archaeological record. However, the impact of the domestication process and dispersal on the morphological evolution of animals has been far less explored. To fill this gap, we focused on 4500 years of evolution in Western Europe Sus scrofa, covering the Neolithic transition ‒ a major anthropogenic ecological disturbance involving landscape modification and the translocation of domestic mammals. Using geometric morphometrics on key phenotypic markers preserved in the archaeological record, associated with isotopic studies, we explored how, and in response to which cultural drivers, the Neolithic niche construction has influenced the morphological evolution of Western European wild boars (Sus scrofa scrofa). The decoupling of size and shape components from bone morphological variation has facilitated the identification of several processes of phenotypic diversification of Sus s. scrofa in response to human behaviour during the Neolithic transition in Western Europe.
•The Neolithisation of Europe increased the phenotypic diversity in Western European Sus scrofa.•The Neolithisation of Europe has not impacted the morphological variation of indigeonous wild boars.•The vast majority of Neolithic Sus scrofa display the same phenotypic variation as wild boars in their natural habitat.•Phenotypic changes due to the human control of Sus scrofa are rare in Western Neolithic Europe.•Phenotypic clues for fast growing selection are observable during the Late Neolithic.
Evaluating the role of milk production in prehistoric subsistence economies requires a better estimation of the capacity of a milk-oriented husbandry under prehistoric conditions. Weaning pattern, ...which is linked to the length of lactation, is an important parameter in this estimation. In this study, weaning pattern is closely examined in Neolithic cattle from the site of Bercy (Paris, France, c.4000bc ), by a study of intra-tooth (M1, M2) variation in the nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N) of dentine collagen. Collagen δ15N is commonly used to trace the change of trophic level at weaning time. The pattern of change in collagen δ15N in the first molar of two archaeological bovines is then compared with that observed in modern cattle weaned at known age. Results suggest that the Neolithic calves were weaned early. This could reflect either a shorter lactation for Neolithic cows, or early weaning imposed by the herder in order to reserve a bigger proportion of milk production for human consumption.
The primitive sheep of North Ronaldsay Island (Orkney), which feed almost exclusively on seaweed, have developed physiological features linked to that diet. The use of seaweed to feed domestic ...animals, attested for centuries in north-western Europe, may have appeared soon after the arrival of the first domestic herds during the 5th and 4th millennia BC. The use of isotope analysis of sheep tooth enamel as a means to investigate seaweed grazing in prehistoric times was tested. The teeth of five modern North Ronaldsay sheep were analysed for carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope ratios. Owing to differences in the δ13C of marine vs terrestrial plants, the seaweed-eating sheep have δ13C values clearly outside the range expected for terrestrial plant eaters. Results show that one group of individuals relied exclusively on seaweed throughout the year. In a second group, terrestrial plants provided about half the dietary carbon pool during the summer. In individuals relying exclusively on seaweed, the amplitude of seasonal change in the δ18O values of tooth enamel was low, possibly because of ingestion of marine water through fresh seaweed consumption. Analysis of a sheep tooth from the Neolithic site of Holm of Papa Westray (Orkney, Scotland), suggests that as early as at the beginning of the 4th millennium BC in the Orkney, seaweed contributed to the winter diet of domestic sheep.
A total of 101 cattle teeth and bones from 13 archaeological sites between 1000 to 9000 years old were assessed for the presence of verifiable mitochondrial sequences. It was possible to reproducibly ...amplify and sequence mitochondrial control region DNA extracted from twelve of the samples. The results were compared with published extant data by constructing phylogenetic networks. The sequences obtained from the cattle specimens were either identical to the reference sequence for modern cattle or closely related to it. They included three sequences not previously documented. The network analysis of the ancient data highlights the proximity of the ancient DNA cattle sequences to modern Near Eastern, European and African
Bos taurus, as well as regional continuity.
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