1
|
Oras E, Tõrv M, Johanson K, Rannamäe E, Poska A, Lõugas L, Lucquin A, Lundy J, Brown S, Chen S, Varul L, Haferberga V, Legzdiņa D, Zariņa G, Cramp L, Heyd V, Reay M, Pospieszny Ł, Robson HK, Nordqvist K, Heron C, Craig OE, Kriiska A. Parallel worlds and mixed economies: multi-proxy analysis reveals complex subsistence systems at the dawn of early farming in the northeast Baltic. R Soc Open Sci 2023; 10:230880. [PMID: 37800159 PMCID: PMC10548101 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
The transition from foraging to farming was a key turning point in ancient socio-economies. Yet, the complexities and regional variations of this transformation are still poorly understood. This multi-proxy study provides a new understanding of the introduction and spread of early farming, challenging the notions of hierarchical economies. The most extensive biological and biomolecular dietary overview, combining zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical, dietary stable isotope and pottery lipid residue analyses is presented, to unravel the nature and extent of early farming in the 3rd millennium cal BCE in the northeast Baltic. Farming was introduced by incoming Corded Ware cultural groups (CWC), but some dietary segregation existed within these communities, with some having more access to domesticates, others incorporating more wild resources into their diet. The CWC groups coexisted in parallel with local hunter-fisher-gatherers (HFG) without any indication of the adoption of domesticates. There was no transition from foraging to farming in the 3rd millennium cal BCE in the NE Baltic. Instead, we see a complex system of parallel worlds with local HFGs continuing forager lifeways, and incoming farmers practising mixed economies, with the continuation of these subsistence strategies for at least a millennium after the first encounter with domesticated animals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ester Oras
- Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu, Ravila 14 a, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Jakobi 2, 51005 Tartu, Estonia
- Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), Linneanum, Thunbergsvägen 2, 75238 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Mari Tõrv
- Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu, Ravila 14 a, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Jakobi 2, 51005 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Kristiina Johanson
- Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Jakobi 2, 51005 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Eve Rannamäe
- Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Jakobi 2, 51005 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Anneli Poska
- Department of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate Tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Lembi Lõugas
- Archaeological Research Collection, Tallinn University, Rüütli 10, 10130 Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Alexandre Lucquin
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, Environment Building, Wentworth Way, YO10 5DD York, UK
| | - Jasmine Lundy
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, Environment Building, Wentworth Way, YO10 5DD York, UK
| | - Samantha Brown
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Shidong Chen
- Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu, Ravila 14 a, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Liivi Varul
- School of Humanities, Division of History, Tallinn University, Narva rd 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Vanda Haferberga
- Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Kalpaka blvd 4, LV-1050 Riga, Latvia
| | - Dardega Legzdiņa
- Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Kalpaka blvd 4, LV-1050 Riga, Latvia
| | - Gunita Zariņa
- Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Kalpaka blvd 4, LV-1050 Riga, Latvia
| | - Lucy Cramp
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, BS8 1UU Bristol, UK
| | - Volker Heyd
- Department of Cultures, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 38, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Michaela Reay
- Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, BS8 1TS Bristol, UK
| | - Łukasz Pospieszny
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, BS8 1UU Bristol, UK
- Institute of Archaeology, University of Gdańsk, ul. Bielańska 5, 80-851 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Harry K. Robson
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, Environment Building, Wentworth Way, YO10 5DD York, UK
| | - Kerkko Nordqvist
- Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Fabianinkatu 24, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Carl Heron
- Department of Scientific Research, The British Museum, WC1B 3DG London, UK
| | - Oliver E. Craig
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, Environment Building, Wentworth Way, YO10 5DD York, UK
| | - Aivar Kriiska
- Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Jakobi 2, 51005 Tartu, Estonia
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Kambouris ME, Patrinos GP, Velegraki A, Manoussopoulos Y. Historical microbiology: researching past bioevents by integrating scholarship (re)sources with paleomicrobiology assets. Future Microbiol 2023; 18:681-693. [PMID: 37584528 DOI: 10.2217/fmb-2023-0031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The analysis of past epidemics and pandemics, either spontaneous or of human origin, may revise the physical history of microbiota and create a temporal context in our understanding regarding pathogen attributes like virulence, evolution, transmission and disease dynamics. The data of high-tech scientific methods seem reliable, but their interpretation may still be biased when tackling events of the distant past. Such endeavors should be adjusted to other cognitive resources including historical accounts reporting the events of interest and references in alien medical cultures and terminologies; the latter may contextualize them differently from current practices. Thus 'historical microbiology' emerges. Validating such resources requires utmost care, as these may be susceptible to different biases regarding the interpretation of facts and phenomena; biases partly due to methodological limitations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - George P Patrinos
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26504, Greece
- Department of Genetics & Genomics, College of Medicine & Health Sciences & Zayed Center of Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates
| | | | - Yiannis Manoussopoulos
- Plant Protection Division of Patras, Institute of Industrial & Forage Plants, NEO & Amerikis, Patras, 26004, Greece
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Badillo-Sanchez DA, Jones DJL, Inskip SA, Scheib CL. Human Archaeological Dentin as Source of Polar and Less Polar Metabolites for Untargeted Metabolomic Research: The Case of Yersinia pestis. Metabolites 2023; 13:588. [PMID: 37233629 PMCID: PMC10223108 DOI: 10.3390/metabo13050588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Metabolomic approaches, such as in clinical applications of living individuals, have shown potential use for solving questions regarding the past when applied to archaeological material. Here, we study for the first time the potential of this Omic approach as applied to metabolites extracted from archaeological human dentin. Dentin obtained from micro sampling the dental pulp of teeth of victims and non-victims of Yersinia pestis (plague) from a 6th century Cambridgeshire site are used to evaluate the potential use of such unique material for untargeted metabolomic studies on disease state through liquid chromatography hyphenated to high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). Results show that small molecules of both likely endogenous and exogenous sources are preserved for a range of polar and less polar/apolar metabolites in archaeological dentin; however, untargeted metabolomic profiles show no clear differentiation between healthy and infected individuals in the small sample analysed (n = 20). This study discusses the potential of dentin as a source of small molecules for metabolomic assays and highlights: (1) the need for follow up research to optimise sampling protocols, (2) the requirements of studies with larger sample numbers and (3) the necessity of more databases to amplify the positive results achievable with this Omic technique in the archaeological sciences.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Donald J L Jones
