The invention and development of next or second generation sequencing methods has resulted in a dramatic transformation of ancient DNA research and allowed shotgun sequencing of entire genomes from ...fossil specimens. However, although there are exceptions, most fossil specimens contain only low (~ 1% or less) percentages of endogenous DNA. The only skeletal element for which a systematically higher endogenous DNA content compared to other skeletal elements has been shown is the petrous part of the temporal bone. In this study we investigate whether (a) different parts of the petrous bone of archaeological human specimens give different percentages of endogenous DNA yields, (b) there are significant differences in average DNA read lengths, damage patterns and total DNA concentration, and (c) it is possible to obtain endogenous ancient DNA from petrous bones from hot environments. We carried out intra-petrous comparisons for ten petrous bones from specimens from Holocene archaeological contexts across Eurasia dated between 10,000-1,800 calibrated years before present (cal. BP). We obtained shotgun DNA sequences from three distinct areas within the petrous: a spongy part of trabecular bone (part A), the dense part of cortical bone encircling the osseous inner ear, or otic capsule (part B), and the dense part within the otic capsule (part C). Our results confirm that dense bone parts of the petrous bone can provide high endogenous aDNA yields and indicate that endogenous DNA fractions for part C can exceed those obtained for part B by up to 65-fold and those from part A by up to 177-fold, while total endogenous DNA concentrations are up to 126-fold and 109-fold higher for these comparisons. Our results also show that while endogenous yields from part C were lower than 1% for samples from hot (both arid and humid) parts, the DNA damage patterns indicate that at least some of the reads originate from ancient DNA molecules, potentially enabling ancient DNA analyses of samples from hot regions that are otherwise not amenable to ancient DNA analyses.
Research has identified Northwest Turkey as a key region for the development of dairying in the seventh millennium BCE, yet little is known about how this practice began or evolved there. This ...research studies Barcın Höyük, a site located in Bursa's Yenişehir Valley, which ranges chronologically from 6600 BCE, when the first evidence of settled life appears in the Marmara Region, to 6000 BCE, when Neolithic habitation at the site ceases. Using pottery sherds diagnostic by vessel category and type, this paper aims at identifying which ones may have been primarily used to store, process, or consume dairy products. Organic residue analysis of selected samples helped address the process of adoption and intensification of milk processing in this region over time. The lipid residue data discussed in this paper derive from 143 isotopic results subsampled from 173 organic residues obtained from 805 Neolithic potsherds and suggest that bowls and four-lugged pots may have been preferred containers for processing milk. The discovery of abundant milk residues even among the earliest ceramics indicates that the pioneer farmers arrived in the region already with the knowhow of dairying and milk processing. In fact, these skills and the reliance on secondary products may have given them one of the necessary tools to successfully venture into the unfarmed lands of Northwest Anatolia in the first place.
Recent excavations at the site of Barcın Höyük provide a detailed view of a settlement founded and inhabited during the early stages of the Neolithic of the Marmara Region of northwestern Anatolia. ...The occupation history of the site complements and extends further back in time the regional sequence as it had been established for the eastern Marmara Region on the basis of excavations at nearby Mentese, Aktopraklık and Ilıpınar, and Fikirtepe and Pendik in the Istanbul environs. The site of Barcın Höyük is therefore of critical importance for our understanding of the initial neolithisation of northwestern Anatolia. This paper summarizes some of the main findings of the Barcın Höyük excavations with regard to the Neolithic occupation phases.
The ancient Valens Aqueduct in the metropolis of Istanbul, Türkiye, has the potential to raise public awareness of historical water management as well as of current and future water supply ...challenges. This monument stands as a highly visible remnant of what was once the longest water supply line of the Roman world. Although recognized and preserved as a heritage object testifying to its multi- layered history, it has lost its original function and its relationship to water management. We present a program that aims to develop solutions for revitalizing its tangible and intangible values as a prime example of water supply, management and culture through the ages. In this way, this heritage object can regain a connection with water, and water can become an engine for sustainable development.
