Biomolecular archaeology Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025

Changes in climate have increased concerns over the return of temperate malaria to the United Kingdom. Hence, studies of ancient disease are becoming more relevant for future health predictions in areas which are under threat of disease re-emergence. Conditions were likely ideal for Plasmodium vivax malaria from at least the Roman period, and recent research on Anglo-Saxon Fen populations has suggested an indigenous malarial presence. The primary aim of this project was to investigate the presence of English malaria in archaeological Fen cemetery populations using biomolecular analyses of human bone, and palaeopathological analyses via extant published data. A further aim was to investigate Masters’ (1987) hypothesis concerning preferential survival of non-collagenous proteins (NCPs) within archaeological bone. Indirect evidence for malaria was sought by reassessing archaeological reports for osteological evidence of the genetic anaemia β thalassaemia, and by palaeodemographic analy...

2025, Scientific Reports

An extensive proteomic analysis was performed on a set of 12 bones of human victims of the eruption that in AD 79 rapidly buried Pompeii and Herculaneum, allowing the detection of molecular signatures imprinted in the surviving protein components. Bone collagen survived the heat of the eruption, bearing a piece of individual biological history encoded in chemical modifications. Here we show that the human bone proteomes from Pompeii are more degraded than those from the inhabitants of Herculaneum, despite the latter were exposed to temperatures much higher than those experienced in Pompeii. The analysis of the specimens from Pompeii shows lower content of non-collagenous proteins, higher deamidation level and higher extent of collagen modification. In Pompeii, the slow decomposition of victims’ soft tissues in the natural dry–wet hydrogeological soil cycles damaged their bone proteome more than what was experienced at Herculaneum by the rapid vanishing of body tissues from intense h...

2025

Stable isotope analysis has become an essential component of (bio)archaeological research. It offers a range of valuable applications that help reconstruct past human behaviors and environments, including insights into past diets,... more

2025, BMC Biology

Background Hansen’s disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to its major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, can significantly improve our understanding of the disease’s complex history. Previous studies have identified a high genetic continuity of the pathogen over the last 1500 years and the existence of at least four M. leprae lineages in some parts of Europe since the Early Medieval period. Results Here, we reconstructed 19 ancient M. leprae genomes to further investigate M. leprae’s genetic variation in Europe, with a dedicated focus on bacterial genomes from previously unstudied regions (Belarus, Iberia, Russia, Scotland), from multiple sites in a single region (Cambridgeshire, England), and f...

2025

The aim of our paper is to demonstrate a case (KD429) with tuberculous meningitis (TBM) from the 2nd-3rdcentury-CE Carpathian Basin. The skeleton of KD429 was subject to a detailed macromorphological evaluation, focusing on the detection of pathological lesions likely related to tuberculosis (TB). It was the presence of endocranial alterations, especially the TB-specific granular impressions, based on which the diagnosis of TBM was established in KD429. Besides KD429, only eight cases with TB have been published from the Sarmatianperiod (1st-5th centuries CE) Carpathian Basin. Reports of archaeological cases with TB, like KD429, can provide invaluable information about the spatio-temporal distribution of the disease in the past. Nonetheless, to get a more accurate picture about the burden that TB may have put on the Sarmatians, the systematic macromorphological (re-)evaluation of their osteoarchaeological series would be advantageous. Interestingly, the skeleton of KD429 was unearthed from not a grave-pit but a storage pit from the archaeological site of Kiskundorozsma-Daruhalom-dűlő II (Hungary). At the current state of research, the motive behind the exclusion of KD429 from the "normal" burial custom cannot be determined; therefore, it remains an open question whether their disease (TBM) played a role in it or not.

2025

Inferring Prehistorical and Historical Feeding Practices from δ15N and δ13C Isotope Analysis on Finnish Archaeological Domesticated Ruminant Bones and Teeth

2025, BMC Biology

2025, Scientific Reports 13, 12477

Ancient Egyptian mummifcation was practiced or nearly 4000 years as a key eature o some o the most complex mortuary practices documented in the archaeological record. Embalming, the preservation o the body and organs o the deceased or the aterlie, was a central component o the Egyptian mummifcation process. Here, we combine GC-MS, HT-GC-MS, and LC-MS/MS analyses to examine mummifcation balms excavated more than a century ago by Howard Carter rom Tomb KV42 in the Valley o the Kings. Balm residues were scraped rom now empty canopic jars that once contained the mummifed organs o the noble lady Senetnay, dating to the 18th dynasty, ca. 1450 BCE. Our analysis revealed balms consisting o beeswax, plant oil, ats, bitumen, Pinaceae resins, a balsamic substance, and dammar or Pistacia tree resin. These are the richest, most complex balms yet identifed or this early time period and they shed light on balm ingredients or which there is limited inormation in Egyptian textual sources. They highlight both the exceptional status o Senetnay and the myriad trade connections o the Egyptians in the 2nd millennium BCE. They urther illustrate the excellent preservation possible even or organic remains long removed rom their original archaeological context.

