Archaeological and molecular evidence for ancient chickens in Central Asia.

The origins and dispersal of the chicken across the ancient world remains one of the most enigmatic questions regarding Eurasian domesticated animals. The lack of agreement concerning timing and centers of origin is due to issues with morphological identifications, a lack of direct dating, and poor preservation of thin, brittle bird bones. Here we show that chickens were widely raised across southern Central Asia from the fourth century BC through medieval periods, likely dispersing along the ancient Silk Road. We present archaeological and molecular evidence for the raising of chickens for egg production, based on material from 12 different archaeological sites spanning a millennium and a half. These eggshells were recovered in high abundance at all of these sites, suggesting that chickens may have been an important part of the overall diet and that chickens may have lost seasonal egg-laying.

Differences in birch tar composition are explained by adhesive function in the central European Iron Age.

Birch bark tar is the most widely documented adhesive in prehistoric Europe. More recent periods attest to a diversification in terms of the materials used as adhesives and their application. Some studies have shown that conifer resins and beeswax were added to produce compound adhesives. For the Iron Age, no comparative large-scale studies have been conducted to provide a wider perspective on adhesive technologies. To address this issue, we identify adhesive substances from the Iron Age in north-eastern France. We applied organic residue analysis to 65 samples from 16 archaeological sites. This included residues adhering to ceramics, from vessel surface coatings, repaired ceramics, vessel contents, and adhesive lumps. Our findings show that, even during the Iron Age in north-eastern France, birch bark tar is one of the best-preserved adhesive substances, used for at least 400 years. To a lesser extent, Pinaceae resin and beeswax were also identified. Through statistical analyses, we show that molecular composition differs in samples, correlating with adhesive function. This has implications for our understanding of birch bark tar production, processing and mode of use during the Iron Age in France and beyond.

South American Archaeological Isotopic Database, a regional-scale multi-isotope data compendium for research.

The South American Archaeological Isotopic Database (SAAID) is a comprehensive open-access resource that aggregates all available bioarchaeological stable and radiogenic isotope measurements, encompassing data from human individuals, animals, and plants across South America. Resulting from a collaborative effort of scholars who work with stable isotopes in this region, SAAID contains 53,781 isotopic measurements across 24,507 entries from individuals/specimens spanning over 12,000 years. SAAID includes valuable contextual information on archaeological samples and respective sites, such as chronology, geographical region, biome, and spatial coordinates, biological details like estimated sex and age for human individuals, and taxonomic description for fauna and flora. SAAID is hosted at the PACHAMAMA community within the Pandora data platform and the CORA repository to facilitate easy access. Because of its rich data structure, SAAID is particularly well-suited for conducting spatiotemporal meta-analyses. It serves as a valuable tool for addressing a variety of research topics, including the spread, adoption, and consumption intensification of food items, paleo-environmental reconstruction, as well as the exploration of mobility patterns across extensive geographic regions.

The human side of biodiversity: coevolution of the human niche, palaeo-synanthropy and ecosystem complexity in the deep human past.

Today's biodiversity crisis fundamentally threatens the habitability of the planet, thus ranking among the primary human challenges of our time. Much emphasis is currently placed on the loss of biodiversity in the Anthropocene, yet these debates often portray biodiversity as a purely natural phenomenon without much consideration of its human dimensions and frequently lack long-term vistas. This paper offers a deep-time perspective on the key role of the evolving human niche in ecosystem functioning and biodiversity dynamics. We summarize research on past hunter-gatherer ecosystem contributions and argue that human-environment feedback systems with important biodiversity consequences are probably a recurrent feature of the Late Pleistocene, perhaps with even deeper roots. We update current understandings of the human niche in this light and suggest that the formation of palaeo-synanthropic niches in other animals proffers a powerful model system to investigate recursive interactions of foragers and ecosystems. Archaeology holds important knowledge here and shows that ecosystem contributions vary greatly in relation to different human lifeways, some of which are lost today. We therefore recommend paying more attention to the intricate relationship between biodiversity and cultural diversity, contending that promotion of the former depends on fostering the latter. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ecological novelty and planetary stewardship: biodiversity dynamics in a transforming biosphere'.

The Caribbean and Mesoamerica Biogeochemical Isotope Overview (CAMBIO).

