Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Evidence of Prostatic Stones at Al Khiday Cemetery, Central Sudan.

The recovery of three stone-like ovoid objects within the burial of a pre-Mesolithic (Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene) individual at Al Khiday cemetery (Central Sudan) raises the question of the nature and origin of these objects. The position in which the objects were found in relation to the human skeleton suggested a pathological condition affecting the individual, possibly urinary bladder, kidney stones or gallstones. To solve this issue, a multi-analytical approach, consisting of tomographic, microstructural and compositional analyses, was therefore performed. Based on their microstructure and mineralogical composition, consisting of hydroxylapatite and whitlockite, the investigated stones were identified as primary (endogenous) prostatic calculi. In addition, the occurrence of bacterial imprints also indicates on-going infectious processes in the individual. This discovery of the earliest known case of lithiasis extends the appearance of prostatic stones into the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene, a disease which therefore can no longer be considered exclusive to the modern era, but which also affected prehistoric individuals, whose lifestyle and diet were significantly different to our own.

Stable isotope study on ancient populations of central sudan: Insights on their diet and environment.

OBJECTIVES: A contribution to the knowledge of the economy and the environmental surroundings of the populations living along the Nile valley in three different periods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study reports stable isotope analyses on apatite bone samples of 139 humans, 48 mammals, and 43 fish from the Al Khiday archaeological sites in Sudan. The bones belong to four archaeological periods: pre-Mesolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Meroitic. Data were processed statistically. RESULTS: A significant difference exists between the pre-Mesolithic and Mesolithic mean δ(18) Ow value and the mean of the modern Nile. The mean δ(18) Ow values for the Neolithic humans and bovids are very similar (+1.5‰ ±4‰, and -2‰, respectively) and more positive than the mean values of Mesolithic mammals and Pre-Mesolithic humans. The water ingested by Meroitic humans (+7‰ ± 2.5‰) is enriched in (18) O in respect to the water ingested by the Neolithic population. There is a separation in the δ(13) Cdiet values between the pre-Mesolithic humans (-14‰ ± 1‰) and Mesolithic mammals (-12‰ ± 2‰) group and the Neolithic humans (-18‰ ± 1‰), Meroitic humans (-19‰ ±1‰), Neolithic mammals (-21‰), and the modern (mean δ(13) Cdiet = -19‰ ±2‰) mammal group. DISCUSSION: The climate became warmer and more arid from the pre-Mesolithic/Mesolithic to the Meroitic period. The environmental conditions influenced the strategies of subsistence and, in particular, the changes occurring from the pre-Mesolithic to the Neolithic can be considered contemporaneous to the transition from hunting-gathering-fishing to cultivation-herding. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:498-518, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.