Archaeozoology

The 33rd edition of the anthropology and archaeology blog carnival ‘Four Stone Hearth‘ is hosted by Greg Laden. There’s a wide variety of posts on offer, all of which are well worth a read, but I particularly enjoyed ‘Neanderthals, Now in Color!‘ at A Very Remote Period Indeed and ‘One of Rome’s major monuments has gone missing‘ at Archaeoastronomy.

A Purdue University archaeologist discovered an intact ancient iron ore mine in South America that shows how civilizations before the Inca Empire were mining this valuable ore.

“Archaeologists know people in the Old and New worlds have mined minerals for thousands and thousands of years,” said Kevin J. Vaughn, an assistant professor of anthropology who studies the Nasca civilization, which existed from A.D. 1 to A.D. 750. “Iron mining in the Old World, specifically in Africa, goes back 40,000 years. And we know the ancient people in Mexico, Central America and North America were mining for various materials. There isn’t much evidence for these types of mines.”

What we found is the only hematite mine, a type of iron also known as ochre, recorded in South America prior to the Spanish conquest. This discovery demonstrates that iron ores were important to ancient Andean civilizations.”

See the press release for more details.

A recent article by Goring-Morris and Horwitz (2007) examined the evidence for funerary feasting in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the Near East. The site, Kfar HaHoresh located in northern Israel, is the first centralised mortuary-cum-cult site identified in the Neolithic of the Levant, and it has been suggested that the site functioned in a manner similar to the ancient Greek amphictyony, that is a central shrine serving neighbouring villages.

The site assemblage contained the same repertoire of lithic and faunal types found in many other PPNB village sites in the Mediterranean zone. The most common faunal taxon was mountain gazelle, followed by the Persian wild goat (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 904). All other large mammals - aurochs, wild boar and deer - were represented in low frequencies, and a broad spectrum of small carnivores (especially red fox), reptiles, rodents, bird and fish were also recovered (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 904).

Unlike the contemporary village, Kfar HaHoresh lacked obvious rectangular residential structures and was instead characterised by isolated L-shaped walls associated with human burials interred beneath lime-plastered surfaces. It is suggested that these surfaces might represent the cappings of burial pits rather than house floors, whilst the L-shaped walls may have served to demarcate burial locations or to prevent slopewash by acting as retaining embankments (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 904).

Both primary and secondary human inhumations were found at the site, the burials representing up to 60 individuals of both sexes and all ages (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 904). Fifteen of the primary burials had undergone post-depositional head removal (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 904). Skull caches were discovered in two locations and plastered skulls were recovered from three other locations (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 904). There was also purposeful secondary arrangements of human remains, including long bones placed into an oval around an edge of a pit containing numerous mandibles piled on top of two articulated burials (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 904). Many of the burials were notable for their association with polished coloured pebbles, marine shells, flint artefacts, lime fills and animal remains, especially those of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes).

Remains of a further pit were excavated in 1991. A total of 358 animal bones were found packed tightly within this. With the exception of a red fox proximal radius and a goat carpal, which may represent accidental inclusions, all the bones belong to Bos (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 906-907). The minimum number of individuals in the pit, based on the number of sided distal femora and state of fusion of this bone, was eight animals (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 907). Seven of these were identified as being at least 4 years of age, whilst the eighth was aged less than 2.5 years (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 907). Based on their large size and robusticity, all have been attributed to aurochs (Bos primigenius) rather than domestic cattle (Bos taurus) (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 907). Body weights and resultant carcass weights were calculated based upon an adult aurochs cow yielding a carcass weight of 280kg and an adult bull yielding c. 337kg. Thus a minimum meat estimate for one juvenile, six adult cows and one adult bull, would yield over 2000kg of meat (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 910).

It has been inferred that this pit, and the associated human interment, represents the remains of a mortuary feast, and as such it may be amongst the earliest evidence for such an event in the Near East (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 911). Such feasts would have required much planning, time and labour for their execution, and it is postulated that the aurochs were hunted and killed within a circumscribed period of time (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 911). At a time when goat and gazelle served as the staple animal protein, aurochs, which comprised a numerically less significant part of the diet, appears to have been a favoured taxon for symbolic depictions in statuettes, murals, stone-carvings and bas-reliefs (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 915). As such, it provides evidence for a common symbolic world that stretched from Central Turkey through to the Southern Levant (Goring-Morris and Horwitz, 2007: 915).

