Robin Bendrey | University of Edinburgh (original) (raw)
Papers by Robin Bendrey
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
Royal Society Open Science, Apr 1, 2023
Micromammals, like rodents and shrews, adapt rapidly to take advantage of new food sources, habit... more Micromammals, like rodents and shrews, adapt rapidly to take advantage of new food sources, habitats and ecological niches, frequently thriving in anthropogenic environments. Their remains, often retrieved during archaeological investigations, can be a valuable source of information about the past environmental conditions as well as interspecies interactions and human activity. However, the research on such finds rarely covers multiple approaches, often relying on single species or data type (e.g. identification/information for proxy studies). Here we investigate micromammal remains from the Norse and medieval (AD tenth–fourteenth centuries) archaeological site at Tuquoy, Orkney, to elucidate the relationships between micromammals, humans and other species present using a variety of data. Four micromammal species were identified, and their species dynamics as well as relationships with humans could be inferred by tracking changes in spatial and temporal location of remains, from their taphonomic history and by age estimation for individual animals. A larger, predatory assemblage was also identified, with species composition differing from that in the rest of the archaeological assemblage, and possibly therefore representing small mammal species composition in the wild. The assemblage was probably deposited by a diurnal raptor, though identification to species is not certain due to post-depositional processes.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
The Earliest Neolithic of Iran: 2008 Excavations at Sheikh-E Abad and Jani, 2013
The Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences, 2018
Zoonotic pathogens are frequently hypothesized as emerging with the origins of farming, but evide... more Zoonotic pathogens are frequently hypothesized as emerging with the origins of farming, but evidence of this is elusive in the archaeological record. To explore the potential impact of animal domestication on zoonotic disease dynamics and human infection risk, we developed a model simulating the transmission of <i>Brucella melitensis</i> within early domestic goat populations. The model was informed by archaeological data describing goat populations in Neolithic settlements in the Fertile Crescent, and used to assess the potential of these populations to sustain the circulation of <i>Brucella</i>. Results show that the pathogen could have been sustained even at low levels of transmission within these domestic goat populations. This resulted from the creation of dense populations and major changes in demographic characteristics. The selective harvesting of young male goats, likely aimed at improving the efficiency of food production, modified the age and sex structure of these populations, increasing the transmission potential of the pathogen within these populations. Probable interactions between Neolithic settlements would have further promoted pathogen maintenance. By fostering conditions suitable for allowing domestic goats to become reservoirs of <i>Brucella melitensis</i>, the early stages of agricultural development were likely to promote the exposure of humans to this pathogen.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2007
This article presents a methodology for recording and quantifying the ossification of the interos... more This article presents a methodology for recording and quantifying the ossification of the interosseous ligaments between the metapodials in horses, including a scoring system for defining stages in the development of this lesion. The method is applied to a sample of ten Przewalski's horse skeletons from the National Museum, Prague. This case study demonstrates the nature of this lesion in a sample of unworked animals and presents a preliminary sample for comparison with archaeological assemblages. The results show that the condition can occur in animals that are not worked. They also indicate that age is an important factor in the development of the lesion. The expression of the pathology in this sample appears to be linked to how the weight of the animal acts through the legs, in that it occurs earliest, and is generally more advanced, in the areas that support a greater burden. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2014
Journal of Biogeography, 2014