Pit clusters have not received systematic attention from archaeologists working in Anatolia and the Near East, in contrast to many other parts of the world. This paper presents a case study of Middle ...Chalcolithic pits from the prehistoric site of Barcın Höyük in northwestern Anatolia to show how pit clusters, interpreted as underground grain silos, can inform us about ancient food economies, social organization, and inhabited landscapes. It is argued that the silos at Barcın Höyük were used by small family-sized groups to store surplus grain. Dated to the first quarter of the 5th millennium b.c., the silos present evidence for agricultural productivity during a period that has largely eluded archaeological investigation in western Anatolia.
In extension of the recently established ‘Rapid Climate Change (RCC) Neolithisation Model’ (Clare 2013), in the present paper we demonstrate the existence of a remarkable coincidence between the ...exact (decadel-scale) entry and departure dates of the Neolithic into/from the Aegean (~6600/6050 calBC) with begin/end of RCC-conditions.
Sheep were among the first domesticated animals, but their demographic history is little understood. Here we analyzed nuclear polymorphism and mitochondrial data (mtDNA) from ancient central and west ...Anatolian sheep dating from Epipaleolithic to late Neolithic, comparatively with modern-day breeds and central Asian Neolithic/Bronze Age sheep (OBI). Analyzing ancient nuclear data, we found that Anatolian Neolithic sheep (ANS) are genetically closest to present-day European breeds relative to Asian breeds, a conclusion supported by mtDNA haplogroup frequencies. In contrast, OBI showed higher genetic affinity to present-day Asian breeds. These results suggest that the east-west genetic structure observed in present-day breeds had already emerged by 6000 BCE, hinting at multiple sheep domestication episodes or early wild introgression in southwest Asia. Furthermore, we found that ANS are genetically distinct from all modern breeds. Our results suggest that European and Anatolian domestic sheep gene pools have been strongly remolded since the Neolithic.
Investigates how small groups - households and local communities - constitute and represent their social identity by ordering the landscape in which they dwell. The author develops a new theoretical ...and empirical perspective that deals with many of the practices that create collective senses of identity and belonging. These include house building and habitation, structured deposition, cremation and burial, arable farming, and ritual practices. An explicitly diachronic approach charts processes of cultural and social change which have previously gone largely unnoticed, providing a stimulating basis for a more dynamic history of the late prehistoric inhabitants of the Meuse-Demer-Scheldt region.
Investigates how small groups - households and local communities - constitute and represent their social identity by ordering the landscape in which they dwell. The author develops a new theoretical ...and empirical perspective that deals with many of the practices that create collective senses of identity and belonging. These include house building and habitation, structured deposition, cremation and burial, arable farming, and ritual practices. An explicitly diachronic approach charts processes of cultural and social change which have previously gone largely unnoticed, providing a stimulating basis for a more dynamic history of the late prehistoric inhabitants of the Meuse-Demer-Scheldt region.
In dit nieuwe deel in de Amsterdam Archaeological Studies-reeks onderzoekt Fokke Gerritsen hoe kleine groepen mensen - huishoudens en plaatselijke leefgemeenschappen - hun sociale identiteit vormden en bewerkstelligden door het ordenen van het landschap waarin zij zich bevonden. De auteur ontwikkelt een nieuw theoretisch en empirisch perspectief op de vele gebruiken die een collectief gevoel van identiteit en toebehoren creëren zoals huizenbouw en woonomgeving, structurele nederzetting, crematie en begrafenis, land- en akkerbouw, en rituele praktijken. Een uitgesproken diachronische aanpak brengt processen van culturele en sociale verandering in kaart die hiervoor grotendeels onopgemerkt zijn gebleven en die een solide basis vormen voor een meer dynamische geschiedenis van de laat-prehistorische bewoners van het Meuse-Demer-Scheldtgebied.
Ancient DNA makes it possible to observe natural selection directly by analysing samples from populations before, during and after adaptation events. Here we report a genome-wide scan for selection ...using ancient DNA, capitalizing on the largest ancient DNA data set yet assembled: 230 West Eurasians who lived between 6500 and 300 bc, including 163 with newly reported data. The new samples include, to our knowledge, the first genome-wide ancient DNA from Anatolian Neolithic farmers, whose genetic material we obtained by extracting from petrous bones, and who we show were members of the population that was the source of Europe's first farmers. We also report a transect of the steppe region in Samara between 5600 and 300 bc, which allows us to identify admixture into the steppe from at least two external sources. We detect selection at loci associated with diet, pigmentation and immunity, and two independent episodes of selection on height.
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