Human auditory ossicles as an alternative optimal source of ancient DNA.

DNA recovery from ancient human remains has revolutionized our ability to reconstruct the genetic landscape of the past. Ancient DNA research has benefited from the identification of skeletal elements, such as the cochlear part of the osseous inner ear, that provides optimal contexts for DNA preservation; however, the rich genetic information obtained from the cochlea must be counterbalanced against the loss of morphological information caused by its sampling. Motivated by similarities in developmental processes and histological properties between the cochlea and auditory ossicles, we evaluate the ossicles as an alternative source of ancient DNA. We show that ossicles perform comparably to the cochlea in terms of DNA recovery, finding no substantial reduction in data quantity and minimal differences in data quality across preservation conditions. Ossicles can be sampled from intact skulls or disarticulated petrous bones without damage to surrounding bone, and we argue that they should be used when available to reduce damage to human remains. Our results identify another optimal skeletal element for ancient DNA analysis and add to a growing toolkit of sampling methods that help to better preserve skeletal remains for future research while maximizing the likelihood that ancient DNA analysis will produce useable results.

Perimortem versus postmortem damage: The recent case of Cioclovina 1.

OBJECTIVES: Kranioti, Grigorescu, and Harvati have recently described (PLoS One 2019, 14(7),e0216718) the breakage to the Cioclovina 1 earlier Upper Paleolithic cranium as indicating fatal interhuman blunt trauma. We have reassessed their analysis in terms of the specimen's condition at discovery, its current condition, and the post-discovery history of the cranium. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The original Cioclovina 1 neurocranium and currently associated pieces were visually assessed for the nature of the damage to them, and the records of its discovery, the original 1942 photographs, and their subsequent history in Bucharest were reviewed. RESULTS: The damage to Cioclovina 1, attributed by Kranioti and colleagues to perimortem blunt trauma, was not present at the time of its 1940-41 discovery in the Pestera Cioclovina Uscata. The "trauma" is from the World War II bombing of the University of Bucharest and subsequent attempts to restore the cranium. The damage does not, and cannot, document interhuman violence in the Pleistocene. CONCLUSIONS: Although other cases of antemortem and perimortem trauma are known from the earlier Upper Paleolithic, and Pleistocene humans more broadly, there is absolutely no evidence of perimortem trauma on the Cioclovina 1 cranium. Proper assessment of levels and patterns of human trauma in the Pleistocene must be based on the correct paleontological, taphonomic, and historical assessment of the fossil remains in question.

Rediscovered identity of the scaphocephalic skull housed in the museum of the Department of Anatomy of the Medical College of the Jagiellonian University.

A personal data referring to the scaphoid skull housed in the Department of Anatomy of the Jagiellonian University, Medical College was established thanks to reviewing 19th century literature performed by Dr. Soficaru. We received information that the skull had belonged to an adult man who was a carpenter, born at Cracow. The original anthropometrical study of this skull was performed by prof. Kopernicki 19th century.

Resolving relationships between several Neolithic and Mesolithic populations in Northern Eurasia using geometric morphometrics.

OBJECTIVES: Remains from several Eastern European and Siberian Mesolithic and Neolithic sites are analysed to clarify their biological relationships. We assume that groups' geographical distances correlate with genetic and, therefore, morphological distances between them. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Material includes complete male crania from several Mesolithic and Neolithic burial sites across Northern Eurasia and from several modern populations. Geometric morphometrics and multivariate statistical techniques are applied to explore morphological trends, group distances, and correlations with their geographical position, climate, and the time of origin. RESULTS: Despite an overlap in the morphology among the modern and archeological groups, some of them show significant morphological distances. Geographical parameters account for only a small proportion of cranial variation in the sample, with larger variance explained by geography and age together. Expectations of isolation by distance are met in some but not in all cases. Climate accounts for a large proportion of autocorrelation with geography. Nearest-neighbor joining trees demonstrate group relationships predicted by the regression on geography and on climate. DISCUSSION: The obtained results are discussed in application to relationships between particular groups. Unlike the Ukrainian Mesolithic, the Yuzhny Oleni Ostrov Mesolithic displays a high morphological affinity with several groups from Northern Eurasia of both European and Asian origin. A possibility of a common substrate for the Yuzhny Oleni Ostrov Mesolithic and Siberian Neolithic groups is reviewed. The Siberian Neolithic is shown to have morphological connection with both modern Siberian groups and the Native North Americans.