2025, Scientific Reports volume, 14, 4382

The Bronze Age of Central Europe was a period of major social, economic, political and ideological change. The arrival of millet is often seen as part of wider Bronze Age connectivity, yet understanding of the subsistence regimes underpinning this dynamic period remains poor for this region, in large part due to a dominance of cremation funerary rites, which hinder biomolecular studies. Here, we apply stable isotope analysis, radiocarbon dating and archaeobotanical analysis to two Late Bronze Age (LBA) sites, Esperstedt and Kuckenburg, in central Germany, where human remains were inhumed rather than cremated. We find that people buried at these sites did not consume millet before the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) (ca. 1600 BCE). However, by the early LBA (ca. 1300-1050 BCE) people consumed millet, often in substantial quantities. This consumption appears to have subsequently diminished or ceased around 1050-800 BCE, despite charred millet grains still being found in the archaeological deposits from this period. The arrival of millet in this region, followed by a surge in consumption spanning two centuries, indicates a complex interplay of cultural and economic factors, as well as a potential use of millet to buffer changes in aridity in a region increasingly prone to crop failure in the face of climate change today.

2025

Background: Hansen's disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to its major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, can significantly improve our understanding of the disease's complex history. Previous studies have identified a high genetic continuity of the pathogen over the last 1500 years and the existence of at least four M. leprae lineages in some parts of Europe since the Early Medieval period.

2025

La sfida per gli esperti è determinare se la variabilità morfologica del paleo-cervello della nostra specie abbia un impatto sul comportamento. Si tratta di una questione cruciale per studiare e comprendere la realizzazione dell'arte... more

2024, Annales du 22e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, (Caparica, 13–17 septembre 2021)

In recent decades, increased research on post-Roman Sicily has made it possible to better understand the crucial role that the island played within the Mediterranean area both in the late Roman and medieval periods. The study of ceramics has revealed important manufacturing and commercial aspects that affected Sicily during this time. This research used glass as another indicator to investigate questions of production and circulation of commodities between the 5th and 11th centuries CE. In the context of two European Research Council research programmes (‘Sicily in Transition’ and ‘GlassRoutes’), the first systematic study of Sicilian glass assemblages was conducted to explore their chrono-typological and compositional characteristics. The chronological arc includes the fundamental transformations of the ancient glass industry and the establishment of new glassmaking technologies in the Western Mediterranean and Europe. Combining the archaeological and analytical data, the temporal and geographical evolution of glass consumption and supply within the island was defined, revealing how regime changes affected the availability of vitreous materials. More specifically, in order to highlight differences and similarities between different parts of the island through time, the results of the central-eastern rural site of Villa del Casale (Piazza Armerina – Enna Province) and the western city of Mazara del Vallo (Trapani Province) are compared. The analytical data from Mazara del Vallo illustrate a continuity in glass supply from the Levantine coast at least until the 7th century. Moreover, the typologies are consistent with those already published for the Western Mediterranean area. The Islamic conquest introduced new glassmaking techniques with possible local production of soda plant ash glass as early as the 9th/10th century. Furthermore, the typologies and analytical results point to the integration of Sicily into the wider Fatimid markets.

2024, Boreas

, S.: Faecal biomarkers as tools to reconstruct land-use history in maar sediments in the Westeifel Volcanic Field, Germany. Boreas.

