In the last decades, data on the economy and environment of the Neolithic period of lake dwellings (4300—2400 B.C.) in central Europe has increased considerably and also palaeoecological data on lake ...level fluctuations has been thoroughly elaborated. Lake shores were mainly settled during warm and rather dry climate periods which caused a fall in the lake levels. Nevertheless, there were strong and partly very short-term shifts in the economy during the lake-dwelling period. These can be recognised only because the settlement layers can be very precisely dated by dendrochronology. In this article we discuss in an interdisciplinary way the possible interrelations between climatic and economic changes. To explain the latter, we assume crop failures as the main reason, which caused intensified hunting and gathering. There are three different possibilities which might explain this: cold and wet summers, severe droughts during spring and summer, or local over-exploitation of soils in densely settled areas.
La nécropole hellénistique de Jal al-Bahr à Tyr (Liban Sud) a livré un dépôt de huit squelettes humains déposés simultanément avec cinq crânes et cinq segments du tronc (côtes et vertèbres) de ...bovins. Ce dépôt localisé à proximité d'une nécropole constituée de sépultures individuelles a révélé des positions atypiques des individus humains associés à des restes bovins (crânes, thorax) et nous a conduits à nous interroger sur la signification de ces vestiges. L'approche archéoanthropologique et archéozoologique nous a permis d'appréhender et de discuter certaines pratiques mortuaires originales et distinctes des modes d'inhumations classiques connus pour l'époque hellénistique à Tyr.
Abstract
In the course of evolution, pecorans (i.e., higher ruminants) developed a remarkable diversity of osseous cranial appendages, collectively referred to as “headgear,” which likely share the ...same origin and genetic basis. However, the nature and function of the genetic determinants underlying their number and position remain elusive. Jacob and other rare populations of sheep and goats are characterized by polyceraty, the presence of more than two horns. Here, we characterize distinct POLYCERATE alleles in each species, both associated with defective HOXD1 function. We show that haploinsufficiency at this locus results in the splitting of horn bud primordia, likely following the abnormal extension of an initial morphogenetic field. These results highlight the key role played by this gene in headgear patterning and illustrate the evolutionary co-option of a gene involved in the early development of bilateria to properly fix the position and number of these distinctive organs of Bovidae.
Le site Néolithique récent de Geispolsheim « Forlen », attribué au Munzingen récent, a livré une série d’ensembles clos contenant des formes céramiques inédites en contexte Munzingen B. Nous y ...décelons l’influence des productions tardives de la culture de Pfyn et proposons d’identifier une nouvelle étape du Munzingen récent, baptisée sans originalité Munzingen C et caractérisée par l’apparition de formes à épaulement et à profil sinueux. Cet épisode peut être daté des environs de 3650/3550 av. J.-C., date tardive confirmée par deux datations radiocarbone. Cette découverte permet d’insister sur la réactivation dans la seconde partie du IVe millénaire d’anciens réseaux d’échanges reliant la vallée du Rhin au Plateau suisse et aux rives du lac de Constance. Elle nous a également amené à réfléchir sur la question de l’évolution de la culture de Munzingen hors de la Basse-Alsace. La transition Munzingen A/Munzingen B n’est attestée que dans la région colmarienne et le Kaiserstuhl, zone nucléaire de cette culture et probablement du style du Munzingen B. Si l’expansion du Munzingen B vers le nord de la vallée du Rhin, jusqu’en Hesse, est bien documentée, les découvertes récentes effectuées dans la région de Mulhouse ont en revanche démontré que ce style était totalement absent du sud de la Haute-Alsace. Dans cette région, tenue à l’écart de l’expansion du style B, le Munzingen A, probablement ouvert à d’autres influences, évolue de façon autonome : quelques indices nous autorisent à postuler qu’il existe bel et bien un Munzingen récent de Haute-Alsace (style A2), poursuivant la tradition stylistique du Munzingen ancien (A1) et que nous commençons seulement à individualiser.
The extinct aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) was a large type of cattle that ranged over almost the whole Eurasian continent. The aurochs is the wild progenitor of modern cattle, but it is ...unclear whether European aurochs contributed to this process. To provide new insights into the demographic history of aurochs and domestic cattle, we have generated high-confidence mitochondrial DNA sequences from 59 archaeological skeletal finds, which were attributed to wild European cattle populations based on their chronological date and/or morphology. All pre-Neolithic aurochs belonged to the previously designated P haplogroup, indicating that this represents the Late Glacial Central European signature. We also report one new and highly divergent haplotype in a Neolithic aurochs sample from Germany, which points to greater variability during the Pleistocene. Furthermore, the Neolithic and Bronze Age samples that were classified with confidence as European aurochs using morphological criteria all carry P haplotype mitochondrial DNA, suggesting continuity of Late Glacial and Early Holocene aurochs populations in Europe. Bayesian analysis indicates that recent population growth gives a significantly better fit to our data than a constant-sized population, an observation consistent with a postglacial expansion scenario, possibly from a single European refugial population. Previous work has shown that most ancient and modern European domestic cattle carry haplotypes previously designated T. This, in combination with our new finding of a T haplotype in a very Early Neolithic site in Syria, lends persuasive support to a scenario whereby gracile Near Eastern domestic populations, carrying predominantly T haplotypes, replaced P haplotype-carrying robust autochthonous aurochs populations in Europe, from the Early Neolithic onward. During the period of coexistence, it appears that domestic cattle were kept separate from wild aurochs and introgression was extremely rare.
Cattle dominate archaeozoological assemblages from the north-central Europe between the sixth and fifth millennium BC and are frequently considered as exclusively used for their meat. Dairy products ...may have played a greater role than previously believed. Selective pressure on the lactase persistence mutation has been modelled to have begun between 6000 and 4000 years ago in central Europe. The discovery of milk lipids in late sixth millennium ceramic sieves in Poland may reflect an isolated regional peculiarity for cheese making or may signify more generalized milk exploitation in north-central Europe during the Early Neolithic. To investigate these issues, we analysed the mortality profiles based on age-at-death analysis of cattle tooth eruption, wear and replacement from 19 archaeological sites of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture (sixth to fifth millennium BC). The results indicate that cattle husbandry was similar across time and space in the LBK culture with a degree of specialization for meat exploitation in some areas. Statistical comparison with reference age-at-death profiles indicate that mixed husbandry (milk and meat) was practised, with mature animals being kept. The analysis provides a unique insight into LBK cattle husbandry and how it evolved in later cultures in central and western Europe. It also opens a new perspective on how and why the Neolithic way of life developed through continental Europe and how dairy products became a part of the human diet.
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