Reference: Goring-Morris, N and Horwitz, L K. 2007. Funerals and feasts during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the Near East. Antiquity 81: 902 - 919

See also: Eating the Dead

Following on from yesterday’s news about the Tangled Bank, we have a reminder about another blog carnival. Four Stone Hearth, the Anthropology and Archaeology blog carnival, will be making its next appearance on January 30th.

If you would like to submit content to the next issue of the carnival, please send an email to: submit@fourstonehearth.net or contact the next host, Greg Laden, directly.

It’s freezing over at the Inoculated Mind, but there’s plenty of scientific news to keep you company as you huddle up in the warm with the 97th edition of the Tangled Bank. There is lots to enjoy, but I was particularly intrigued by news from Greg Laden’s blog about recent research on the subject of Cooking and Human Evolution.

In this edition of ‘Know Your Pathology’, we shall examine the subject of calculus, also known as calcified plaque. This consists of micro-organisms, which accumulate in the mouth, embedded in a matrix partly composed of the organisms themselves and partly derived from proteins in the saliva (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 71). It accumulates faster when there is a high protein and/or carbohydrate diet favouring an alkaline oral environment (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 71).

Where crystallites of mineral are deposited in the plaque, the plaque can be mineralised and form calculus (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 71-71). Two types are commonly seen:

1. Supragingival calculus (above the gum) is more common and is usually thicker and grey or brown in colour;
2. Subgingival calculus (below the gum) is often seen on exposed tooth roots and is harder and green or black in colour.

Calculus varies widely in mineralisation, but subgingival calculus is more heavily mineralised (46-83% by colume) than supergingival (16-80% by volume). The minerals include apatite, whitlockite, octacalcium phosphate and brushite, all of which have been found in archaeological specimens (Hillson, 1996: 257). Brushite is prominent during the earlier part of calculus deposition, whilst mature supergingival calculus has more apatite and brushite, and subgingival calculus has abundant whitlockite (Hillson, 1996: 257).

Beneath a Scanning Electron Microscope, it is possible to see that calculus is more heavily mineralised than dentine or cement, but less so than enamel, and that it presents an irregular appearance with layerings, voids and clefts (Hillson, 1996: 257). Outlines of bacteria are presented as voids with mineralised shells - the filamentous forms as 2um diameter tubules, and shorter rods or cocci as globular outlines - and similar outlines have been demonstrated in calculus from English medieval human remains (Dobney and Brothwell, 1986).

Dental reports from some archaeological human populations indicate that calculus was common in all periods (Roberts and Manchester, 2005: 72).

References:

Dobney, K and Brothwell, D. 1986. Dental calculus: its relevance to ancient diet and oral ecology, pp 55-82. In Cuwys, E and Foley, R.A. Teeth and Anthropology. BAR International Series 291. British Archaeological Reports: Oxford

Hillson, S. 1996. Dental Anthropology. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

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

NB: For those looking for past editions of ‘Know Your Pathology’, and so that I can keep track of which topics I’ve covered and which I’ve not, there is now an index.

Pound for pound, Australia’s extinct marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) would have made mince meat of today’s African lion (Panthera leo) had the two big hyper-carnivores ever squared off in a fight to the death, according to an Australian scientist.

New research published in the Journal of Zoology suggests that Thylacoleo killed prey rapidly, using its “bolt-cutter” type teeth to scissor through hide and flesh to produce major trauma and blood loss.

By contrast, African lions and similar big cats of today use their bite force to suffocate prey, using a “clamp and hold” technique that can take up to 15 minutes with large prey such as Cape buffalo.

“My results suggest that the marsupial lion employed a unique killing technique,” says research author Stephen Wroe. “It used its massive carnassial cheekteeth to effect major trauma and a rapid kill. Unlike any living mammalian carnivores, the marsupial’s carnassials were not only butchery tools but also active components in the killing process.”

