Microparticles from dental calculus disclose paleoenvironmental and palaeoecological records.

Plants have always represented a key element in landscape delineation. Indeed, plant diversity, whose distribution is influenced by geographic/climatic variability, has affected both environmental and human ecology. The present contribution represents a multi-proxy study focused on the detection of starch, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs in ancient dental calculus collected from pre-historical individuals buried at La Sassa and Pila archaeological sites (Central Italy). The collected record suggested the potential use of plant taxa by the people living in Central Italy during the Copper-Middle Bronze Age and expanded the body of evidence reported by previous palynological and palaeoecological studies. The application of a microscopic approach provided information about domesticated crops and/or gathered wild plants and inferred considerations on ancient environments, water sources, and past health and diseases. Moreover, the research supplied data to define the natural resources (e.g., C4-plant intake) and the social use of the space during that period. Another important aspect was the finding of plant clues referable to woody habitats, characterised by broad-leaved deciduous taxa and generally indicative of a warm-temperate climate and grassy vegetation. Other unusual records (e.g., diatoms, brachysclereids) participated in defining the prehistoric ecological framework. Thus, this work provides an overview on the potential of the human dental calculus analysis to delineate some features of the ancient plant ecology and biodiversity.

La Sassa cave: Isotopic evidence for Copper Age and Bronze Age population dynamics in Central Italy.

This study focuses on the changes in diet and mobility of people buried in the La Sassa cave (Latium, Central Italy) during the Copper and Bronze Ages to contribute to the understanding of the complex contemporary population dynamics in Central Italy. To that purpose, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses, strontium isotope analyses, and FT-IR evaluations were performed on human and faunal remains from this cave. The stable isotope analyses evidence a slight shift in diet between Copper and Bronze Age individuals, which becomes prominent in an individual, dating from a late phase, when the cave was mainly used as a cultic shelter. This diachronic study documents an increased dietary variability due to the introduction of novel resources in these protohistoric societies, possibly related to the southward spread of northern human groups into Central Italy. This contact between different cultures is also testified by the pottery typology found in the cave. The latter shows an increase in cultural intermingling starting during the beginning of the middle Bronze Age. The local mobility during this phase likely involved multiple communities scattered throughout an area of a few kilometers around the cave, which used the latter as a burial site both in the Copper and Bronze ages.

Neolithic dental calculi provide evidence for environmental proxies and consumption of wild edible fruits and herbs in central Apennines.

Looking for a biological fingerprint relative to new aspects of the relationship between humans and natural environment during prehistoric times is challenging. Although many issues still need to be addressed in terms of authentication and identification, microparticles hidden in ancient dental calculus can provide interesting information for bridging this gap of knowledge. Here, we show evidence about the role of edible plants for the early Neolithic individuals in the central Apennines of the Italian peninsula and relative cultural landscape. Dental calculi from human and animal specimens exhumed at Grotta Mora Cavorso (Lazio), one of the largest prehistoric burial deposits, have returned an archaeobotanical record made up of several types of palaeoecological proxies. The organic fraction of this matrix was investigated by a multidisciplinary approach, whose novelty consisted in the application of next generation sequencing to ancient plant DNA fragments, specifically codifying for maturase K barcode gene. Panicoideae and Triticeae starches, together with genetic indicators of Rosaceae fruits, figs, and Lamiaceae herbs, suggested subsistence practices most likely still based on wild plant resources. On the other hand, pollen, and non-pollen palynomorphs allowed us to outline a general vegetational framework dominated by woodland patches alternated with meadows, where semi-permanent settlements could have been established.

Pollen record of the Late Pleistocene-Holocene stratigraphic sequence and current plant biodiversity from Grotta Mora Cavorso (Simbruini Mountains, Central Italy).