2024, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 71

This study presents an innovative analytical approach specifically designed to identify wine markers in figured pottery, even in the absence of visible residues.
While the analysis of organic residues in perfume containers, cooking pottery, transport vessels, and dinnerware has yielded significant insights into ancient practices, the application of such methodologies to figured vases—extensively utilized in ritual and banquet contexts across the Greek and Mediterranean worlds—has been less explored. This is due to their finer clay composition, shorter contact periods with contents, and post-excavation storage conditions, which make the identification and analysis of organic residues on these artifacts particularly challenging. This research aims to develop a new rapid, reproducible and eﬃcient method for the identiﬁcation of organic acids as wine markers in ﬁgured vases through HPLC-MS/MS. The procedure included a derivatization step and an extraction step, both designed based on green analytical chemistry principles. It employed ultrasound-assisted liquid extraction and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (dLLME). dLLME allowed to remove compounds that induce signal suppression, thereby minimizing the matrix effect. This method was applied to examine the potential presence of wine in ﬁgured vases (Attic black and red figure vases; Faliscans red figure and overpainted vases) discovered in the Ager Faliscus, validating the method on historical samples in the frame of the wide-scope project Imag-ORA (“Imag- ORA. Beyond Images in Context. A new interdisciplinary approach for the study of uses and functions of figured pottery in Preroman Italy. CUP F13C22001750001 (PI: Angela Pola). Funded by the European Union– NextGenerationEU– Missione 4 Istruzione e ricerca - Componente 2, Investimento 1.2 “Finanziamento di progetti presentati da giovani ricercatori").

2024, Science Advances

Tobacco consumption affects human health, but no studies have investigated its effect on the bone metabolome, or if any changes are traceable after long postmortem intervals. Human osteoarchaeological remains preserve small molecules, making them valuable for studies that aim to examine past conditions. We test if there are molecular differences in the metabolome of cortical bone between archaeological individuals who used tobacco and those who did not, and if these differences are distinct enough to assign tobacco use status to individuals with unknown tobacco use. Cortical bone of 323 known and unknown tobacco users was studied by an untargeted metabolomics assay using a liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry platform. We identified 45 discriminating molecular features that differed between tobacco consumers (15 up-regulated features) and nonconsumers (17 up-regulated features). Tobacco consumption leaves a metabolic record in human bone distinctive enough to identify its use in individuals of unknown tobacco consumption. Future work will validate molecular features relating to tobacco consumption.

2024, Frontiers in Mammal Science

Museum legacy collections, often derived from large-scale archaeological excavations, can serve as paleoenvironmental archives of Late Pleistocene megafaunal composition and dynamics. Many of these collections, however, contain large quantities of highly fragmented and morphologically indistinct bones that cannot be identified to a specific taxon and are therefore of limited use to paleoenvironmental and archaeological analyses. Here, we explore the potential of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to identify fossil bone fragments and complement morphological identifications in legacy collections housed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. To undertake this work, we collected fragmented bone specimens of Late Pleistocene megafauna from six archaeological sites in Colorado that are currently housed in the Department of Anthropology, and then performed pilot ZooMS screening. Our analysis successfully retrieved taxonomic information from 80% of the analyzed material, highlighting the potential of future ZooMS studies on museum collections to investigate human-megafaunal interactions in late Pleistocene North America.

2024, Science advances

Horse sacrifice and deposition are enigmatic features of funerary rituals identified across prehistoric Europe that persisted in the eastern Baltic. Genetic and isotopic analysis of horses in Balt cemeteries [1st to 13th centuries CE (Common Era)] dismantle prevailing narratives that locally procured stallions were exclusively selected. Strontium isotope analysis provides direct evidence for long-distance (~300 to 1500 kilometers) maritime transport of Fennoscandian horses to the eastern Baltic in the Late Viking Age (11th to 13th centuries CE). Genetic analysis proves that horses of both sexes were sacrificed with 34% identified as mares. Results transform the understanding of selection criteria, disprove sex-based selection, and elevate prestige value as a more crucial factor. These findings also provide evidence that the continued interaction between pagans and their newly Christianized neighbors sustained the performance of funerary horse sacrifice until the medieval transition. We also present a reference 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isoscape for the southeastern Baltic, releasing the potential of future mobility studies in the region.

2024, Scientific Reports

Human hair dated to Late Prehistory is exceedingly rare in the Western Mediterranean. Archaeological excavations in the Bronze Age burial and cult cave of Es Càrritx, in Menorca (Balearic Islands) provided some human hair strands involved in a singular funerary rite. This finding offered the opportunity to explore the possible use of drug plants by Late Bronze Age people. Here we show the results of the chemical analyses of a sample of such hair using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS). The alkaloids ephedrine, atropine and scopolamine were detected, and their concentrations estimated. These results confirm the use of different alkaloid-bearing plants by local communities of this Western Mediterranean island by the beginning of the first millennium cal BCE.

