Horse Paleogenomes and Human-Animal Interactions in Prehistory.

A new analysis of paleogenomic data from 278 ancient horses (Fages et al. Cellhttp://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.03.049) finds that this animal - crucially important to many ancient and contemporary human societies for subsistence, transportation, conflict, and more - was domesticated in at least two different regions, but with the geographic and cultural origins of the modern domestic horse lineage remaining unknown. By tracing ancient horse population movements and inferring the spatiotemporal trajectories of phenotypic adaptations, this study provides fresh perspectives on past human group interactions and activities.

Comparing the Use of Magnetic Beads with Ultrafiltration for Ancient Dental Calculus Proteomics.

Over the past two decades, proteomic analysis has greatly developed in application to the field of biomolecular archaeology, coinciding with advancements in LC-MS/MS instrumentation sensitivity and improvements in sample preparation methods. Recently, human dental calculus has received much attention for its well-preserved proteomes locked in mineralized dental plaque which stores information on human diets and the oral microbiome otherwise invisible to other biomolecular approaches. Maximizing proteome recovery in ancient dental calculus, available only in minute quantities and irreplaceable after destructive analysis, is of paramount importance. Here, we compare the more traditional ultrafiltration-based and acetone precipitation approaches with the newer paramagnetic bead approach in order to test the influence of demineralization acid on recovered proteome complexity obtained from specimens as well as the sequence coverages matched for significant proteins. We found that a protocol utilizing EDTA combined with paramagnetic beads increased proteome complexity, in some cases doubling the number of unique peptides and number of proteins matched, compared to protocols involving the use of HCl and either acetone precipitation or ultrafiltration. Although the increase in the number of proteins was almost exclusively of bacterial origin, a development that has implications for the study of diseases within these ancient populations, an increase in the peptide number for the dairy proteins ß-lactoglobulin and casein was also observed reflecting an increase in sequence coverage for these dietary proteins of interest. We also consider structural explanations for the discrepancies observed between these two key dietary proteins preserved in archaeological dental calculus.

Bronze Age population dynamics and the rise of dairy pastoralism on the eastern Eurasian steppe.

Recent paleogenomic studies have shown that migrations of Western steppe herders (WSH) beginning in the Eneolithic (ca. 3300-2700 BCE) profoundly transformed the genes and cultures of Europe and central Asia. Compared with Europe, however, the eastern extent of this WSH expansion is not well defined. Here we present genomic and proteomic data from 22 directly dated Late Bronze Age burials putatively associated with early pastoralism in northern Mongolia (ca. 1380-975 BCE). Genome-wide analysis reveals that they are largely descended from a population represented by Early Bronze Age hunter-gatherers in the Baikal region, with only a limited contribution (∼7%) of WSH ancestry. At the same time, however, mass spectrometry analysis of dental calculus provides direct protein evidence of bovine, sheep, and goat milk consumption in seven of nine individuals. No individuals showed molecular evidence of lactase persistence, and only one individual exhibited evidence of >10% WSH ancestry, despite the presence of WSH populations in the nearby Altai-Sayan region for more than a millennium. Unlike the spread of Neolithic farming in Europe and the expansion of Bronze Age pastoralism on the Western steppe, our results indicate that ruminant dairy pastoralism was adopted on the Eastern steppe by local hunter-gatherers through a process of cultural transmission and minimal genetic exchange with outside groups.

Early integration of pastoralism and millet cultivation in Bronze Age Eurasia.

Mobile pastoralists are thought to have facilitated the first trans-Eurasian dispersals of domesticated plants during the Early Bronze Age (ca 2500-2300 BC). Problematically, the earliest seeds of wheat, barley and millet in Inner Asia were recovered from human mortuary contexts and do not inform on local cultivation or subsistence use, while contemporaneous evidence for the use and management of domesticated livestock in the region remains ambiguous. We analysed mitochondrial DNA and multi-stable isotopic ratios (δ13C, δ15N and δ18O) of faunal remains from key pastoralist sites in the Dzhungar Mountains of southeastern Kazakhstan. At ca 2700 BC, Near Eastern domesticated sheep and goat were present at the settlement of Dali, which were also winter foddered with the region's earliest cultivated millet spreading from its centre of domestication in northern China. In the following centuries, millet cultivation and caprine management became increasingly intertwined at the nearby site of Begash. Cattle, on the other hand, received low levels of millet fodder at the sites for millennia. By primarily examining livestock dietary intake, this study reveals that the initial transmission of millet across the mountains of Inner Asia coincided with a substantial connection between pastoralism and plant cultivation, suggesting that pastoralist livestock herding was integral for the westward dispersal of millet from farming societies in China.