The Caribbean & Mesoamerica Biogeochemical Isotope Overview (CAMBIO) is an archaeological data community designed to integrate published biogeochemical data from the Caribbean, Mesoamerica, and southern Central America to address questions about dynamic interactions among humans, animals, and the environment in the region over the past 10,000 years. Here we present the CAMBIO human dataset, which consists of more than 16,000 isotopic measurements from human skeletal tissue samples (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr, 206/204Pb, 207/204Pb, 208/204Pb, 207/206Pb) from 290 archaeological sites dating between 7000 BC to modern times. The open-access dataset also includes detailed chronological, contextual, and laboratory/sample preparation information for each measurement. The collated data are deposited on the open-access CAMBIO data community via the Pandora Initiative data platform ( https://pandoradata.earth/organization/cambio ).

New Oldowan locality Sare-Abururu (ca. 1.7 Ma) provides evidence of diverse hominin behaviors on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya.

The Homa Peninsula, in southwestern Kenya, continues to yield insights into Oldowan hominin landscape behaviors. The Late Pliocene locality of Nyayanga (∼3-2.6 Ma) preserves some of the oldest Oldowan tools. At the Early Pleistocene locality of Kanjera South (∼2 Ma) toolmakers procured a diversity of raw materials from over 10 km away and strategically reduced them in a grassland-dominated ecosystem. Here, we report findings from Sare-Abururu, a younger (∼1.7 Ma) Oldowan locality approximately 12 km southeast of Kanjera South and 18 km east of Nyayanga. Sare-Abururu has yielded 1754 artifacts in relatively undisturbed low-energy silts and sands. Stable isotopic analysis of pedogenic carbonates suggests that hominin activities were carried out in a grassland-dominated setting with similar vegetation structure as documented at Kanjera South. The composition of a nearby paleo-conglomerate indicates that high-quality stone raw materials were locally abundant. Toolmakers at Sare-Abururu produced angular fragments from quartz pebbles, representing a considerable contrast to the strategies used to reduce high quality raw materials at Kanjera South. Although lithic reduction at Sare-Abururu was technologically simple, toolmakers proficiently produced cutting edges, made few mistakes and exhibited a mastery of platform management, demonstrating that expedient technical strategies do not necessarily indicate a lack of skill or suitable raw materials. Lithic procurement and reduction patterns on the Homa Peninsula appear to reflect variation in local resource contexts rather than large-scale evolutionary changes in mobility, energy budget, or toolmaker cognition.

Recovering a lost seismic disaster. The destruction of El Castillejo and the discovery of the earliest historic earthquake affecting the Granada region (Spain).

This paper discusses recent archaeological fieldwork conducted at El Castillejo, a medieval Islamic settlement in Los Guájares, Granada, southern Spain. Results from combined archaeological excavation and archaeoseismological assessment of standing structures suggest that the site was affected by a destructive earthquake during its occupation. Radiocarbon samples and OSL analysis point to a seismic event in the period CE 1224-1266. The earthquake occurred within an area marked by a 'seismological gap' in terms of historic seismicity and the causative fault has been tentatively identified in the Nigüelas-Padul Fault System which lies north of the settlement. This event is not recorded by national or European seismic catalogues and represents the oldest historic earthquake in the Granada area. Our work stresses the significant impact that targeted archaeological investigations can generate in our understanding of the local historic seismicity, thus providing clear implications for seismic disaster prevention and reduction.

First evidence for human occupation of a lava tube in Arabia: The archaeology of Umm Jirsan Cave and its surroundings, northern Saudi Arabia.

Recent advances in interdisciplinary archaeological research in Arabia have focused on the evolution and historical development of regional human populations as well as the diverse patterns of cultural change, migration, and adaptations to environmental fluctuations. Obtaining a comprehensive understanding of cultural developments such as the emergence and lifeways of Neolithic groups has been hindered by the limited preservation of stratified archaeological assemblages and organic remains, a common challenge in arid environments. Underground settings like caves and lava tubes, which are prevalent in Arabia but which have seen limited scientific exploration, offer promising opportunities for addressing these issues. Here, we report on an archaeological excavation and a related survey at and around Umm Jirsan lava tube in the Harrat Khaybar, north-western Saudi Arabia. Our results reveal repeated phases of human occupation of the site ranging from at least the Neolithic through to the Chalcolithic/Bronze Age. Pastoralist use of the lava tube and surrounding landscape is attested in rock art and faunal records, suggesting that Umm Jirsan was situated along a pastoral route linking key oases. Isotopic data indicates that herbivores primarily grazed on wild grasses and shrubs rather than being provided with fodder, while humans had a diet consistently high in protein but with increasing consumption of C3 plants through-time, perhaps related to the emergence of oasis agriculture. While underground and naturally sheltered localities are globally prominent in archaeology and Quaternary science, our work represents the first such combined records for Saudi Arabia and highlight the potential for interdisciplinary studies in caves and lava tubes.

