The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe, however, remains ...poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of European black rats, we first generate a de novo genome assembly of the black rat. We then sequence 67 ancient and three modern black rat mitogenomes, and 36 ancient and three modern nuclear genomes from archaeological sites spanning the 1st-17th centuries CE in Europe and North Africa. Analyses of our newly reported sequences, together with published mitochondrial DNA sequences, confirm that black rats were introduced into the Mediterranean and Europe from Southwest Asia. Genomic analyses of the ancient rats reveal a population turnover in temperate Europe between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, coincident with an archaeologically attested decline in the black rat population. The near disappearance and re-emergence of black rats in Europe may have been the result of the breakdown of the Roman Empire, the First Plague Pandemic, and/or post-Roman climatic cooling.
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare
. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with ...archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling
at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 BC
. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia
and Anatolia
, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 BC, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association
between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 BC
driving the spread of Indo-European languages
. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium BC Sintashta culture
.
The great importance of the domestic horse in human history and culture has long made it a significant subject of research. The historical role of the horse and new studies and discoveries that are ...key to understanding its domestication provided the impetus for this paper. The review presents and discusses the current state of know ledge and ideas concerning the origins, domestication, early history, historical roles, and exploitation of this domestic animal from central European and global perspectives. Ecological, biological, phylogenetic, archaeological and historical aspects are combined to explore the issue in a comprehensive manner and to provide insights into various scientific fields and the different regions of Eurasia.
Although Europe was not a primary centre of cattle domestication, its expansion from the Middle East and subsequent development created a complex pattern of cattle breed diversity. Many isolated ...populations of local historical breeds still carry the message about the physical and genetic traits of ancient populations. Since the way of life of human communities starting from the eleventh millennium BP was strongly determined by livestock husbandry, the knowledge of cattle diversity through the ages is helpful in the interpretation of many archaeological findings. Historical cattle diversity is currently at the intersection of two leading directions of genetic research. Firstly, it is archaeogenetics attempting to recover and interpret the preserved genetic information directly from archaeological finds. The advanced archaeogenetic approaches meet with the population genomics of extant cattle populations. The immense amount of genetic information collected from living cattle, due to its key economic role, allows for reconstructing the genetic profiles of the ancient populations backwards. The present paper aims to place selected archaeogenetic, genetic, and genomic findings in the picture of cattle history in Central Europe, as suggested by archaeozoological and historical records. Perspectives of the methodical connection between the genetic approaches and the approaches of traditional archaeozoology, such as osteomorphology and osteometry, are discussed. The importance, actuality, and effectiveness of combining different approaches to each archaeological find, such as morphological characterization, interpretation of the historical context, and molecular data, are stressed.
The rediscovery of a labour camp on the construction site of the Stalin Monument in Prague in spring 2021 was the result of a construction project of the Municipality of Prague. Until then, the ...existence of this specific site had not been reflected neither in the historical memory of the place nor in the literature devoted to the monstrous monument (dismantled in 1962), which was both a superb work of art and engineering and the most significant material manifestation of the cult of Stalin’s personality outside the USSR. The discovered remains of the camp’s modest, purely purpose-built buildings, as well as the artifacts and ecofacts that illustrate the living conditions of its inhabitants, contrast sharply with the costly, expressive, and landscape-dominating monument. The results of the archaeological research make a distinctive contribution to the contemporary debate on the nature of the Stalinist regime in Czechoslovakia, as they thematise the bloodless yet pervasive aspect of the regime’s repressiveness.
During archaeological excavations of three La Tène features in 2001 and 2002 at the periphery of the Velké Zboží and Malé Zboží cadasters (Nymburk district), a total of 33 animal bones were obtained. ...Only domestic mammals were determined in the material: cattle, sheep/goat (of which only sheep is reliably documented), pig, horse and dog. A valuable find from feat. 8 (LT C2-D1) is a horn core from a domestic cattle (Bos taurus), which shows signs of pathology. The pathology comes in the form of a depression on the anterior surface, which leads to the narrowing of the horn. Such pathology is considered to be the result of long-term use of a forehead yoke. The find represents one of a few documented cases of the use of the yoke in prehistory in the territory of today’s Czech Republic. A hornless sheep is documented at another feature.
Based on a study of animal bone finds from the Únětice Culture cemeteries (2200–1700 BC) in Bohemia, Czech Republic, the study analyses selected aspects of the funeral rite in the Early Bronze Age in ...Central Europe. The focus is on unworked and unburned cattle, pig, sheep/goat and red deer scapulae, phalanges (+ some astragali) and ribs—significant burial phenomena in the Únětice Culture—determined as undoubtedly intentional components of funerals, that is, as grave goods. Radiocarbon and other evidence show that the phenomena existed for the whole of the Únětice Culture and perhaps longer. The presence of scapulae in 41% of the graves in the cemetery at Mikulovice and tens of other cemeteries in Bohemia and Moravia, and the complete domination of phalanges among the animal bones in graves in the funerary area at Vliněves provide evidence of the importance of these customs in the funerary rite. Rib cuts certainly represent meat offerings but the meaning of isolated (unarticulated) scapulae and phalanges/astragali is difficult to determine. The hypothesis that scapulae found always singly could also be real meat offerings is difficult to accept, so further roles, whether practical or symbolic, should be considered. An earlier suggestion that scapulae were used as a trowel for digging grave pits is highly improbable, as follows from our analysis, and we were unable to confirm the use of the flat scapula as a plate for other offerings or a base for paintings. The choice of the (near-triangular) scapula to symbolise the triangle must be left in the realm of speculation. Unworked and variably positioned phalanges and astragali are unlikely to have been used for clothing or hair decoration but, based on analogies, might have been used in magic or games (amulets, tokens, dice, game pieces). The possible use of scapulae and phalanges + astragali in divination is considered in the light of ethnographic and historical records of scapulimancy and astragalomancy on four continents. As scapulae and phalanges do not usually appear together in a single grave, they could represent attributes of different social groups or statuses.