Using a sophisticated computer modelling method [finite element (FE) analysis], that renders dynamic 3D models based on CT scans of the marsupial’s cranial mechanics and musculoskeletal architecture, Wroe has revealed that the creature’s skull, jaw, and head and neck muscles were well adapted to using the unique technique for killing large prey, but not for delivering the prolonged suffocating bite of living big cats.

“The marsupial lion also had an extremely efficient bite,” Wroe says. “In addition to very powerful jaw muscles for its size, its muscle and skull architecture were arranged in such a way as to take greater advantage of leverage than in living cats.”

Wroe, who has published findings about bite force in other hypercarnivores, such as great white sharks and sabre tooth tigers, believes there is now no doubt that Australia’s marsupial lion was a fearsome predator that punched well above its weight.

“Certainly, T carnifex was seriously over-engineered for dispatching small prey. These new findings support the conclusion that the creature regularly preyed on relatively large species and was able to effect quick kills and withstand large forces generated by large struggling prey.

“Hypothetically, had a large marsupial lion ever come face to face with an African lion of similar size, it could have use its deadly cheek teeth and incredibly powerful arms to inflict mortal wounds on the mammal,” Wroe says. “Had it not become extinct, it might now hold top spot over toady’s ‘king of the jungle.’”

University of New South Wales (2008, January 18). Extinct Marsupial Lion Tops African Lion In Fight To Death. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/01/080117093440.htm

Researchers from the University of Sheffield, as part of an international team, have discovered the secret of why dark sheep on a remote Scottish Island are mysteriously declining, seemingly contradicting Darwin’s evolutionary theory.

Dr Jacob Gratten and Dr Jon Slate, from the University’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, led the team, which found that the gene responsible for dark coat colour is linked to other genes that reduce an animal’s fitness.

The researchers looked at coat colour in a feral population of Soay sheep on Hirta in the St Kilda Archipelago. On Hirta about three quarters of sheep have dark brown coats, while the remaining quarter have light sandy coats. However, despite the fact that the dark-coated Soay sheep are larger, which is usually linked to survival and reproductive success, the frequency of light-coated sheep has increased over the last 20 years.

Darwin’s theory would have predicted that because dark-coated sheep appear fitter that they would do better than light-coated sheep, until only dark-coated sheep remained in the population. However, this study shows that the process of evolution by natural selection in Soay sheep, although still evident, is actually more complex than this.

Dr Gratten and colleagues used a statistical genetics approach similar to that used by medical geneticists, when trying to map genes for human disease such as heart disease or diabetes. They found that the dark coat trait is usually co-inherited with a set of genes that increase size but decrease reproductive success. The light coat trait is usually co-inherited with a set of genes that decrease size but increase reproductive success.

This discovery means that sheep with one copy of the dark gene and one copy of the light gene are quite large and also have quite high reproductive success. Sheep with two copies of the dark gene are larger still, but have poor reproductive success. Sheep with two copies of the light gene are small, but still have quite high reproductive success. This means that the two types of dark sheep although indistinguishable visually, vary in Darwinian fitness.

The study was based on over 20 years of field data, and involved researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, as well as members of the University of Sheffield.

Dr Jacob Gratten said: “The aim of this study was to improve understanding of how evolution by natural selection operates. The study addresses an important problem in evolutionary biology. It shows that predicting the evolutionary response to selection is difficult without knowledge of which genes are in close proximity to each other. It also highlights that an understanding of the underlying genetic basis of a highly visible trait was necessary in order to understand its evolution.”

This research - ‘ A Localised Negative Genetic Correlation Constrains Microevolution of Coat Colour in Wild Sheep’ will be appear in the journal Science.

University of Sheffield (2008, January 20). Secret Of Scottish Sheep Evolution Discovered. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/01/080117140834.htm

Labels such as “European American”, “white”, or “Caucasian” are often viewed as representing a homogeneous category in gene mapping studies and census reports, but each of these labels actually groups together multiple populations, which have diverse origins due to the complex history of European immigration to the United States. In a recent study an international team of researchers provide the first genetic dissection of the population structure of European Americans, focusing on identifying the contributions from different genetic ancestries that are important for disease gene mapping.