After many thousands of years subsisting by hunting and gathering wild food resources, the domest... more After many thousands of years subsisting by hunting and gathering wild food resources, the domestication of animals and plants by modern humans represents a step change in the human past; a change which paved the way for many of the subsequent developments in human ecology, society and economy. Biogeography has been a key concept in research into animal domestications. In archaeological research, use of biogeographical concepts has largely focused upon an understanding of wild animals being domesticated in areas within their natural ranges; then, when the species appears beyond this accepted range, it is used as evidence to infer the appearance of the domestic animal. In recent years, a range of studies have allowed an increasingly nuanced understanding of the interactions between animal population biology, spatially varying environments, and human agency; this is highlighted here through a discussion of recent research on domestic horse origins and diffusions in western Eurasia. Horses are adapted to open, extensive grasslands with relatively poor habitat quality and strong seasonal variations, and can tolerate cold, dry weather and winter snow depths up to 60 cm (van Asperen, 2010). Biogeographical patterning is already evident in wild horses through genetic studies of the demographic history of the horse lineage, which suggest that population crashes over the last few hundred thousand years coincided with periods of warming climate, and associated probable increases in forest cover (Orlando et al., 2013). The distribution of wild horse populations around the time of domestication (the middle Holocene) in northern Eurasia is thought to correlate largely with the distribution of open, steppic environments (their preferred habitat), as opposed to forested ones, as expected based on knowledge of their ecology (Sommer et al., 2011; Warmuth et al., 2011). It is the open and relatively treeless environments of the western Eurasian steppe for which there is increasing evidence for the origins of horse husbandry (Outram et al., 2009; Warmuth et al., 2012). Modelling of genetic data collected from modern populations of non-breed (local village) horses from localities throughout northern Eurasia identifies the origin of horse domestication in the western Eurasian steppe (Warmuth et al., 2012). Warmuth et al. (2012) also identified a diffusion of horses out from the western Eurasian steppe, along with significant introgression from wild populations as horse husbandry spread. This process is further elucidated by studies of sex-specific molecular markers: there is considerable mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variability (relating to maternal lineages) (Achilli et al., 2012) and extremely low nucleotide diversity on the Y-chromosome (relating to paternal lineages) (Wallner et al., 2013). We know that the low diversity on the Ychromosome is related to the domestication process, as there is considerable diversity in samples from pre-domestic wild horses (Lippold et al., 2011). This may be an early stage consequence of the domestication process, with few male founders of domestic populations (relative to many females), or a later stage consequence brought about by selection or practices reducing the effective number of breeding males, such as stud selection by humans and polygynous breeding behaviour (Lippold et al., 2011). The work of Achilli et al. (2012), analysing the diversity of complete mitochondrial genomes (related to female ancestry) of modern horses from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, shows that many distinct female lineages were incorporated into the domestic horse gene pool. Taken together, these separate genetic studies point to a localized domestication, followed by re-stocking of herds with wild females, but not males, as horse husbandry diffused across Eurasia. This would explain the differential patterns of diversity in female and male demographic histories. Conclusions from the modelled data from modern DNA studies can be further linked into time and space by integration with results from zooarchaeological and biomolecular studies of archaeological remains. Some of the earliest strong evidence for the existence of domestic horses comes from the Eneolithic Botai culture of northern Kazakhstan, from well within the natural (preferred) habitat of wild horses in the earlier Holocene. Dating to the mid-fourth millennium bc, residues from pottery indicate that horse milk was exploited, traces on horse teeth point to horses being harnessed for riding, and the morphology of the bones suggests that at least some horses at the site of Botai were domestic (Outram et al., 2009). Analyses of ancient DNA by Ludwig et al. (2009), targeting nuclear genes responsible for coat colour variation, has further indicated the domestication of horses in the Eurasian steppe region some time prior to 3000 bc. Their study identified a rapid and substantial increase in the number of coat colorations around this time,…
Archaeological Journal, 1999
The purpose of this article is to bring together archaeological evidence relating to the consumpt... more The purpose of this article is to bring together archaeological evidence relating to the consumption of porpoises from excavations at both Dover and Canterbury. A contrast can be drawn between porpoise remains recovered from Anglo-Norman fishermen in Dover and contemporary remains from two sites within the Cathedral Precincts at Canterbury. These differences are then considered in relation to issues of status.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2011
... Bendrey, R., Cassidy, JP, Bokovenko, N., Lepetz, S. and Zaitseva, GI (2011), A possible case ... more ... Bendrey, R., Cassidy, JP, Bokovenko, N., Lepetz, S. and Zaitseva, GI (2011), A possible case of &#x27;poll-evil&#x27; in an early Scythian horse skull from ... Veterinary Sciences Centre, School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin ...