Using SXRF and LA-ICP-TOFMS to Explore Evidence of Treatment and Physiological Responses to Leprosy in Medieval Denmark.

Leprosy can lead to blood depletion in Zn, Ca, Mg, and Fe and blood enrichment in Cu. In late medieval Europe, minerals were used to treat leprosy. Here, physiological responses to leprosy and possible evidence of treatment are investigated in enamel, dentine, and cementum of leprosy sufferers from medieval Denmark (n = 12) and early 20th century Romania (n = 2). Using SXRF and LA-ICP-TOFMS, 12 elements were mapped in 15 tooth thin sections, and the statistical covariation of paired elements was computed to assess their biological relevance. The results show marked covariations in the Zn, Ca, and Mg distributions, which are compatible with clinical studies but cannot be directly attributed to leprosy. Minerals used historically as a treatment for leprosy show no detectable intake (As, Hg) or a diffuse distribution (Pb) related to daily ingestion. Intense Pb enrichments indicate acute incorporations of Pb, potentially through the administration of Pb-enriched medication or the mobilization of Pb from bone stores to the bloodstream during intense physiological stress related to leprosy. However, comparisons with a healthy control group are needed to ascertain these interpretations. The positive correlations and the patterns observed between Pb and essential elements may indicate underlying pathophysiological conditions, demonstrating the potential of SXRF and LA-ICP-TOFMS for paleopathological investigations.

Genetic continuity, isolation, and gene flow in Stone Age Central and Eastern Europe.

The genomic landscape of Stone Age Europe was shaped by multiple migratory waves and population replacements, but different regions do not all show similar patterns. To refine our understanding of the population dynamics before and after the dawn of the Neolithic, we generated and analyzed genomic sequence data from human remains of 56 individuals from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Eneolithic across Central and Eastern Europe. We found that Mesolithic European populations formed a geographically widespread isolation-by-distance zone ranging from Central Europe to Siberia, which was already established 10,000 years ago. We found contrasting patterns of population continuity during the Neolithic transition: people around the lower Dnipro Valley region, Ukraine, showed continuity over 4000 years, from the Mesolithic to the end of the Neolithic, in contrast to almost all other parts of Europe where population turnover drove this cultural change, including vast areas of Central Europe and around the Danube River.

Interrelationship of age and diet in Romania's oldest human burial.

In 1968, excavations in the Climente II cave in the Iron Gates gorge of the River Danube in southwest Romania unearthed the skeleton of an adult male. The burial was assumed to be of Late Pleistocene age because of the presence of Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) artefacts in the cave. However, there was no strong supporting stratigraphic evidence, and the body position is reminiscent of Early Neolithic burial practice in the region. Here, we report the results of radiocarbon and stable isotope analyses of the Climente II skeleton, which show that the skeleton dates to the Bølling-Allerød Interstadial ~14,500 cal BP. This is several millennia older than any previously dated human remains from the Iron Gates region and confirms its status as the oldest known burial from Romania. The stable isotope results indicate a diet with an emphasis on aquatic resources, contrary to the commonly held view that the LUP inhabitants of the Iron Gates subsisted mainly by hunting large land mammals.

Genome of Pestera Muierii skull shows high diversity and low mutational load in pre-glacial Europe.

Few complete human genomes from the European Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) have been sequenced. Using novel sampling and DNA extraction approaches, we sequenced the genome of a woman from "Pestera Muierii," Romania who lived ∼34,000 years ago to 13.5× coverage. The genome shows similarities to modern-day Europeans, but she is not a direct ancestor. Although her cranium exhibits both modern human and Neanderthal features, the genome shows similar levels of Neanderthal admixture (∼3.1%) to most EUP humans but only half compared to the ∼40,000-year-old Pestera Oase 1. All EUP European hunter-gatherers display high genetic diversity, demonstrating that the severe loss of diversity occurred during and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) rather than just during the out-of-Africa migration. The prevalence of genetic diseases is expected to increase with low diversity; however, pathogenic variant load was relatively constant from EUP to modern times, despite post-LGM hunter-gatherers having the lowest diversity ever observed among Europeans.