Jedním z fenoménů spojujících po několik set let okolo roku 4000 př. Kr. široké oblasti od Atlantiku po střední Evropu jsou různé formy vícenásobně přerušovaných příkopových ohrazení. Čechy tvoří ...východní periferii jejich rozšíření, publikačně dosud nedostatečně uchopenou. Předmětem předloženého příspěvku je prezentace jednoho z nich, ohrazení v Trubíně, okr. Beroun. Práce přináší kromě zevrubného vyhodnocení nálezové situace a všech získaných pramenů první soubor radiouhlíkových dat, zahrnujících i příslušné analýzy z dalších českých vícenásobně přerušovaných ohrazení. V návaznosti na ně je řešena jejich chronologická pozice, kulturní příslušnost a původ fenoménu v Čechách, a v neposlední řadě postavení trubínského objektu v jejich rámci.
The paper provides a preliminary review of the current state of knowledge concerning meat offerings in the Hallstatt funeral rite in Bohemia (c. 800–450 BC). Uncharred animal bones, representing meat ...offerings, from three burials from the Bylany and Hallstatt Tumulus cultures found in two recently excavated sites were analysed archaeozoologically and in great detail. Information from earlier excavations in Bohemia was taken into account and some of the finds were revised. The paper presents a comparison of these finds from the perspective of taxonomy, anatomy, the age of the animals slaughtered and taphonomy. Contrary to former opinions, not only pigs but also sheep and cattle were offered. Despite some variation being observed, the comparison reveals similarities between meat offerings from both mentioned local cultures of the Hallstatt period. In all three recently excavated burials, a calf is the dominant object with respect to the number of bone finds (and offered meat). Adult and sub-adult sheep were also present in all three cases and an adult pig was present in at least one case. These multiple-species offerings are rare in Bohemia, and likely to reflect the special status of the deceased. Young age of cattle also appear to be the rule. Another regular feature is the offering of fleshy parts of the legs and rib segments, while other fleshy and non-fleshy parts of the body were not offered. Various observations (articulation, butchery marks, phosphate analysis) suggest that the bones found in the graves had originally borne substantial portions of meat. The absence of the head and certain fleshy parts of the body – specifically the spine region – is a common observation in the Bylany culture; the missing parts were most probably used for the funeral banquet. A comparison with neighbouring regions and an estimation of the body size of the offered animals is also presented.
Der Artikel bringt einen vorläufigen Überblick über den aktuellen Forschungsstand der Fleischbeigaben im hallstattzeitlichen Grabritus in Böhmen. Rezent wurden unverbrannte Tierknochen aus der Bylany-Kultur und der hallstattzeitlichen süd- und westböhmischen Hügelgräberkultur (ca. 800–450 BC) archäozoologisch detailliert analysiert. Diese neuen Funde stammen aus drei Gräbern von zwei Fundstellen. Gleichzeitig wurden Informationen aus älteren Grabungen einbezogen, wobei einige Funde revidiert worden sind. Der vorliegende Beitrag präsentiert einen Vergleich dieser Funde unter dem Gesichtspunkt der taxonomischen und anatomischen Repräsentanz, des Alters der Tiere und der Taphonomie. Im Unterschied zu manchen früheren Ansichten wurden nicht nur das Schwein, sondern auch Schaf und Rind in die Gräber gegeben. Trotz der beobachteten Variabilität sind bestimmte Ähnlichkeiten zwischen den Fleischbeigaben in den beiden erwähnten Lokalkulturen der Hallstattzeit festgestellt worden. Wird die Knochenzahl (bzw. Fleischmenge) bewertet, so ist in allen drei neu untersuchten Gräbern das Kalb das dominante Objekt. Erwachsenes oder subadultes Schaf war auch in allen drei Fällen vorhanden und erwachsenes Schwein war mindestens in einem Fall anwesend. Solche mehrere Arten umfassende Beigaben kommen in Böhmen selten vor und können einen spezifischen Status des Bestatteten reflektieren. Das junge Alter des Rindes scheint auch die Regel darzustellen. Eine weitere regelmäßige Erscheinung ist die Opferung fleischtragender Teile von Gliedmaßen und von Rippenblöcken, während andere fleischtragende sowie nichtfleischtragende Körperteile nicht ins Grab gegeben wurden. Verschiedene Untersuchungen (artikulierter Zustand, Fleischerprinzipien, Phosphatanalyse) lassen nachweisen, dass die ausgegrabenen Knochen ursprünglich beträchtliche Menge Fleisch trugen. Die Absenz des Kopfes und bestimmter fleischtragender Körperteile – insbesondere im Bereich der Wirbelsäule – wird in den Gräbern der Bylany-Kultur häufig festgestellt, die fehlenden Teile wurden höchstwahrscheinlich beim Bestattungsmahl verwendet. Einen Bestandteil des Artikels bilden unter anderem Vergleiche mit benachbarten Regionen und die Abschätzung der Körpergröße der Tiere.
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