World Archaeology, 2012
Abstract There is a period of some 5000 years or so in the prehistory of Europe when horse popula... more Abstract There is a period of some 5000 years or so in the prehistory of Europe when horse populations were greatly depleted and perhaps even disappeared in many places. Before this time, during the Upper Palaeolithic, wild horses were common; after, during the ...
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2007
... WD14, MfH, Ehn mle 1, Hinny, Worked (driving), Female, 25. WD15, MfH, Ehn mle 3, Hinny, Worke... more ... WD14, MfH, Ehn mle 1, Hinny, Worked (driving), Female, 25. WD15, MfH, Ehn mle 3, Hinny, Worked (driving), Castrate, 26. ... References in the text to individual animals are to the number assigned to each animal (eg WR1). View Within Article. ...
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
Royal Society Open Science, Apr 1, 2023
Micromammals, like rodents and shrews, adapt rapidly to take advantage of new food sources, habit... more Micromammals, like rodents and shrews, adapt rapidly to take advantage of new food sources, habitats and ecological niches, frequently thriving in anthropogenic environments. Their remains, often retrieved during archaeological investigations, can be a valuable source of information about the past environmental conditions as well as interspecies interactions and human activity. However, the research on such finds rarely covers multiple approaches, often relying on single species or data type (e.g. identification/information for proxy studies). Here we investigate micromammal remains from the Norse and medieval (AD tenth–fourteenth centuries) archaeological site at Tuquoy, Orkney, to elucidate the relationships between micromammals, humans and other species present using a variety of data. Four micromammal species were identified, and their species dynamics as well as relationships with humans could be inferred by tracking changes in spatial and temporal location of remains, from their taphonomic history and by age estimation for individual animals. A larger, predatory assemblage was also identified, with species composition differing from that in the rest of the archaeological assemblage, and possibly therefore representing small mammal species composition in the wild. The assemblage was probably deposited by a diurnal raptor, though identification to species is not certain due to post-depositional processes.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
The Earliest Neolithic of Iran: 2008 Excavations at Sheikh-E Abad and Jani, 2013
The Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences, 2018
Zoonotic pathogens are frequently hypothesized as emerging with the origins of farming, but evide... more Zoonotic pathogens are frequently hypothesized as emerging with the origins of farming, but evidence of this is elusive in the archaeological record. To explore the potential impact of animal domestication on zoonotic disease dynamics and human infection risk, we developed a model simulating the transmission of <i>Brucella melitensis</i> within early domestic goat populations. The model was informed by archaeological data describing goat populations in Neolithic settlements in the Fertile Crescent, and used to assess the potential of these populations to sustain the circulation of <i>Brucella</i>. Results show that the pathogen could have been sustained even at low levels of transmission within these domestic goat populations. This resulted from the creation of dense populations and major changes in demographic characteristics. The selective harvesting of young male goats, likely aimed at improving the efficiency of food production, modified the age and sex structure of these populations, increasing the transmission potential of the pathogen within these populations. Probable interactions between Neolithic settlements would have further promoted pathogen maintenance. By fostering conditions suitable for allowing domestic goats to become reservoirs of <i>Brucella melitensis</i>, the early stages of agricultural development were likely to promote the exposure of humans to this pathogen.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2007
