Isotopic systematics point to wild origin of mummified birds in Ancient Egypt

Multiple lines of evidence of early goose domestication in a 7,000-y-old rice cultivation village in the lower Yangtze River, China

We studied goose bones from Tianluoshan—a 7,000-y-old rice cultivation village in the lower Yangtze River valley, China—using histological, geochemical, biochemical, and morphological approaches. Our analyses reveal an early stage of goose domestication at Tianluoshan. The goose population seemed to have been maintained for several generations without the introduction of individuals from other populations and might have been fed cultivated paddy rice. These findings indicate that goose domestication dates back 7,000 y, making geese the oldest domesticated poultry species in history.

Poultry are farmed globally, with chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) being the leading domesticated species. Although domestic chicken bones have been reported from some Early Holocene sites, their origin is controversial and there is no reliable domestic chicken bone older than the Middle Holocene. Here, we studied goose bones from Tianluoshan—a 7,000-y-old rice cultivation village in the lower Yangtze River valley, China—using histological, geochemical, biochemical, and morphological approaches. Histological analysis revealed that one of the bones was derived from a locally bred chick, although no wild goose species breed in southern China. The analysis of oxygen-stable isotope composition supported this observation and further revealed that some of the mature bones were also derived from locally bred individuals. The nitrogen-stable isotope composition showed that locally bred mature birds fed on foods different from those eaten by migrant individuals. Morphological analysis revealed that the locally bred mature birds were homogenous in size, whereas radiocarbon dating clearly demonstrated that the samples from locally bred individuals were ∼7,000 y old. The histological, geochemical, biochemical, morphological, and contextual evidence suggest that geese at Tianluoshan village were at an early stage of domestication. The goose population appears to have been maintained for several generations without the introduction of individuals from other populations and may have been fed cultivated paddy rice. These findings indicate that goose domestication dates back 7,000 y, making geese the oldest domesticated poultry species in history.

The Use of Intrinsic Markers for Studying the Migratory Movements of Bats

Mortality of migratory bat species at wind energy facilities is a well-documented phenomenon, and mitigation and management are partially constrained by the current limited knowledge of bat migratory movements. Analyses of biochemical signatures in bat tissues ("intrinsic markers") can provide information about the migratory origins of individual bats. Many tissue samples for intrinsic marker analysis may be collected from living and dead bats, including carcasses collected at wind energy facilities. In this paper, we review the full suite of available intrinsic marker analysis techniques that may be used to study bat migration, with the goal of summarizing the current literature and highlighting knowledge gaps and opportunities. We discuss applications of the stable isotopes of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, sulfur; radiogenic strontium isotopes; trace elements and contaminants; and the combination of these markers with each other and with other extrinsic markers. We further discuss the tissue types that may be analyzed for each and provide a synthesis of the generalized workflow required to link bats to origins using intrinsic markers. While stable hydrogen isotope techniques have clearly been the leading approach to infer migratory bat movement patterns across the landscape, here we emphasize a variety of lesser used intrinsic markers (i.e., strontium, trace elements, contaminants) that may address new study areas or answer novel research questions.