Collagen proteins exchange oxygen with demineralisation and gelatinisation reagents and also with atmospheric moisture.

RATIONALE: The oxygen (O) isotope composition of collagen proteins is a potential indicator of adult residential location, useful for provenancing in ecology, archaeology and forensics. In acidic solution, proteins can exchange O from carboxylic acid moieties with reagent O. This study investigated whether this exchange occurs during demineralisation and gelatinisation preparation of bone/ivory collagen. METHODS: EDTA and HCl demineralisation or gelatinisation reagents were made up in waters with different δ18 O values, and were used to extract collagen from four skeletal tissue samples. Aliquots of extracted collagen were exposed to two different atmospheric waters, at 120°C and ambient temperature, and subsequently dried in a vacuum oven at 40°C or by freeze drying. Sample δ18 O values were measured by HT-EA pyrolysis/IRMS using a zero-blank autosampler. RESULTS: Collagen samples exchanged O with both reagent waters and atmospheric water, which altered sample δ18 O values. Exchange with reagent waters occurred in all extraction methods, but was greater at lower pH. Damage to the collagen samples during extraction increased O exchange. The nature of exchange of O with atmospheric water depended on the temperature of exposure: kinetic fractionation of O was identified at 120°C but not at ambient temperature. Exchange was difficult to quantify due to the high variability of δ18 O values between experimental replicates. CONCLUSIONS: Studies of δ18 O values in collagen proteins should avoid extraction methods using acidic solutions.

Geographical variability in northern European sheep wool isotopic composition (δ(13) C, δ(15) N, δ(2) H values).

RATIONALE: Light stable isotopic analysis of herbivore proteinaceous tissues (hair, muscle, milk) is critical for authenticating the point of origin of finished agricultural or industrial products in both ancient and modern economies. This study examined the distribution of light stable isotopes in herbivores in northern Europe (Iceland to Finland), which is expected to depend on regional-level environmental inputs (precipitation, temperature) and local variables (vegetation type, fodder type, soil type). METHODS: Sheep wool was obtained from animals managed using traditional methods and located across a gradient of northern European environments. Defatted whole-year samples were analysed by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) for carbon (δ(13) C values), nitrogen (δ(15) N values) and un-exchangeable hydrogen (δ(2) H values) isotopic composition. RESULTS: Wool δ(13) C, δ(15) N and δ(2) H values showed the same correlations to local mean annual precipitation and temperature as were expected for graze plants. Wool δ(2) H values were correlated with local modelled meteoric water δ(2) H values, mediated by plant solid tissue and leaf water fractionations. Cluster analysis distinguished wool from Sweden and the Baltic region from more western material. Local variation in vegetation or soil type did not disrupt dependence on climatic variables but did affect geospatial discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: Wool isotopic composition in northern Europe is controlled by the effects of local precipitation and temperature on graze plant inputs, and is only weakly affected by pasture type. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tracing residential mobility during the Merovingian period: An isotopic analysis of human remains from the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany.

OBJECTIVES: Written sources have provided information about the rise of Merovingian power and their territorial conquests after the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire, but the extent to which altered power relations in the newly annexed territories reshaped regional and local communities is poorly understood. The early medieval cemetery of Dirmstein, located in the Upper Rhine Valley, is one of the rare sites bearing archeological evidence of simultaneous use by an indigenous community and newcomers from outside the Merovingian core area, and it offers the opportunity to investigate residential mobility at the former Roman Rhine frontier during the Merovingian period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotope analyses on human tooth enamel recovered from 25 sixth century inhumations at the Dirmstein cemetery to establish the presence of newcomers to the Upper Rhine region. RESULTS: The low δ(13) C values exhibited by the Dirmstein individuals revealed ingestion of a C3 terrestrial based diet, with no detectable contribution of C4 plants, which indicates the absence of individuals from regions where a C4 -based diet was common. Human (87) Sr/(86) Sr values well outside the local range of bioavailable strontium, in combination with low δ(18) O values, suggest a notable presence of newcomers from more eastern or high altitude regions. CONCLUSIONS: The isotopic evidence indicates that residential mobility was important and new settlers, most likely from outside the Merovingian core area, contributed to the settlement of the northern Upper Rhine Valley during the sixth century AD.