This article presents a methodology for recording and quantifying the ossification of the interos... more This article presents a methodology for recording and quantifying the ossification of the interosseous ligaments between the metapodials in horses, including a scoring system for defining stages in the development of this lesion. The method is applied to a sample of ten Przewalski's horse skeletons from the National Museum, Prague. This case study demonstrates the nature of this lesion in a sample of unworked animals and presents a preliminary sample for comparison with archaeological assemblages. The results show that the condition can occur in animals that are not worked. They also indicate that age is an important factor in the development of the lesion. The expression of the pathology in this sample appears to be linked to how the weight of the animal acts through the legs, in that it occurs earliest, and is generally more advanced, in the areas that support a greater burden. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2014
Journal of Biogeography, 2014
After many thousands of years subsisting by hunting and gathering wild food resources, the domest... more After many thousands of years subsisting by hunting and gathering wild food resources, the domestication of animals and plants by modern humans represents a step change in the human past; a change which paved the way for many of the subsequent developments in human ecology, society and economy. Biogeography has been a key concept in research into animal domestications. In archaeological research, use of biogeographical concepts has largely focused upon an understanding of wild animals being domesticated in areas within their natural ranges; then, when the species appears beyond this accepted range, it is used as evidence to infer the appearance of the domestic animal. In recent years, a range of studies have allowed an increasingly nuanced understanding of the interactions between animal population biology, spatially varying environments, and human agency; this is highlighted here through a discussion of recent research on domestic horse origins and diffusions in western Eurasia. Horses are adapted to open, extensive grasslands with relatively poor habitat quality and strong seasonal variations, and can tolerate cold, dry weather and winter snow depths up to 60 cm (van Asperen, 2010). Biogeographical patterning is already evident in wild horses through genetic studies of the demographic history of the horse lineage, which suggest that population crashes over the last few hundred thousand years coincided with periods of warming climate, and associated probable increases in forest cover (Orlando et al., 2013). The distribution of wild horse populations around the time of domestication (the middle Holocene) in northern Eurasia is thought to correlate largely with the distribution of open, steppic environments (their preferred habitat), as opposed to forested ones, as expected based on knowledge of their ecology (Sommer et al., 2011; Warmuth et al., 2011). It is the open and relatively treeless environments of the western Eurasian steppe for which there is increasing evidence for the origins of horse husbandry (Outram et al., 2009; Warmuth et al., 2012). Modelling of genetic data collected from modern populations of non-breed (local village) horses from localities throughout northern Eurasia identifies the origin of horse domestication in the western Eurasian steppe (Warmuth et al., 2012). Warmuth et al. (2012) also identified a diffusion of horses out from the western Eurasian steppe, along with significant introgression from wild populations as horse husbandry spread. This process is further elucidated by studies of sex-specific molecular markers: there is considerable mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variability (relating to maternal lineages) (Achilli et al., 2012) and extremely low nucleotide diversity on the Y-chromosome (relating to paternal lineages) (Wallner et al., 2013). We know that the low diversity on the Ychromosome is related to the domestication process, as there is considerable diversity in samples from pre-domestic wild horses (Lippold et al., 2011). This may be an early stage consequence of the domestication process, with few male founders of domestic populations (relative to many females), or a later stage consequence brought about by selection or practices reducing the effective number of breeding males, such as stud selection by humans and polygynous breeding behaviour (Lippold et al., 2011). The work of Achilli et al. (2012), analysing the diversity of complete mitochondrial genomes (related to female ancestry) of modern horses from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, shows that many distinct female lineages were incorporated into the domestic horse gene