The wooden artifacts from Schöningen's Spear Horizon and their place in human evolution.

Ethnographic records show that wooden tools played a pivotal role in the daily lives of hunter-gatherers including food procurement tools used in hunting (e.g., spears, throwing sticks) and gathering (e.g. digging sticks, bark peelers), as well as, domestic tools (e.g., handles, vessels). However, wood rarely survives in the archeological record, especially in Pleistocene contexts and knowledge of prehistoric hunter-gatherer lifeways is strongly biased by the survivorship of more resilient materials such as lithics and bones. Consequently, very few Paleolithic sites have produced wooden artifacts and among them, the site of Schöningen stands out due to its number and variety of wooden tools. The recovery of complete wooden spears and throwing sticks at this 300,000-y-old site (MIS 9) led to a paradigm shift in the hunter vs. scavenger debate. For the first time and almost 30 y after their discovery, this study introduces the complete wooden assemblage from Schöningen 13 II-4 known as the Spear Horizon. In total, 187 wooden artifacts could be identified from the Spear Horizon demonstrating a broad spectrum of wood-working techniques, including the splitting technique. A minimum of 20 hunting weapons is now recognized and two newly identified artifact types comprise 35 tools made on split woods, which were likely used in domestic activities. Schöningen 13 II-4 represents the largest Pleistocene wooden artifact assemblage worldwide and demonstrates the key role woodworking had in human evolution. Finally, our results considerably change the interpretation of the Pleistocene lakeshore site of Schöningen.

Rare wooden artifacts show the smarts of early Neanderthals.

Complex tools from 300,000-year-old deposit at Schöningen in Germany point to a "wood age".

Physiography, foraging mobility, and the first peopling of Sahul.

The route and speed of migration into Sahul by Homo sapiens remain a major research question in archaeology. Here, we introduce an approach which models the impact of the physical environment on human mobility by combining time-evolving landscapes with Lévy walk foraging patterns, this latter accounting for a combination of short-distance steps and occasional longer moves that hunter-gatherers likely utilised for efficient exploration of new environments. Our results suggest a wave of dispersal radiating across Sahul following riverine corridors and coastlines. Estimated migration speeds, based on archaeological sites and predicted travelled distances, fall within previously reported range from Sahul and other regions. From our mechanistic movement simulations, we then analyse the likelihood of archaeological sites and highlight areas in Australia that hold archaeological potential. Our approach complements existing methods and provides interesting perspectives on the Pleistocene archaeology of Sahul that could be applied to other regions around the world.

The Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersal.

A combination of evidence, based on genetic, fossil and archaeological findings, indicates that Homo sapiens spread out of Africa between ~70-60 thousand years ago (kya). However, it appears that once outside of Africa, human populations did not expand across all of Eurasia until ~45 kya. The geographic whereabouts of these early settlers in the timeframe between ~70-60 to 45 kya has been difficult to reconcile. Here we combine genetic evidence and palaeoecological models to infer the geographic location that acted as the Hub for our species during the early phases of colonisation of Eurasia. Leveraging on available genomic evidence we show that populations from the Persian Plateau carry an ancestry component that closely matches the population that settled the Hub outside Africa. With the paleoclimatic data available to date, we built ecological models showing that the Persian Plateau was suitable for human occupation and that it could sustain a larger population compared to other West Asian regions, strengthening this claim.

Agriculture along the upper part of the Middle Zarafshan River during the first millennium AD: A multi-site archaeobotanical analysis.

The Zarafshan River runs from the mountains of Tajikistan and terminates in the sands of the Kyzyl-Kum Desert in Uzbekistan; it served as a communication route and homeland for the Sogdians. The Sogdians are historically depicted as merchants existing from the end of the first millennium BC through the first millennium AD. While recent research has provided the first glimpse into cultivation, commerce, communication, and consumption in the Lower Zarafshan, the agricultural heartland of the Middle Zarafshan Basin has remained unstudied. This paper presents the results of archaeobotanical investigations conducted at five ancient urban sites/areas spanning the fifth to the twelfth centuries AD: Kainar (Penjikent citadel), Penjikent (shahristan), Sanjar-Shah, Kuk-Tosh (pre-Mongol Penjikent), and Afrasiab. Collectively, these data show that cereals, legumes, oil/fiber crops, fruits, and nuts were cultivated on the fertile Zarafshan floodplains. In this paper, we discuss evidence for the diversification of the agricultural assemblage over time, including the introduction of new staple crops and fruits into an already complex cultivation system. In addition, we contrast our data with previously published results from sites along the course of the Zarafshan to determine whether there is a dietary difference between pre-and post-Islamic conquest periods at settlements located along the river.

