Archaeozoology

Archaeological evidence shows that bone skates (skates made of animal bones) are the oldest human-powered means of transport, dating back to 3000 BC. Why people started skating on ice and where is not as clear, since ancient remains were found in several locations spread across Central and North Europe.

In a recent paper, published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Dr Formenti and Professor Minetti show substantial evidence supporting the hypothesis that the birth of ice-skating took place in Southern Finland, where the number of lakes within 100 square kilometres is the highest in the world.

“In Central and Northern Europe, five thousand years ago people struggled to survive the severe winter conditions and it seems unlikely that ice skating developed as a hobby,” says Dr Formenti. “As happened later for skis and bicycles, I am convinced that we first made ice skates in order to limit the energy required for our daily journeys”.

Formenti and Minetti did their experiments on an ice rink by the Alps, where they measured the energy consumption of people skating on bones. Through mathematical models and computer simulations of 240 ten-kilometre journeys, their research study shows that in winter the use of bone skates would have limited the energy requirements of Finnish people by 10%. On the other hand, the advantage given by the use of skates in other North European countries would be only about 1%.

Subsequent studies performed by Formenti and Minetti have shown how fast and how far people could skate in past epochs, from 3000BC to date.

Source: EurekAlert!

Scientists have long focused on how climate and vegetation allowed human ancestors to evolve in Africa. Now, University of Utah geologists are calling renewed attention to the idea that ground movements formed mountains and valleys, creating environments that favored the emergence of humanity.

“Tectonics [movement of Earth’s crust] was ultimately responsible for the evolution of humankind,” Royhan and Nahid Gani of the university’s Energy and Geoscience Institute write in the January, 2008 issue of Geotimes, published by the American Geological Institute. They argue that the accelerated uplift of mountains and highlands stretching from Ethiopia to South Africa blocked much ocean moisture, converting lush tropical forests into an arid patchwork of woodlands and savannah grasslands that gradually favored human ancestors who came down from the trees and started walking on two feet – an energy-efficient way to search larger areas for food in an arid environment.

In their Geotimes article, the Ganis – a husband-and-wife research team who met in college in their native Bangladesh – describe this 3,700-mile-long stretch of highlands and mountains as “the Wall of Africa.” It parallels the famed East African Rift valley, where many fossils of human ancestors were found.“Because of the crustal movement or tectonism in East Africa, the landscape drastically changed over the last 7 million years,” says Royhan Gani, a research assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. “That landscape controlled climate on a local to regional scale. That climate change spurred human ancestors to evolve from apes.”

Hominins – the scientific word for humans (Homo) and their ancestors (including Ardipithecus, Paranthropus and Australopithecus) – split from apes on the evolutionary tree roughly 7 million to 4 million years ago. Royhan Gani says the earliest undisputed hominin was Ardipithecus ramidus 4.4 million years ago. The earliest Homo arose 2.5 million years ago, and our species, Homo sapiens, almost 200,000 years ago.Tectonics – movements of Earth’s crust, including its ever-shifting tectonic plates and the creation of mountains, valleys and ocean basins – has been discussed since at least 1983 as an influence on human evolution. But Royhan Gani says much previous discussion of how climate affected human evolution involves global climate changes, such as those caused by cyclic changes in Earth’s orbit around the sun, and not local and regional climate changes caused by East Africa’s rising landscape.

“Although the Wall of Africa started to form around 30 million years ago, recent studies show most of the uplift occurred between 7 million and 2 million years ago, just about when hominins split off from African apes, developed bipedalism and evolved bigger brains,” the Ganis write.

“Nature built this wall, and then humans could evolve, walk tall and think big,” says Royhan Gani. “Is there any characteristic feature of the wall that drove human evolution?”

The answer, he believes, is the variable landscape and vegetation resulting from uplift of the Wall of Africa, which created “a topographic barrier to moisture, mostly from the Indian Ocean” and dried the climate.

Source: EurekAlert!

The 95th installment of the Tangled Bank is now up for your perusal at Ouroboros. There’s a considerable selection of scientific writing on display, ranging from examinations of the future of scientific papers and ethics, through to the study of the brain. I particularly enjoyed Greg Laden’s review of a study that suggests an increased rate of human adaptive evolution. This study is one that has generated considerable comment in the blogosphere in recent weeks.

The last Four Stone Hearth of 2007 is now up at ‘The Greenbelt‘. The contributions cover a wide range of topics from all realms of archaeology, socio-cultural anthropology, bio-physical anthropology and linguistic anthropology. All are well worth a read, but I particularly enjoyed ‘Deep History?‘ by Clioaudio and ‘the year in pseudo-archaeology‘ by Hot Cup of Joe. Why not take a wander over and see for yourself.