2024, Journal of Archaeological Science

To determine whether ancient DNA (aDNA) can be used to study the palaeopathology of venereal syphilis, we carried out a comprehensive analysis of the preservation of human and pathogen DNA in a set of 46 bones of various ages, most of which displayed osteological indications of the disease. Bones came from seven English cemetery sites that were in use during the 9the19th centuries. Twelve of the 46 bones consistently yielded mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences after replicate polymerase chain reactions (PCRs), and a further 13 bones yielded mtDNA sequences with less reproducibility. The sequence data enabled tentative mitochondrial haplogroups to be assigned to nine of the bones, and the identities and frequencies of these haplogroups were compatible with the geographical origins of the bones. Twenty-one bones consistently gave negative results with all mtDNA PCRs, indicating that at least these bones were not contaminated with modern human DNA, and those bones that gave positive results only yielded one sequence each, again suggesting that widespread modern contamination had not occurred. Mycobacterium tuberculosis sequences were obtained from seven bones, including three of five bones with tuberculous lesions. The cloned and direct sequences obtained from both the mtDNA and M. tuberculosis PCR products showed features typical of degraded aDNA. All of these results suggest that at least some of the 46 bones that we studied were suitable for aDNA analysis. All 46 bones were tested with nine different treponemal PCRs, each optimised to give a detection limit of %5 genomes. Although various bones gave PCR products of the expected size with one or more of these PCRs, sequencing showed that none of these products were authentic treponemal amplicons. Our failure to detect treponemal DNA in bones that were suitable for aDNA analysis, using highly sensitive PCRs, suggests that treponemal DNA is not preserved in human bone and that it is therefore not possible to use aDNA analysis to study venereal syphilis. Any past or future paper claiming detection of treponemal aDNA should therefore be accompanied by a detailed justification of the results.

2024, Scientific Reports

The detection of complex poison recipes applied to ancient hunting weapons has the potential to provide important insights into traditional pharmacological knowledge systems. Yet, recipes comprising many ingredients can be challenging to decipher, especially in older samples that have undergone biodegradation. We present the results of our attempt to analyze samples of poison collected from nineteenth and twentieth century arrowheads from southern Africa, and from a 1000-year-old archaeological bone point. The arrow poison residues and reference samples were analyzed by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR FTIR) and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS). The ATR FTIR analysis is primarily able to separate between different arrow poison binder recipes. The extractives identified by GC–MS analysis consist of a multitude of components from both binders and active substances, confirming and adding to the results from the ATR FTIR analyses. We ...

2024

The 3D arrangement of the DNA in the animal's cells hints at which genes were active.

2024, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

Molecular and isotopic analysis of sediments from archaeological combustion features is a relatively new area of study. Applications can inform us about ancient pyrotechnologies and patterns of animal exploitation in a wide range of human contexts, but may be particularly informative with regard to ancient hunter-gatherers. Our analyses of sediments from experimental bone and wood fires, and from controlled laboratory heating sequences, provide fine-grained data on the formation and location of biomarkers from pyrolyzed animal fats in hearths. Integrating microstratigraphic, molecular, and isotopic data can improve recognition of bone fires in archaeological contexts, perhaps even where bone preservation is poor. Experimental bone fires produced an upper layer of calcined bone above a thin layer of tarry black amorphous material coating mineral sediments. Mineral sediments beneath the black layer showed little alteration but high lipid content. Sampling for molecular and isotopic analysis should target the black layer as the bulk of pyrolyzed biomarkers are located here and stable isotope values are less affected than in the overlying layer of ash or calcined bone. The combined presence of certain symmetric and slightly asymmetric saturated long-chain ketones (14-nonacosanone, 16-hentriacontanone 16-tritriacontanone, and 18-pentatriacontanone), especially together with heptadecane (C 17 n-alkane), are molecular indicators of the thermal degradation of terrestrial animal fat. Formation and relative dominance of these molecules in hearth sediments relates to the initial prevalence of specific precursor fatty acids and can provide broad separations between sources. We suggest that separations could be further supported and expanded by combining stable isotope analysis of the same compounds.