Two new Later Stone Age sites from the Final Pleistocene in the Falémé Valley, eastern Senegal.

The understanding of cultural dynamics at work at the end of the Final Pleistocene in West Africa suffers from a significant lack of excavated and dated sites, particularly in the Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones. While the Later Stone Age shows varied behavioral developments in different parts of the continent, the chrono-cultural framework of this period remains largely unknown in West Africa. We report on archaeological, geomorphological, and chronological research on two Final Pleistocene Later Stone Age sites in the Falémé Valley, eastern Senegal. Optically stimulated luminescence ages place the site of Toumboura I-2017 between 17 ± 1 and 16 ± 1 ka and the Ravin de Sansandé site between 13 ± 1 ka and 12 ± 1.1 ka. The excavated lithics show typical Later Stone Age industries, characterized by chaînes opératoires of core reduction mainly producing flakes and bladelets as well as blades and laminar flakes. Segments dominate the toolkits but a few backed bladelets and end-scrapers on flake blanks were recognized. Local raw materials were used, with a preference for chert and quartz, as well as greywacke. These Later Stone Age lithic assemblages are the oldest known in Senegal so far and add to the small number of sites known in West Africa for this period, which are mainly located farther south, in sub-tropical ecozones. The Later Stone Age sites of the Falémé Valley are contemporaneous with typical Middle Stone Age technologies in Senegal dated to at least the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. Our results thus provide new archaeological evidence highlighting the complex cultural processes at work during the Final Pleistocene in West Africa.

The network characteristics of classic red tourist attractions in Shaanxi province, China.

Red tourism is a distinctive form of tourism in China. Its network attention serves as a typical indicator to measure the level of promotion and publicity for red tourism, as well as an important reflection of its influence. Understanding the network structure of red tourism is of significant importance for optimizing the spatial pattern of tourism and promoting the development of the tourism industry. Based on this, this study takes the classic red tourism attractions in Shaanxi province, China as an example and constructs a multi-source data network attention evaluation index. Additionally, it employs social network theory to explore the network attention and tourist flow characteristics of the case study area. Research shows that: (1) Overall, the network attention to case-based destinations is relatively low, and there are significant differences in network attention among different attractions. Spatially, the distribution of network attention is uneven. This is manifested by higher network attention to attractions in Yan'an city and lower network attention to attractions in other regions. (2) There are differences in the network attention of different types of attractions. High-level attractions have a higher level of online attention, while low-level attractions have a lower level of network attention. Additionally, archaeological sites tend to receive a higher level of online attention. (3) The network density of tourist flow is low, and the tourism connections between nodes are not closely linked. The linkage between core nodes and edge nodes in tourism is poor. Developed tourism routes only exist in core nodes. (4) Nodes such as Zaoyuan revolution site, Yangjialing revolution site, and Wangjiaping revolution site have a significant influence in the network structure. In addition, the integration and development between red nodes and non-red nodes have been achieved. (5) There is a correlation between network attention and tourist flow, as well as a 'misplacement' feature. Based on the characteristics of attractions, they can be divided into four types: bright-star attractions, cash-cow attractions, thin-dog attractions, and question attractions. Based on the above conclusions, this study proposes targeted development recommendations.

The long-term expansion and recession of human populations.

Over the last 12,000 y, human populations have expanded and transformed critical earth systems. Yet, a key unresolved question in the environmental and social sciences remains: Why did human populations grow and, sometimes, decline in the first place? Our research builds on 20 y of archaeological research studying the deep time dynamics of human populations to propose an explanation for the long-term growth and stability of human populations. Innovations in the productive capacity of populations fuels exponential-like growth over thousands of years; however, innovations saturate over time and, often, may leave populations vulnerable to large recessions in their well-being and population density. Empirically, we find a trade-off between changes in land use that increase the production and consumption of carbohydrates, driving repeated waves of population growth over thousands of years, and the susceptibility of populations to large recessions due to a lag in the impact of humans on resources. These results shed light on the long-term drivers of human population growth and decline.