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH), also known as Forestier’s disease, is primarily a disease of the spine, but individuals suffering from this condition exhibit characteristic bony abormalities elsewhere in the body that distinguish it from ankylosing spondylitis. DISH is not a true arthropathy because it does not affect cartilage or synovium (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 159). Instead, there is gradual and complete fusion of the spine, particularly in the thoracic region, with retention of the integtrity of vertebral articular surfaces and joint spaces (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 159). The anterior longitudinal ligament of the spine and paraspinal tissues ossify, the osteophytes that are produced being large and flowing like ‘candlewax’ (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 159-160). In addition, there are enthesopathies at tendon and ligament insertions and cartilage, especially in the neck and ribs, ossifies (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 160).

Its specific cause is unknown, but it appears to be associated with obesity and Type 2 diabetes (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 159). Males are slightly more affected than females and the age of onset is usually over 50 years of age (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 159). DISH is found more in Northern European people (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 160).

A disease of some antiquity, the earliest known case is that of a Neanderthal skeleton from Iraq, dated between 40,000 and 73,000 years BP (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 159). It is also increasingly being seen in both monastic and non-monastic cemetery groups in the archaeological record (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 160). It has been suggested that a rich diet and lack of exercise predisposed medieval monks to obesity and late onset diabetes. Such high status people may also have lived longer to develop the condition (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 160).

DISH has also been reported in an Alaskan bear, as well as in extinct Mammut, Teleoceras, Menoceras, Equus, Bison bison, Canis diris, Ovibos, Smilodon, megatheridae, Thinocetus arthritis and Pelocetus, and in contemporary Papio, Cercopithecus, Macaca, Erythrocebus, and Gorilla gorilla gorilla (Rothschild and Martin, 1993: 236). Ossified tendons are also present in most dinosaurs (including ceratopsians, hadrosaurs, iguanodonts, and pachycephalosaurs). This includes a juvenile Pinacosaurus grangeri and Pachyrhinosaurus and has even been observed in an embryonic duckbill (Hypacrosaurus ?) (Rothschild and Martin, 1993: 235-236). Whilst these non-pathologic phenomenon are considered simply as extensions of presygophases by some researchers, they are considered by others to be indistinguishable from the tendon ossification seen in DISH (Rothschild and Martin, 1993: 236). Analogous tendon ossification has also been noted in c. 50% of sauropods, resulting in the fusion of two to four cervical vertebrae, something considered non-traumatic in origin as CT scans reveal the zygoapophyseal facets are unaffected (Rothschild and Martin, 1993: 236).

References:

Roberts, C. and Manchester, K. 2005. The Archaeology of Disease. 3rd Edition. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd.

Rothschild, B.M. and Martin, L.D. 1993. Paleopathology: Disease in the Fossil Record. CRC Press: London.

A team led by a Cardiff University archaeologist has reconstructed a 3,000-year-old glass furnace, showing that Ancient Egyptian glassmaking methods were much more advanced than previously thought. Dr Paul Nicholson, of the University’s School of History and Archaeology, is leader of an Egypt Exploration Society team working on the earliest fully excavated glassmaking site in the world. The site, at Amarna, on the banks of the Nile, dates back to the reign of Akhenaten (1352 - 1336 B.C.), just a few years before the rule of Tutankhamun.

It was previously thought that the Ancient Egyptians may have imported their glass from the Near East at around this time. However, the excavation team believes the evidence from Amarna shows they were making it themselves, possibly in a single stage operation. Dr Nicholson and his colleague Dr Caroline Jackson of Sheffield University demonstrated this was possible, using local sand to produce a glass ingot from their own experimental reconstruction of a furnace near the site.The team have also discovered that the glassworks was part of an industrial complex which involved a number of other high temperature manufacturing processes. The site also contained a potter’s workshop and facilities for making blue pigment and faience - a material used in amulets and architectural inlays. The site was near one of the main temples at Amarna and may have been used to produce materials in state buildings.

Dr Nicholson, who has been working at Amarna since 1983, said: “It has been argued that the Egyptians imported their glass and worked it into the artefacts that have been discovered from this time. I believe there is now enough evidence to show that skilled craftsmen could make their own glass and were probably involved in a range of other manufacturing industries as well.”

Source: EurekAlert!

Frogs legs are perhaps most associated these days with France, however a recent paper by Kysely (200 investigates the evidence for frogs legs in the diet of the Eneolithic people of the Czech Republic.

The bones in question belong to the Common Frog (Rana temporaria), a member of the ‘Brown Frogs’ group, which are not strictly dependent on an aquatic environment during the whole year. It is, however, required for reproduction, and during this period frogs migrate to pools, puddles, ponds and other water sources. These reservoirs are used as a dwelling by adult males, who call and allure the females. During this short reproductive period, males are easily caught, since they accumulate in one place and call out with strong voices.