Grotta Mora Cavorso (Jenne, Latium), a complex karstic system in Central Italy, has returned one of the most precious Prehistoric palaeontological and anthropological heritage. Through the analysis of pollen spectra and charcoals from cave stratigraphic levels (Late Pleistocene final phases-Holocene), the overall vegetation trend of the site was pointed out. Although taphonomy and palynology of cave deposits are complex, pollen assemblage represents a reliable source for inferring past vegetation; indeed, climatic, environmental, and cultural interactions determine fossil pollen record. Site formation processes and postdepositional bias should be generally considered in the analysis of stratigraphic sequences used to define paleoenvironmental conditions. The sediment deposits from Grotta Mora Cavorso showed a vegetation pattern point in out a progressive increase in woody plants from lower levels upward. Palynological investigations highlighted a changing environment predominantly characterized by cooler and perhaps more humid conditions than today, with plant subalpine and marsh communities nearby the cave. The ecological requirements of the identified plant taxa supplied useful indications to reconstruct ancient and modern environments of the Simbruini Mounts and the Upper Aniene River valley. This scenario, in accordance with previous faunistic and carpological findings and palynological analyses from Latium, provided a further perspective on the vegetation history, biodiversity, and climate of an important crossroads between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian coasts.

Ancient genomes reveal structural shifts after the arrival of Steppe-related ancestry in the Italian Peninsula.

Across Europe, the genetics of the Chalcolithic/Bronze Age transition is increasingly characterized in terms of an influx of Steppe-related ancestry. The effect of this major shift on the genetic structure of populations in the Italian Peninsula remains underexplored. Here, genome-wide shotgun data for 22 individuals from commingled cave and single burials in Northeastern and Central Italy dated between 3200 and 1500 BCE provide the first genomic characterization of Bronze Age individuals (n = 8; 0.001-1.2× coverage) from the central Italian Peninsula, filling a gap in the literature between 1950 and 1500 BCE. Our study confirms a diversity of ancestry components during the Chalcolithic and the arrival of Steppe-related ancestry in the central Italian Peninsula as early as 1600 BCE, with this ancestry component increasing through time. We detect close patrilineal kinship in the burial patterns of Chalcolithic commingled cave burials and a shift away from this in the Bronze Age (2200-900 BCE) along with lowered runs of homozygosity, which may reflect larger changes in population structure. Finally, we find no evidence that the arrival of Steppe-related ancestry in Central Italy directly led to changes in frequency of 115 phenotypes present in the dataset, rather that the post-Roman Imperial period had a stronger influence, particularly on the frequency of variants associated with protection against Hansen's disease (leprosy). Our study provides a closer look at local dynamics of demography and phenotypic shifts as they occurred as part of a broader phenomenon of widespread admixture during the Chalcolithic/Bronze Age transition.

Exploring mobility in Italian Neolithic and Copper Age communities.

As a means for investigating human mobility during late the Neolithic to the Copper Age in central and southern Italy, this study presents a novel dataset of enamel oxygen and carbon isotope values (δ18Oca and δ13Cca) from the carbonate fraction of biogenic apatite for one hundred and twenty-six individual teeth coming from two Neolithic and eight Copper Age communities. The measured δ18Oca values suggest a significant role of local sources in the water inputs to the body water, whereas δ13Cca values indicate food resources, principally based on C3 plants. Both δ13Cca and δ18Oca ranges vary substantially when samples are broken down into local populations. Statistically defined thresholds, accounting for intra-site variability, allow the identification of only a few outliers in the eight Copper Age communities, suggesting that sedentary lifestyle rather than extensive mobility characterized the investigated populations. This seems to be also typical of the two studied Neolithic communities. Overall, this research shows that the investigated periods in peninsular Italy differed in mobility pattern from the following Bronze Age communities from more northern areas.

Traces of forgotten historical events in mountain communities in Central Italy: A genetic insight.

OBJECTIVES: Analysis of human genetic variation in mountain communities can shed light on the peopling of mountainous regions, perhaps revealing whether the remote geographic location spared them from outside invasion and preserved their gene pool from admixture. In this study, we created a model to assess genetic traces of historical events by reconstructing the paternal and maternal genetic history of seven small mountain villages in inland valleys of Central Italy. METHODS: The communities were selected for their geographic isolation, attested biodemographic stability, and documented history prior to the Roman conquest. We studied the genetic structure by analyzing two hypervariable segments (HVS-I and HVS-II) of the mtDNA D-loop and several informative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the mtDNA coding region in 346 individuals, in addition to 17 short tandem repeats (STRs) and Y-chromosome SNPs in 237 male individuals. RESULTS: For both uniparental markers, most of the haplogroups originated in Western Europe while some Near Eastern haplogroups were identified at low frequencies. However, there was an evident genetic similarity between the Central Italian samples and Near Eastern populations mainly in the male genetic pool. CONCLUSIONS: The samples highlight an overall European genetic pattern both for mtDNA and Y chromosome. Notwithstanding this scenario, Y chromosome haplogroup Q, a common paternal lineage in Central/Western Asia but almost Europe-wide absent, was found, suggesting that Central Italy could have hosted a settlement from Anatolia that might be supported by cultural, topographic and genetic evidence.