East-to-west human dispersal into Europe 1.4 million years ago.

Stone tools stratified in alluvium and loess at Korolevo, western Ukraine, have been studied by several research groups1-3 since the discovery of the site in the 1970s. Although Korolevo's importance to the European Palaeolithic is widely acknowledged, age constraints on the lowermost lithic artefacts have yet to be determined conclusively. Here, using two methods of burial dating with cosmogenic nuclides4,5, we report ages of 1.42 ± 0.10 million years and 1.42 ± 0.28 million years for the sedimentary unit that contains Mode-1-type lithic artefacts. Korolevo represents, to our knowledge, the earliest securely dated hominin presence in Europe, and bridges the spatial and temporal gap between the Caucasus (around 1.85-1.78 million years ago)6 and southwestern Europe (around 1.2-1.1 million years ago)7,8. Our findings advance the hypothesis that Europe was colonized from the east, and our analysis of habitat suitability9 suggests that early hominins exploited warm interglacial periods to disperse into higher latitudes and relatively continental sites-such as Korolevo-well before the Middle Pleistocene Transition.

The fauna from Mughr el-Hamamah, Jordan: Insights on human hunting behavior during the Early Upper Paleolithic.

As a corridor for population movement out of Africa, the southern Levant is a natural laboratory for research exploring the dynamics of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition. Yet, the number of well-preserved sites dating to the initial millennia of the Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP; ∼45-30 ka) remains limited, restricting the resolution at which we can study the biocultural and techno-typological changes evidenced across the transition. With EUP deposits dating to 45-39 ka cal BP, Mughr el-Hamamah, Jordan, offers a key opportunity to expand our understanding of EUP lifeways in the southern Levant. Mughr el-Hamamah is particularly noteworthy for its large faunal assemblage, representing the first such assemblage from the Jordan Valley. In this paper, we present results from taxonomic and taphonomic analyses of the EUP fauna from Mughr el-Hamamah. Given broader debates about shifts in human subsistence across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition, we also assess evidence for subsistence intensification, focusing especially on the exploitation of gazelle and the use of small game. Taphonomic data suggest that the fauna was primarily accumulated by human activity. Ungulates dominate the assemblage; gazelle (Gazella sp.) is the most common taxa, followed by fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) and goat (Capra sp.). Among the gazelle, juveniles account for roughly one-third of the sample. While the focus on gazelle and the frequency of juveniles are consistent with broader regional trends, evidence for the regular exploitation of marrow from gazelle phalanges suggests that the EUP occupants of Mughr el-Hamamah processed gazelle carcasses quite intensively. Yet, the overall degree of dietary intensification appears low-small game is rare and evidence for human capture of this game is more equivocal. As a whole, our results support a growing body of data showing gradual shifts in animal exploitation strategies across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in the southern Levant.

Late shellmound occupation in southern Brazil: A multi-proxy study of the Galheta IV archaeological site.

Brazilian coastal archaeology is renowned for its numerous and large shellmounds (sambaquis), which had been continuously occupied from at least 8000 to 1000 years cal BP. However, changes in their structure and material culture in the late Holocene have led to different hypotheses concerning their ecological and cultural changes. The archaeological site Galheta IV (ca. 1300 to 500 years cal BP) offers new insights into the complexity of the late coastal occupation in southern Brazil. Our attempt was to determine whether Galheta IV can be classified as a sambaqui site, or if it belongs to a Southern proto-Jê settlement. Here, we reassessed Galheta's collections and applied a multi-proxy approach using: new 14C dates, zooarchaeology, δ13C and δ15N isotopes in bulk collagen and 87Sr/86Srenamel isotopic ratios from eight human individuals, ceramics analysis, and FTIR. The results indicate an intense exploitation of marine resources, with an area designated for processing animals located at the opposite side of the funerary areas. Bone tools and specific species of animals were found as burial accompaniments. No evidence of human cremations was detected. 87Sr/86Sr results indicate that the eight human individuals always lived on the coast, and did not come from the inland. The pottery analysis confirms the association with Itararé-Taquara, but contrary to what was assumed by previous studies, the pottery seems related to other coastal sites, and not to the highlands. In light of these findings, we propose that Galheta IV can be considered a funerary mound resulting from long and continuous interactions between shellmound and Southern proto-Jê populations. This study not only enhances our understanding of the late coastal occupation dynamics in southern Brazil but also underscores its importance in reshaping current interpretations of shellmound cultural changes over time.