Local circulation of elites punctuated by transregional mobility enabled steppe political consolidation in the Xiongnu nomadic state.

The Xiongnu polity (ca. 200 BC- 150 AD) emerged out of indigenous community-centered socio-political structures to forge a powerful state that commanded the Mongolian steppe and beyond. Underpinned by a highly mobile pastoralist population, accustomed to seasonally rhythmic moves and embedded in an equestrian culture that facilitated rapid transport over long-distances, it remains unclear precisely how the movement of commoners, local aristocrats and regional elites abetted the formation and organization of Xiongnu state structures. Here, we evaluate Xiongnu movement and dietary intake through multi-stable isotopic analyses of tooth enamel from directly dated Xiongnu intermediate elites recovered from the mortuary center of Baga Gazaryn Chuluu-a prominent granite outcrop set in the Gobi Desert. Carbon isotope (δ13C) analysis indicates millet was consumed by some individuals, but whether or not this C4 cultivar contributed to the diets of most elites remains ambiguous in this C3/C4 desert-steppe environment. The effectiveness of oxygen isotopes (δ18O) to establish mobility appears much reduced in steppe environments, where geospatially sensitive information appears disrupted by extraordinary seasonality in meteoric water oxygen isotopes, pronounced oxygen isotopic variation in potential drinking water sources, and culturally mediated drinking practices. Most revealing, strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) indicate circulation of local elites around this central place and beyond, a mobility format that helped leaders cement their own position through political consolidation of spatially dispersed mobile pastoralist communities. The consistent presence at Baga Gazaryn Chuluu of extra-local intermediate elites also points toward the importance of transregional mobility in binding together the Xiongnu polity over the vast distances of the eastern steppe.

Of herds and societies-Seasonal aspects of Vinca culture herding and land use practices revealed using sequential stable isotope analysis of animal teeth.

Late Neolithic Vinca communities, spread over much of central and northern Balkans during the late sixth to mid-fifth millennium BC and characterised by unusually large and densely population centres, would have required highly organised food production systems. Zooarchaeological analysis indicates that domesticate livestock were herded, but little is known about the seasonal husbandry practices that helped ensure a steady supply of animal products to Vinca farming communities. Here, we present new stable carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotopic measurements of incremental bioapatite samples from the teeth of domesticated livestock and wild herbivore teeth from two late Neolithic Vinca culture sites: Vinca-Belo brdo and Stubline (Serbia). Our results show a low variation overall within sheep and goats in terms of pasture type that may have been composed of seasonal halophyte plant communities, which have higher δ13C values due to the saline rich growing environments. Cattle feeding strategies were more variable and provided with supplementary forage, such as cut branches or leafy hay, during winter. The sharp distinction in the management of cattle and sheep/goat may be associated with the development of herding strategies that sought to balance livestock feeding behaviours with available forage or, more provocatively, the emergence of household-based control over cattle-an animal that held a central economic and symbolic role in Vinca societies.

High mitochondrial diversity of domesticated goats persisted among Bronze and Iron Age pastoralists in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor.

Goats were initially managed in the Near East approximately 10,000 years ago and spread across Eurasia as economically productive and environmentally resilient herd animals. While the geographic origins of domesticated goats (Capra hircus) in the Near East have been long-established in the zooarchaeological record and, more recently, further revealed in ancient genomes, the precise pathways by which goats spread across Asia during the early Bronze Age (ca. 3000 to 2500 cal BC) and later remain unclear. We analyzed sequences of hypervariable region 1 and cytochrome b gene in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) of goats from archaeological sites along two proposed transmission pathways as well as geographically intermediary sites. Unexpectedly high genetic diversity was present in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor (IAMC), indicated by mtDNA haplotypes representing common A lineages and rarer C and D lineages. High mtDNA diversity was also present in central Kazakhstan, while only mtDNA haplotypes of lineage A were observed from sites in the Northern Eurasian Steppe (NES). These findings suggest that herding communities living in montane ecosystems were drawing from genetically diverse goat populations, likely sourced from communities in the Iranian Plateau, that were sustained by repeated interaction and exchange. Notably, the mitochondrial genetic diversity associated with goats of the IAMC also extended into the semi-arid region of central Kazakhstan, while NES communities had goats reflecting an isolated founder population, possibly sourced via eastern Europe or the Caucasus region.