2024, Scientific Research and Essays

The use of genetic technology in forensic science and archaeometry is applied primarily to distinguish between individials who may be the source of biological material associated with archeological remains. DNA sequences from ancient fossils have great potential for studies of phylogeny, biogeography and molecular evolution. DNA from fossils also facilitates the rigorous testing and calibration of mutation rates among related taxa, sex test and molecular divergence time (Cano et al., 1993; Burger et al., 1999). In this study, a rapid and quantitative ancient DNA extaction methods from human skeletal remains was developed for application of forensic science and archaeometry. For that reason, DNA was extracted from ancient human bones from Mugla in Turkey. Furthermore, all the bone samples which are obtained from burial place are subjected to DNA isolation and then interspecific sequence polymorphisms in the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene were analyzed by PCR to determine the species origin of Bronze Age animal and human skeletal remains. Existing techniques were refined by targeted primer design focusing on a DNA fragment shorter than 200 bp, an approach allowing us to identify up to all bone samples at the same time. For routine applications in archaeometry, food or material analyses, PCR may thus provide a simple alternative to sequencing of PCR products, allowing discrimination between species, even if the template DNA is degraded or contains traces of DNA from various species.

2024, Archaeological Research in Asia

The way that people manage their livestock tells us about their interactions with the landscape, particularly the nature of adaptation to specific environments, social organisation, resilience and long-term farming sustainability. Globally, there is considerable variation in how these practices are manifested, due to differences in water availability, levels of environmental diversity and aridity, and also the nature of cultural choices. South Asia's Indus Civilisation (c.3000-1500 BCE) provides an important opportunity for investigating how populations managed their animals, because the region shows considerable diversity in rainfall distribution, seasonality and intensity, which results in marked environmental variability that is susceptible to change over time. The latter is particularly significant when it comes to consideration of the impact of the 4.2 ka BP event and its relation to the deurbanisation of the Indus Civilisation. This paper presents carbon isotope data from animal teeth from nine archaeological sites distributed across northwest India that are suitable for exploring how diverse practices were, and how animal management strategies changed through time. These data show clear differentiation in feeding practices between species, with cattle and water buffalo consuming very high proportions of C 4 plants, while sheep and goat ate varying quantities of C 3 and C 4 plants. This pattern is generally consistent across sites and throughout different periods, suggesting that the strategy was adapted to a range of environmental conditions and settlements of different sizes. We suggest that humans controlled cow and water buffalo diets, and they were likely provided with fodder. In contrast, sheep and goats had a less controlled diet, and were presumably more likely to roam the landscape. These animal management strategies must have involved some separation of tasks, although it remains unclear if this was on a household, settlement or population level.

2024, Science Advances

2024, Scientific Reports

2024, Royal Society Open Science

From the 9th to 14th centuries AD, Sicily experienced a series of rapid and quite radical changes in political regime, but the impact of these regime changes on the lives of the people that experienced them remains largely elusive within the historical narrative. We use a multi-faceted lipid residue approach to give direct chemical evidence of the use of 248 everyday domestic ceramic containers from Islamic and post-Islamic contexts in western Sicily to aid our understanding of daily habits throughout this period of political change. A range of commodities was successfully identified, including animal fats, vegetable products, fruit products (potentially including wine) and plant resins. The study highlights the complexity of residues in early medieval Mediterranean society as, in many cases, mixtures of commodities were observed reflecting sequential cooking events and/or the complex mixtures reflective of medieval recipes. However, overall, there were no clear changes in the compo...

2024, PLOS ONE

Sicily, during the 9th-12thcentury AD, thrived politically, economically, and culturally under Islamic political rule and the capital of Palermo stood as a cultural and political centre in the Mediterranean Islamic world. However, to what extent the lifeways of the people that experienced these regimes were impacted during this time is not well understood, particularly those from lesser studied rural contexts. This paper presents the first organic residue analysis of 134 cooking pots and other domestic containers dating to the 9th-12thcentury in order to gain new insights into the culinary practices during this significant period. Ceramics from three sites in the urban capital of Palermo and from the rural town of Casale San Pietro were analysed and compared. The multi-faceted organic residue analysis identified a range of commodities including animal products, vegetables, beeswax, pine and fruit products in the ceramics, with a complex mixing of resources observed in many cases, ac...

2024, Scientific Reports

Milk is a major food of global economic importance and its consumption is regarded as a classic example of gene-culture evolution. Humans have exploited animal milk as a food resource for at least 8500 years, but the origins, spread and scale of dairying remain poorly understood. Indirect lines of evidence, such as lipid isotopic ratios of pottery residues, faunal mortality profiles and lactase persistence allele frequencies, provide a partial picture of this process; however, in order to understand how, where and when humans consumed milk products, it is necessary to link evidence of consumption directly to individuals and their dairy livestock. Here we report the first direct evidence of milk consumption, the whey protein β-lactoglobulin (BLG), preserved in human dental calculus from the Bronze Age (ca. 3000 BCE) to the present day. Using protein tandem mass spectrometry, we demonstrate that BLG is a species-specific biomarker of dairy consumption and we identify individuals consu...