The primary reason for the popularity of Common Frogs as a food item is their ability to leap as a way of locomotion, which results in the development of powerful muscles in their hind legs. The frogs’ legs that are served in modern restaurants typically include the ilium and tarsalia, and occasionally even the urostyl. In Europe, they are commonly consumed as a delicacy mainly, but not only, in France. They have also been part of the Central European diet.

Approximately 15,000 fragments were analysed from the site at Kutna Hora-Denemark in central Bohemia. Only 23% were identified to species due to a high degree of fragmentation and taphonomic change. All of the frog bones (NISP=865) come from anthropogenic fills in specific features where preservation was particularly good. In general, frog bones dominate the number of identified bones from the site.

Frog bones in archaeological assemblages may be explained by five possible hypotheses:

1. Hibernation
2. Predator kills
3. Natural trap
4. Human consumption
5. Human association with frogs other than for food

When the skeletal elements present were examined, it was apparent that hind limb bones predominated. Gender was distinguished according to the presence, shape and relative size of crests on humerus bones and according to the presence of the sulcus which appears on those crests. This showed that males were much more common than females. Part of the assemblage was undoubtedly charred or burned.

These facts, along with the uniformity and singularity of the species present, allowed the first three hypotheses to be excluded. The hilly nature of the site (with ramparts) would have made natural access by the frogs difficult, and a natural trap would be expected to contain more than one species. Other microvertebrate species would also be expected if the assemblage were due to predator kills.

Hypothesis five was considered to be improbable because the selection of elements argues against accidental frog-human contact, as does the charring. The almost exclusive representation of meaty, hind limb elements, suggests their use as a food source (hypothesis four). Other body parts could be absent because the primary waste after preparation was thrown out to a different place.

An alternative, less probable, explanation is that the revealed anatomical parts were the unused waste and the usable body parts were those not found. Gaining poison could not be a potential use since the Common Frog does not have any poison potential. However, the use of frogs in ritual, magic, supernatural and religious practices is attested to by ethnographic observations.

Reference: Kysely, R. 2008. Frogs as part of the Eneolithic diet: archaeological records from the Czech Republic (Kutna Hora-Denemark site, Rivnac Culture). Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 143-157

Archaeology magazine has released it’s top ten discoveries of 2007. In no particular order, they are:

• The solar observatory at Chankillo, Peru
• Nebo-Saresekim Cuneiform Tablet
• New dates for Clovis sites
• Early squash seeds from Peru
• Ancient Chimpanzee tool use
• Urbanisation at Tell Brak, Syria
• Lismullin Henge, Tara, Ireland
• Polynesian chickens in Chile
• Homo habilis and Homo erectus
• Great Angkor, Cambodia

They also single out nine more for special mention:

• Baby mammoth, Russia
• Alexander’s isthmus, Tyre, Lebanon
• Otzi’s final moments, Italy
• Neolithic mural, Syria
• Imperial standards, Rome
• Building the Great Pyramid, Giza
• Palaeolithic tools, India
• 5,800-year-old mass grave, Syria
• Polynesian breakthroughs

To find out more about them, check out their website. You can also comment on their bulletin board. Do you agree? disagree? Did they leave anything out?

A quick snippet from the latest edition of Current Archaeology:

“Our own record on pollution in the past has left a mark in an unexpected place: a team of scientists has been studying Turner’s paintings for evidence of man-made pollution in the 19th century and of the impact of major volcanic eruptions. Turner’s watercolours are especially helpful because he sketched the vivid sunsets that resulted from atmospheric dirt and dust with remarkable precision. By studying his work, scientists have identified the years 1813, 1831 and 1835 as periods when the skies were reddest as a result of pollution.”

Reference: Catling, C. 2007. Turner’s red skies. Current Archaeology 214: 8

Scientists studying ancient fish bones in Scandinavia have discovered that warm-water species like anchovies and black sea bream that once thrived in Danish waters during a prehistoric warm period are now returning. Some cold-water species, such as cod, were also abundant during this period, having benefited from a lower fishing effort.

Through the study of archaeological material, tax accounts, church registers and account books of monasteries, an international group of fisheries ecologists and fisheries/maritime historians have drawn a picture of marine life in the northern European seas (North Sea, Wadden Sea, Baltic Sea, and White Sea) as it looked in the past.

Their findings are presented in a special issue of Fisheries Research “History of Marine Animal Populations and their Exploitation in Northern Europe” Volume 87, Issues 2-3, Pages 101-262 (November 2007).

Source: EurekAlert!