Dental developmental defects in a subadult from 16th-19th centuries Bucharest, Romania.

This study examines the dental developmental defects seen in an individual recovered from the Saint Sava cemetery from Bucharest, Romania, dated to the late medieval/early modern period. The remains display extended hypoplastic alterations of the permanent dentition, including linear, pitted, and planar defects. The first permanent molars are distinctive, with multiple indentations and mottling. Given the unusual pattern of defects and the close resemblance to a series of archaeological cases recently published and assigned to congenital syphilis, a differential diagnosis is discussed, with particular reference to the effects induced not only by treponemal infection, but also by treatment with mercury and nutritional deficiency.

Ancient DNA from South-East Europe Reveals Different Events during Early and Middle Neolithic Influencing the European Genetic Heritage.

The importance of the process of Neolithization for the genetic make-up of European populations has been hotly debated, with shifting hypotheses from a demic diffusion (DD) to a cultural diffusion (CD) model. In this regard, ancient DNA data from the Balkan Peninsula, which is an important source of information to assess the process of Neolithization in Europe, is however missing. In the present study we show genetic information on ancient populations of the South-East of Europe. We assessed mtDNA from ten sites from the current territory of Romania, spanning a time-period from the Early Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. mtDNA data from Early Neolithic farmers of the Starcevo Cris culture in Romania (Cârcea, Gura Baciului and Negrilesti sites), confirm their genetic relationship with those of the LBK culture (Linienbandkeramik Kultur) in Central Europe, and they show little genetic continuity with modern European populations. On the other hand, populations of the Middle-Late Neolithic (Boian, Zau and Gumelnita cultures), supposedly a second wave of Neolithic migration from Anatolia, had a much stronger effect on the genetic heritage of the European populations. In contrast, we find a smaller contribution of Late Bronze Age migrations to the genetic composition of Europeans. Based on these findings, we propose that permeation of mtDNA lineages from a second wave of Middle-Late Neolithic migration from North-West Anatolia into the Balkan Peninsula and Central Europe represent an important contribution to the genetic shift between Early and Late Neolithic populations in Europe, and consequently to the genetic make-up of modern European populations.

Early modern humans from the Pestera Muierii, Baia de Fier, Romania.

The early modern human remains from the Pestera Muierii, Romania have been directly dated to approximately 30,000 radiocarbon years before present (approximately 30 ka 14C BP) (approximately 35 ka cal BP) ("calendrical" age; based on CalPal 2005) and augment a small sample of securely dated, European, pre-28 ka 14C BP (approximately 32.5 ka cal BP) modern human remains. The Muierii fossils exhibit a suite of derived modern human features, including reduced maxillae with pronounced canine fossae, a narrow nasal aperture, small superciliary arches, an arched parietal curve, zygomatic arch above the auditory porous, laterally bulbous mastoid processes, narrow mandibular corpus, reduced anterior dentition, ventral-to-bisulcate scapular axillary border, and planoconcave tibial and fibular diaphyseal surfaces. However, these traits co-occur with contextually archaic and/or Neandertal features, including a moderately low frontal arc, a large occipital bun, a high coronoid process and asymmetrical mandibular notch, a more medial mandibular notch crest to condylar position, and a narrow scapular glenoid fossa. As with other European early modern humans, the mosaic of modern human and archaic/Neandertal features, relative to their potential Middle Paleolithic ancestral populations, indicates considerable Neandertal/modern human admixture. Moreover, the narrow scapular glenoid fossa suggests habitual movements at variance with the associated projectile technology. The reproductive and scapulohumeral functional inferences emphasize the subtle natures of behavioral contrasts between Neandertals and these early modern Europeans.