2024, Oxford, Archaeopress Publishing (« Access Archaeology »), XIX + 382 p. (401 p.)

Avec des contributions de/with contributions by Eurydice DEVOS & Marc-Emmanuel GRANDGEORGE (doctorants en ethnologie, univ. de Strasbourg & univ. Omar Bongo du Gabon), Philippe HAMMAN (professeur de sociologie, univ. de Strasbourg),... more

2024, Science Advances

Westburyet al.reveal the genome-level evolutionary relationships between extinct cave and extant spotted hyena.

2024, Scientific Reports

2024, Journal of Archaeological Science

The field of ancient DNA is dominated by studies focusing on terrestrial vertebrates. This taxonomic bias limits our understanding of endogenous DNA preservation for species with different bone physiology, such as teleost fish. Teleost bone is typically brittle, porous, lightweight, and is characterized by a lack of bone remodeling during growth. All of these factors potentially affect DNA preservation. Using high-throughput shotgun sequencing, we here investigate the preservation of DNA in a range of different bone elements from over 200 archaeological Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) specimens from 38 sites in northern Europe, dating up to 8000 years before present. We observe that the majority of archaeological sites (79%) yield endogenous DNA, with 40% of sites providing samples containing high levels (>20%). Library preparation success and levels of endogenous DNA depend mainly on excavation site and pre-extraction laboratory treatment. The use of pre-extraction treatments lowers the rate of libraries that can be sequenced, althoughif successfulthe fraction of endogenous DNA can be improved by several orders of magnitude. This trade-off between library preparation success and levels of endogenous DNA allows for alternative extraction strategies depending on the requirements of downstream analyses and research questions. Finally, we do not find particular bone elements to yield higher levels of endogenous DNA, as is the case for denser bones in mammals. Our results highlight the potential of archaeological fish bone as a source for ancient DNA and suggest a possible role of bone remodeling in the preservation of endogenous DNA.

2024, Archaeological Research in Asia

2024

Blekinge museum har på uppdrag av Länsstyrelsen i Blekinge undersökt och dokumenterat vraket efter flöjtskeppet Constantia (1676), beläget öster om Inlängan i Blekinge skärgård. Lämningen dokumenterades genom fotogrammetri och manuell... more

2024, MATEC Web of Conferences

Renewable fuel production from vegetable oil and fat or its fatty acids by direct decarboxylation has been widely reported. An innovative approach to produce drop-in fuel via thermal catalytic decarboxylation of basic soap derived from palm stearin reported in this research. The catalytic effect of the calcium and magnesium metals in the basic soap and its decarboxylation on drop-in fuel yield and product distribution was studied. The catalytic effect was tested in the temperature range up to 370°C and atmospheric pressure for 5 hours in a batch reactor. It has been proved that the calcium basic soap decarboxylation, effectively produce the drop-in fuel in carbon ranges C8 – C20, in which more than 78% selectivity toward alkane. Whereas, only 70% selectivity toward alkane has been resulted from the magnesium basic soap decarboxylation.

2024

Something impressive has happened. Simultaneously, two different papers (Soubrier et al 2016 and Massilani et al. 2016) appeared, dealing with the same subject that interests zoologists and palaeontologists, namely "the obscure question on the origin of the Wisent (Bison bonasus)", as put by Emma Marrys (Nature/News from 18 October 2016). Besides, they use the same methods: ancient DNA analysis and paleodepictions evidences. This coincidence brings to mind the concept of the noosphere (the sphere of human though), introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky in the beginning of the past century, simultaneously on top of it all. Both teams support their paleogenetic conclusions with analyses of prehistoric depictions, in which they find evidence for the parallel existence and even co-occurrence of Bison bonasus and Bison priscus in the Upper Palaeolithic. The idea of the parallel existence (though not necessarily at the same pace) by these two species, by the way, has been published before, and so is the approach of using analysis of prehistoric rock art in studying the origin of wisent. These two subjects are dealt with in detail by Spassov & Stoychev (2003). European and Caucasian Wisent (by K. Flerov