Intensification in pastoralist cereal use coincides with the expansion of trans-regional networks in the Eurasian Steppe.

The pace of transmission of domesticated cereals, including millet from China as well as wheat and barley from southwest Asia, throughout the vast pastoralist landscapes of the Eurasian Steppe (ES) is unclear. The rich monumental record of the ES preserves abundant human remains that provide a temporally deep and spatially broad record of pastoralist dietary intake. Calibration of human δ13C and δ15N values against isotope ratios derived from co-occurring livestock distinguish pastoralist consumption of millet from the products of livestock and, in some regions, identify a considerable reliance by pastoralists on C3 crops. We suggest that the adoption of millet was initially sporadic and consumed at low intensities during the Bronze Age, with the low-level consumption of millet possibly taking place in the Minusinsk Basin perhaps as early as the late third millennium cal BC. Starting in the mid-second millennium cal BC, millet consumption intensified dramatically throughout the ES with the exception of both the Mongolian steppe where millet uptake was strongly delayed until the end of first millennium cal BC and the Trans-Urals where instead barley or wheat gained dietary prominence. The emergence of complex, trans-regional political networks likely facilitated the rapid transfer of cultivars across the steppe during the transition to the Iron Age.

Constructing community in the Neolithic of southern Jordan: Quotidian practice in communal architecture.

The emergence of food production during the earliest Neolithic of the Near East was accompanied by profound changes in the ways in which societies were organized. Elaborate and multi-stage mortuary practices involving the removal, caching, and plastering of symbolically charged skulls are thought to have played an important role in cross-cutting household lines to integrate communities and maintain social cohesion during the late tenth to ninth millennium cal BP, particularly in Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlements located in the southern Levant. While the ritual and mortuary activities associated with skull manipulation were dramatic and high impact occasions that drew people and households together, it is likely they were highly episodic and, consequently, attendant community cohesion susceptible to decay over time. Recent research in southern Jordan, where skull plastering was not practiced as seen elsewhere in the southern Levant, has revealed that non-residential building structures were a common feature of early Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlements. Renewed excavations at Beidha, a Middle PPNB settlement located in the Shara'a mountains, have revealed a large, easily accessible communal structure that provided a focal point in which mundane, informal daily activities could regularly take place. The routine and repeated interactions fostered by such non-domestic structures facilitated highly durable modes of community cohesion and was part of a temporally deep ethos of community that first emerged a thousand years earlier when people first began to experiment with plant cultivation. It appears that in southern Jordan, a distinctive social cohesion pathway developed that engaged community daily practice within non-residential buildings to maintain and strengthen social structures, rather than occasional and dramatic ritual and mortuary practices used elsewhere in the southern Levant.

Urban and nomadic isotopic niches reveal dietary connectivities along Central Asia's Silk Roads.

The ancient 'Silk Roads' formed a vast network of trade and exchange that facilitated the movement of commodities and agricultural products across medieval Central Asia via settled urban communities and mobile pastoralists. Considering food consumption patterns as an expression of socio-economic interaction, we analyse human remains for carbon and nitrogen isotopes in order to establish dietary intake, then model isotopic niches to characterize dietary diversity and infer connectivity among communities of urbanites and nomadic pastoralists. The combination of low isotopic variation visible within urban groups with isotopic distinction between urban communities irrespective of local environmental conditions strongly suggests localized food production systems provided primary subsistence rather than agricultural goods exchanged along trade routes. Nomadic communities, in contrast, experienced higher dietary diversity reflecting engagements with a wide assortment of foodstuffs typical for mobile communities. These data indicate tightly bound social connectivity in urban centres pointedly funnelled local food products and homogenized dietary intake within settled communities, whereas open and opportunistic systems of food production and circulation were possible through more mobile lifeways.