pool. Taken together, these separate genetic studies point to a localized domestication, followed by re-stocking of herds with wild females, but not males, as horse husbandry diffused across Eurasia. This would explain the differential patterns of diversity in female and male demographic histories. Conclusions from the modelled data from modern DNA studies can be further linked into time and space by integration with results from zooarchaeological and biomolecular studies of archaeological remains. Some of the earliest strong evidence for the existence of domestic horses comes from the Eneolithic Botai culture of northern Kazakhstan, from well within the natural (preferred) habitat of wild horses in the earlier Holocene. Dating to the mid-fourth millennium bc, residues from pottery indicate that horse milk was exploited, traces on horse teeth point to horses being harnessed for riding, and the morphology of the bones suggests that at least some horses at the site of Botai were domestic (Outram et al., 2009). Analyses of ancient DNA by Ludwig et al. (2009), targeting nuclear genes responsible for coat colour variation, has further indicated the domestication of horses in the Eurasian steppe region some time prior to 3000 bc. Their study identified a rapid and substantial increase in the number of coat colorations around this time,…
Archaeological Journal, 1999
The purpose of this article is to bring together archaeological evidence relating to the consumpt... more The purpose of this article is to bring together archaeological evidence relating to the consumption of porpoises from excavations at both Dover and Canterbury. A contrast can be drawn between porpoise remains recovered from Anglo-Norman fishermen in Dover and contemporary remains from two sites within the Cathedral Precincts at Canterbury. These differences are then considered in relation to issues of status.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2011
... Bendrey, R., Cassidy, JP, Bokovenko, N., Lepetz, S. and Zaitseva, GI (2011), A possible case ... more ... Bendrey, R., Cassidy, JP, Bokovenko, N., Lepetz, S. and Zaitseva, GI (2011), A possible case of &#x27;poll-evil&#x27; in an early Scythian horse skull from ... Veterinary Sciences Centre, School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin ...
World Archaeology, 2012
Abstract There is a period of some 5000 years or so in the prehistory of Europe when horse popula... more Abstract There is a period of some 5000 years or so in the prehistory of Europe when horse populations were greatly depleted and perhaps even disappeared in many places. Before this time, during the Upper Palaeolithic, wild horses were common; after, during the ...
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2007
... WD14, MfH, Ehn mle 1, Hinny, Worked (driving), Female, 25. WD15, MfH, Ehn mle 3, Hinny, Worke... more ... WD14, MfH, Ehn mle 1, Hinny, Worked (driving), Female, 25. WD15, MfH, Ehn mle 3, Hinny, Worked (driving), Castrate, 26. ... References in the text to individual animals are to the number assigned to each animal (eg WR1). View Within Article. ...
Conference abstract The origins and spread of Neolithic life-ways represent a pivotal change in ... more Conference abstract
The origins and spread of Neolithic life-ways represent a pivotal change in human ecology and society. Communities transformed their relationships with the world around them, shifting away from reliance upon hunted and collected wild resources, to the management and domestication of plants and animals, alongside a pattern of increasing sedentism. These processes were played out at differing temporal and spatial scales; from the life-cycle of a single organism of a population on the path to domestication, to the dissemination of ‘new’ farming economies around the world.
The varied fields within environmental archaeology are providing increasingly detailed understanding of the agencies, processes and pathways in these transformations. These include work in the established fields of geoarchaeology, archaeobotany and zooarchaeology, alongside the major advances and exciting vistas opened in recent decades by techniques such as stable isotope analysis, geometric morphometrics and genetic studies, as well as interdisciplinary studies that integrate these approaches.
The conference aims to examine any aspect of Neolithisation at the varying scales of analysis that environmental archaeology can offer, from changes within a single site to those played out over continents.