2024, Scientific Reports

Accurate postmortem estimation of breastfeeding status for archaeological or forensic neonatal remains is difficult. Confident identification of milk-specific proteins associated with these remains would provide direct evidence of breast milk consumption. We used liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (MS) to confidently identify beta-lactoglobulin-1 (LGB1) and whey acidic protein (WAP), major whey proteins associated with a neonatal dog (Canis lupus familiaris) skeleton (430–960 cal AD), from an archaeological site in Hokkaido, Japan. The age at death of the individual was estimated to be approximately two weeks after birth. Protein residues extracted from rib and vertebra fragments were analyzed and identified by matching tandem MS spectra against the dog reference proteome. A total of 200 dog protein groups were detected and at least one peptide from canine LGB1 and two peptides from canine WAP were confidently identified. These milk proteins most probably orig...

2024, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Direct and accurate radiocarbon dating of lipid residues preserved in ceramics is a recently established method that allows direct dating of specific food products and their inception in human subsistence strategies. The method targets individual fatty acids originating from animal fats such as ruminant dairy, ruminant adipose, non-ruminant adipose and aquatic fats. Horse lipid residues found in Central Asian pottery vessels are also directly dateable using this new method. Here we present the identification of equine lipid residues preserved in two pottery assemblages from the Neolithic and Eneolithic in Kazakhstan and their direct 14C dating. The site of Botai, previously radiocarbon-dated to the 4th millennium BC, was used as a reference to evaluate the dates obtained directly on horse lipids. The direct dating of equine products extracted from Botai potsherds are shown to be compatible with previous 14C dates at the site. The site of Bestamak, lacking previous14C measurements, h...

2024, Quaternary Environments and Humans

This study discusses waste management by mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer-fisher communities at Riņņukalns, on the Salaca river in Latvia. It combines microscopic analyses with geochemistry and radiocarbon dating. We observe natural landscape changes and human responses, with Mesolithic and earlier Middle Neolithic occupation on the backswamp. During the later Middle Neolithic, we see a pattern of selective deposition of waste categories (food waste, combustion waste, and excrements) as part of collective waste management practices, which led to the formation of a shell midden. Analysis of these waste layers provides an alternative perspective on subsistence practices and craft activities. A dump of ochre production waste illustrates the burning of iron-rich sediments to obtain this pigment. These later Middle Neolithic hunter-gatherer-fisher communities had a collective approach to waste and waste management. The shell midden, which was also used for funerary rituals, can be regarded as a persistent and significant place in the landscape of these, perhaps not so mobile, communities.

2024, Scientific Reports

2024, Biochemistry (Moscow)

Determination of biological sex to human remains is a fundamental requirement in anthropological, archeolog ical, and forensic anthropological studies. Sex determination based on morphological criteria is significantly limited in the cases of juvenile remains and adult skeletons in a poor state of preservation. Regular attempts have been made to use alter native techniques to resolve this issue, including analysis of tooth enamel peptides by liquid chromatography/mass spec trometry. Optimization of this method involving acid etching of tooth enamel for 10 min followed by desalting of the prod ucts of etching on SDB RPS StageTips microcolumns and analysis of desalted sample (1/3) by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry allowed reliable sex determination to fossil remains within a wide range of archeological and biological ages without destructing analyzed teeth. Increasing the duration of enamel etching ensured a 2 to 3 fold increase in the total number of identified peptides and, more importantly, in the number of identified fragments of amelogenin Y isoform spe cific for male teeth, which facilitated reliable sex determination of fossil remains. The suggested technique was tested with 8 permanent and 15 deciduous teeth of different archaeological age and different degree of preservation. Two amelogenin Y specific peptide sequences were identified. One of these peptides [SM(+15.99)IRPPYS)] was found in all male derived samples without exception; the other peptide [IRPPYSS(+79.97)], which contained phosphorylated Ser66 residue, was found only in the enamel from deciduous teeth, which suggests that phosphorylation of Ser66 plays a role in the enamel for mation in deciduous teeth.

2024, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Metabarcoding of plant DNA recovered from environmental samples, termed environmental DNA (eDNA), has been used to detect invasive species, track biodiversity changes, and reconstruct past ecosystems. The P6 loop of the trnL intron is the most widely utilised gene region for metabarcoding plants due to the short fragment length and subsequent ease of recovery from degraded DNA, which is characteristic of environmental samples. However, the taxonomic resolution for this gene region is limited, often precluding species level identification. Additionally, targeting gene regions using universal primers can bias results as some taxa will amplify more effectively than others. To increase the ability of DNA metabarcoding to better resolve flowering plant species (angiosperms) within environmental samples, and reduce bias in amplification, we developed a multi-gene targeted capture method that simultaneously targets 20 chloroplast gene regions in a single assay across all flowering plant sp...