This is a timely issue as the last year has seen a dramatic upswing in genetic association studies and the discovery of almost a hundred new risk factors for common genetic diseases such as cancer and diabetes. If the subtle population substructure that exists within European American populations is not understood and accounted for, genetic association studies can produce incorrect findings if disease cases are compared to healthy controls that on average have different ancestry.

By systematically examining data from four actual disease association studies in European Americans, this study describes and characterizes the majority of population substructure in European Americans that could lead to spurious associations. “Although our work is far from a complete description of European American population history, for the purpose of disease gene mapping studies it is adequate to measure how closely each person’s genetic ancestry resembles three populations that can be roughly described as northwest European, southeast European, or Ashkenazi Jewish,” says Dr. David Reich, one of the senior authors on the study, an Associate Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Member at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. “With this approach, we can avoid most false-positive associations due to population substructure in European American disease gene mapping studies. Our previous work has addressed related challenges in studies of African Americans and Latino Americans.”

Based on their discovery that ancestry from only three populations accounts for most of the potentially problematic substructure in European American disease association studies, the researchers scoured through published data sets to identify places in the genome where common DNA sequence variants differ substantially in frequency among these three ancestral populations and are therefore potentially informative for estimating genetic ancestry.

The investigators then confirmed the utility of these genetic variants by testing them in DNA samples that their coauthors collected from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Italy, Greece and U.S. Ashkenazi Jews. “We identified 300 common genetic variants that have unusually different frequencies in the three ancestral populations: they are about 10 times more informative for predicting the ancestry of European Americans than random genetic variants”, says lead author Dr. Alkes Price, a post-doctoral researcher at the Harvard Medical School Department of Genetics and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. “We can thus correct for population substructure in European American disease association studies using just these 300 markers.”

This panel of 300 markers should be valuable in targeted associated studies that follow up previously implicated candidate genes: by comparing the ancestry of disease cases to healthy controls using data from the panel of 300 markers, researchers can determine whether observed associations are genuine, and not false-positives due to population structure. The panel can also be used to match the ancestry of cases and controls prior to more comprehensive studies.

While the technology should provide a new tool in disease gene mapping studies, the researchers caution that the ability to roughly categorize individuals into populations with a small number of genetic markers is not useful in a clinical setting, nor does it completely eliminate the utility of self-described ethnicity. “Although these 300 markers give a reasonable estimate of the major components of genetic ancestry in European Americans, self-described ethnicity can still reflect environmental, social and cultural factors that may not be captured by estimating genetic ancestry,” says Dr. Joel Hirschhorn, one of the senior authors of the study, an Associate Professor of Genetics at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, and a Senior Associate Member at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, “Because the genetic differences between these populations are very small, the study is most important for helping in gene discovery efforts, which will lead to better understanding of human biology in health and disease, and hopefully improved care for all patients over the long term.”

Published simultaneously in PLoS Genetics is an independent study led by Michael Seldin, in which Chao Tian and colleagues also present panels of markers that can be used to correct for population structure in European American disease association studies. A commentary jointly authored by Michael Seldin and Alkes Price on the practical application of the panels developed by the two groups accompanies these articles.

Title and full author list: “Discerning the Ancestry of European Americans in Genetic Association Studies” PLoS Genetics.

Alkes L. Price*, Johannah Butler, Nick Patterson, Cristian Capelli, Vincenzo L. Pascali, Francesca Scarnicci, Andres Ruiz-Linares, Leif Groop, Angelica A. Saetta, Penelope Korkolopoulou, Uri Seligsohn, Alicja Waliszewska, Christine Schirmer, Kristin Ardlie, Alexis Ramos, James Nemesh, Lori Arbeitman, David B. Goldstein, David Reich*, Joel N. Hirschhorn*

* These three authors contributed equally

PLoS Genetics (2008, January 19). Genetic Diversity Of European Americans And Disease Gene Mapping. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/01/080118093725.htm

The origin of syphilis has been hotly debated in recent years. Was it already in the Americas by the time of Columbus’ landing, or were he and his men somehow fundamentally linked to its arrival in the New World, are some of the questions typically asked. John Hawks looks at a new paper on just this topic in ‘Syphilis origin pinpointed?‘.