Methodological strategies to assess the degree of bone preservation for ancient DNA studies.

BACKGROUND: Archaeological bones contain only small amounts of DNA due to post-mortem DNA degradation and the changes endogenous DNA is subjected to during diagenesis. An important step before undertaking such time-consuming and costly analyses as ancient DNA investigation is to predict the presence of DNA in ancient samples. To date, the leading screening method has been amino acid racemization; however, other analytical techniques can also be used to assess the degree of bone preservation. AIM: The aim of the present study was to relate the presence of DNA with bone preservation in order to select samples potentially suitable for ancient DNA analysis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Bones collected from several archaeological sites, different locations (cave, rockshelter or sub divo) and diachronic periods were selected for analytical and spectroscopic analysis in order to correlate bone tissue preservation with the presence of DNA. Different techniques were combined to assess the degree of preservation of organic and inorganic components. RESULTS: As determined by different analytical methods, preservation of the inorganic component was best associated with the presence of DNA. CONCLUSION: Evaluation of the bone preservation state may be an efficient step to predict the presence of DNA in ancient samples prior to aDNA analysis.

Identification of ancient Olea europaea L. and Cornus mas L. seeds by DNA barcoding.

The analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) provides archaeologists and anthropologists with innovative, scientific and accurate data to study and understand the past. In this work, ancient seeds, found in the "Mora Cavorso" archaeological site (Latium, Central Italy), were analyzed to increase information about Italian Neolithic populations (plant use, agriculture, diet, trades, customs and ecology). We performed morphological and genetic techniques to identify fossil botanical species. In particular, this study also suggests and emphasizes the use of DNA barcode method for ancient plant sample analysis. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations showed seed compact structure and irregular surface but they did not permit a precise nor empirical classification: so, a molecular approach was necessary. DNA was extracted from ancient seeds and then it was used, as template, for PCR amplifications of standardized barcode genes. Although aDNA could be highly degraded by the time, successful PCR products were obtained, sequenced and compared to nucleotide sequence databases. Positive outcomes (supported by morphological comparison with modern seeds, geographical distribution and historical data) indicated that seeds could be identified as belonging to two plant species: Olea europaea L. and Cornus mas L.

Mitochondrial DNA variation in an isolated area of Central Italy.

BACKGROUND: The genetic variation in Italy is the result of ancient population movement, demographic change, and geography. The increasing possibility of studying the maternal genetic structure of selected Italian population samples at a high level of phylogenetic resolution provides a particularly useful model to assess the presence of genetic traces of the ancient people who lived in Italy in pre-Roman times in present populations AIM: In this study we reconstructed the genetic maternal history of Jenne and Vallepietra, two mountain communities in the Aniene Valley in the Simbruini Mountains near Rome. Both communities have been spared external invasion due to their geographic location, which very likely preserved the genetic pool of these autochthonous populations. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study population (124 individuals from Jenne and Vallepietra) were investigated for D-loop mtDNA hypervariable segments I (HVS-I) and II (HVS-II) and for informative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the coding region. The detected haplotypes were then compared with those of other Italian, European and Mediterranean populations. RESULTS: The distribution of mtDNA diversity in Jenne and Vallepietra, although similar to that found in other European populations, shows a basic variability and the typical signs of a certain degree of isolation between them and other populations analysed; in particular, the Vallepietra sample showed an unusually high frequency (71.3%) of mtDNA haplogroups which are typical of Near Eastern and South-Western Asian populations. CONCLUSION: The high degree of differentiation between the two villages is intriguing, since it suggests a low level of gene flow between them, despite their close geographic proximity and shared linguistic features. The degree of their genetic isolation, also in comparison to other Italian, European and Mediterranean populations, is consistent with isolation among geographically separated populations.