2024

Background Extremely rich finds from more than 100 burial grounds and 6,000 graves in southern Slovakia testify to the significance of animals in the burial customs of Slavic and Avar tribes in the Carpathian Basin (7th-8th century CE). The most important were domestic animals, among others cattle, sheep, and chicken. Together with the eggs of poultry, they represent the most common food and symbolic offerings. The graves of horsemen with the complete body of a horse buried next to the rider are frequently found. In addition to the deposition of complete or partial carcasses, solitary burned bones scattered in the graves' backfill indicate the consumption or incineration of animals in further parts of the funeral ritual. Until recently, the only carnivore occurring in the Avar period burials in Slovakia was the domestic dog (cf. Ambros, 1993). Yet, a new analysis of the archaeofaunal material from the site at Obid-Fényes árok, SW Slovakia brought to light the discovery of a complete feline skeleton (Zábojník, 2019).

2024, Royal Society of Chemistry Advances

The optimisation and application of an analytical method based on gas chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-QToF-MS) is proposed for the first time for the characterisation and identification of mastic (Pistacia sp.) resin in archaeological samples. The GC-QToF-MS method demonstrated higher sensitivity compared to single quadrupole GC-MS and enabled enhanced structural elucidation power to be exploited, particularly due to the high mass resolution and accuracy, the possibility to use standard and low ionisation energies as well as its tandem MS capabilities. The heat-induced degradation of the resin was also studied in open air conditions, showing that 28norolean-17-en-3-one forms upon heating, but then progressively degrades. This makes it a reliable marker for heating of Pistacia resin; however, the lack of detection does not imply that the resin was not heated. These observations were used to interpret the results of a large number of archaeological samples containing Pistacia resin in different formulations, from various archaeological contexts and exposed to different environmental conditions. Lumps of relatively pure resin found in marine waterlogged conditions (Uluburun shipwreck, Turkey), residues on ceramics from Sai Island (Nubia, Sudan) as well as varnish and coating layers on Egyptian coffins from the collections of the British Museum (London, UK) and Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, UK) were analysed to understand what the molecular profiles reveal about the use of the resin. The results showed that the resin was often mixed with a drying or semi-drying oil in ancient varnish formulations, thus suggesting that oil was used as a medium to dissolve the resin, which would have been impossible to apply as a layer using simple heat. These new observations significantly add to our understanding of ancient Egyptian technology and provide museum scientists and conservators with key information to accurately identify Pistacia resin and preserve objects containing it.

2023, EAA Annual Meeting 2024 Session # 848

Italy's unique position in the Mediterranean and its diverse geographical features, including the Alps and the Apennine range, have shaped its complex history and demography. In recent decades, archaeogenetics has revolutionized our understanding of population dynamics, social structures, and kinship networks in ancient Italy, revealing patterns of ancestry and social organization that traditional archaeology alone could not uncover. This interdisciplinary approach has also prompted critical discussions regarding interpretative models and the association between genetics and culture. This session aims to explore how the integration of archaeogenetics with traditional archaeological methods can deepen our understanding of Italy's past, from prehistory to the Middle Ages. We focus on the intricate relationship between genetic and cultural variations across the Italian peninsula and the broader Mediterranean region. Seeking to foster dialogue among researchers working on different aspects of Italy's archaeological and genetic heritage, we invite papers that leverage multidisciplinary methods, integrating archaeogenetics with studies on diet, mobility, demographics, and anthropology. Contributions should provide new perspectives on population genomics in ancient Italy, exploring themes such as continuity and change in social organization, kinship, social stratification, gender, and ethnicity. We encourage submissions that present fine-tuned case studies, innovative models of past population patterns, and critical analyses of big data modeling's impact on our perception of past population genomics. By integrating diverse approaches and datasets, we aim to offer fresh insights into the archaeological discipline and the role of the Italian peninsula in the ancient Mediterranean world, addressing questions of cultural and genetic interplay at various scales, from site-specific to interregional analyses. In addition to the primary proponents, this session will benefit from the co-organizational expertise and support of Dr. Serena Aneli.

2023, Archaeological Research in Asia