This paper presents direct radiocarbon measurements on horse skeletal remains from the Beaker per... more This paper presents direct radiocarbon measurements on horse skeletal remains from the Beaker period settlement at the site of Newgrange in Ireland, finds which have previously been argued as the earliest domestic horses in Ireland. The new determinations date the horse remains to the Irish Iron Age and shed important new light on the introduction of domestic horses to Ireland and to north-west Europe more generally. Although the new dates undermine the idea for the introduction of horses as part of a ‘Beaker package’, the early use of horse is not well defined archaeologically or chronologically and the earliest use of domestic horses in Ireland and Britain is still uncertain. This paper also identifies evidence for heavy bitting damage on the Iron Age Newgrange horse teeth and presents some possible parallels between the evidence from Newgrange and that at Tara, which has been previously linked with kingship rituals Origines du cheval domestique dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe:nouvelles datations directes des chevaux de Newgrange, Irlande, de Robin Bendrey, Nick Thorpe, Alan Outram et Louise H van Wijngaarden-BakkerCet article discute les mesures au C14 directes effectuées sur les restes d'un squelette de cheval d'une occupation de la période Beaker sur le site de Newgrange, en Irlande; trouvailles qui sont, a-t-on argumenté dans le passé, les plus anciens chevaux domestiques d'Irlande. Les nouvelles déterminations datent les restes de ce cheval de l’âge du fer irlandais et jettent une importante nouvelle lumière sur l'introduction des chevaux domestiques en Irlande et, plus généralement, dans l'Europe du Nord-ouest. Bien que les nouvelles datations sapent l'idée que l'introduction des chevaux faisait partie d'un ‘lot Beaker’, le début de leur utilisation n'est pas bien défini archéologiquement, ni chronologiquement, et la plus ancienne utilisation des chevaux domestiques en Irlande et en Grande-Bretagne reste aléatoire. Nous présentons des témoignages de gros dégâts de mors sur les dents du cheval de l’âge du fer de Newgrange et discutons de possibles parallèles entre les témoignages de Newgrange et ceux de Tara, associés dans le passé à des rituels royaux Die Herkunft domestizierter Pferde in Nordwesteuropa: Neue direkte Daten zu den Pferden von Newgrange, Irland, von Robin Bendrey, Nick Thorpe, Alan Outram und Louise H. van Wijngaarden-BakkerDieser Beitrag diskutiert direkte Radiokarbonmessungen, die an Skelettfunden von becherzeitlichen Pferden aus Newgrange in Irland vorgenommen wurden; diese Funde wurden bisher als die ältesten domestizierten Pferde in Irland angesehen. Die neuen Daten datieren die Pferdefunde in die irische Eisenzeit und werfen neues und aufschlussreiches Licht auf die Einführung domestizierter Pferde nach Irland und generell nach Nordwesteuropa. Zwar stellen die neuen Daten die Vorstellung der Einführung von Pferden als Teil des ,,Glockenbecherphänomens“ in Frage, jedoch ist die frühe Nutzung von domestizierten Pferden weder archäologisch noch chronologisch besonders gut geklärt, und ihre früheste Nutzung in Irland und Großbritannien muss noch immer als unsicher gelten. Hinweise auf starke Abnutzung der Zähne der eisenzeitlichen Pferde aus Newgrange wird in diesem Beitrag ebenso diskutiert wie mögliche Parallelen zwischen den Beobachtungen in Newgrange und solchen in Tara, die bisher mit Königsritualen in Verbindung gebracht wurden Los orígenes de los caballos domésticos en el noroeste de Europa: nuevas dataciones directas sobre los caballos de Newgrange, Irlanda, por Robin Bendrey, Nick Thorpe, Alan Outram y Louise H van Wijngaarden-BakkerEste artículo discute las mediciones directas de radiocarbono realizadas sobre restos esqueléticos de caballos, procedentes del asentamiento de época campaniforme del yacimiento de Newgrange en Irlanda; hallazgos que previamente se han considerado los caballos domésticos más antiguos de Irlanda. Las nuevas dataciones adscriben los restos de caballo a la Edad del Hierro y arrojan nuevos datos sobre la introducción de los caballos domésticos en Irlanda y, en general, en el noroeste de Europa. Aunque las nuevas dataciones debilitan la idea de la introducción de los caballos como parte del “paquete campaniforme”, su uso en momentos más antiguos no está bien definido arqueológica o cronológicamente y la primera utilización de los caballos domésticos en Irlanda e Inglaterra es aún incierta. Se presentan evidencias de daño óseo causado por mordeduras en los dientes de caballo de la Edad del Hierro de Newgrange y se discuten algunos posibles paralelismos entre las evidencias de Newgrange y las de Tara, que se han relacionado con “rituales de la realeza”(Online publication May 03 2013)