- Leicester Cancer Research Centre, RKCSB, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
- The Leicester van Geest MultiOmics Facility, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Sarah A Inskip
- School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Christiana L Scheib
- Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 51010 Tartu, Estonia
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK
- St. John's College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TP, UK
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Culley C, Janzen A, Brown S, Prendergast ME, Wolfhagen J, Abderemane B, Ali AK, Haji O, Horton MC, Shipton C, Swift J, Tabibou TA, Wright HT, Boivin N, Crowther A. Collagen fingerprinting traces the introduction of caprines to island Eastern Africa. R Soc Open Sci 2021; 8:202341. [PMID: 34350011 PMCID: PMC8316820 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.202341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The human colonization of eastern Africa's near- and offshore islands was accompanied by the translocation of several domestic, wild and commensal fauna, many of which had long-term impacts on local environments. To better understand the timing and nature of the introduction of domesticated caprines (sheep and goat) to these islands, this study applied collagen peptide fingerprinting (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry or ZooMS) to archaeological remains from eight Iron Age sites, dating between ca 300 and 1000 CE, in the Zanzibar, Mafia and Comoros archipelagos. Where previous zooarchaeological analyses had identified caprine remains at four of these sites, this study identified goat at seven sites and sheep at three, demonstrating that caprines were more widespread than previously known. The ZooMS results support an introduction of goats to island eastern Africa from at least the seventh century CE, while sheep in our sample arrived one-two centuries later. Goats may have been preferred because, as browsers, they were better adapted to the islands' environments. The results allow for a more accurate understanding of early caprine husbandry in the study region and provide a critical archaeological baseline for examining the potential long-term impacts of translocated fauna on island ecologies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Courtney Culley
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Anneke Janzen
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
| | - Samantha Brown
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Institute for Scientific Archaeology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Jesse Wolfhagen
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Bourhane Abderemane
- Centre National de Documentation et de Recherche Scientifique, Mutsamudu, Anjouan, Comoros
| | | | - Othman Haji
- Department of Museums and Antiquities, Zanzibar, Tanzania
| | - Mark C. Horton
- Cultural Heritage Institute, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, England
| | - Ceri Shipton
- Institute of Archaeology, Gordon Square, University College London, London, UK
- Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Jillian Swift
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Tabibou A. Tabibou
- Centre National de Documentation et de Recherche Scientifique, Moroni, Grand Comore, Comoros
| | - Henry T. Wright
- Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Nicole Boivin
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Alison Crowther
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Tushingham S, Snyder CM, Brownstein KJ, Damitio WJ, Gang DR. Biomolecular archaeology reveals ancient origins of indigenous tobacco smoking in North American Plateau. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:11742-11747. [PMID: 30373836 PMCID: PMC6243282 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1813796115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Chemical analysis of residues contained in the matrix of stone smoking pipes reveal a substantial direct biomolecular record of ancient tobacco (Nicotiana) smoking practices in the North American interior northwest (Plateau), in an area where tobacco was often portrayed as a Euro-American-introduced postcontact trade commodity. Nicotine, a stimulant alkaloid and biomarker for tobacco, was identified via ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in 8 of 12 analyzed pipes and pipe fragments from five sites in the Columbia River Basin, southeastern Washington State. The specimens date from 1200 cal BP to historic times, confirming the deep time continuity of intoxicant use and indigenous smoking practices in northwestern North America. The results indicate that hunting and gathering communities in the region, including ancestral Nez Perce peoples, established a tobacco smoking complex of wild (indigenous) tobacco well before the main domesticated tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) was introduced by contact-era fur traders and settlers after the 1790s. This is the longest continuous biomolecular record of ancient tobacco smoking from a single region anywhere in the world-initially during an era of pithouse development, through the late precontact equestrian era, and into the historic period. This contradicts some ethnohistorical data indicating that kinnikinnick, or bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) was the primary precontact smoke plant in the study area. Early use likely involved the management and cultivation of indigenous tobaccos (Nicotiana quadrivalvis or Nicotiana attenuata), species that are today exceedingly rare in the region and seem to have been abandoned as smoke plants after the entry of trade tobacco.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shannon Tushingham
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164;
| | - Charles M Snyder
- Urban Studies and Community Health, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 38112
- Department of Interprofessional Education, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163
| | - Korey J Brownstein
- Institute for Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164
| | - William J Damitio
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164
| | - David R Gang
- Institute for Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
McGovern PE, Luley BP, Rovira N, Mirzoian A, Callahan MP, Smith KE, Hall GR, Davidson T, Henkin JM. Beginning of viniculture in France. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013; 110:10147-52. [PMID: 23733937 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1216126110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Chemical analyses of ancient organic compounds absorbed into the pottery fabrics of imported Etruscan amphoras (ca. 500-475 B.C.) and into a limestone pressing platform (ca. 425-400 B.C.) at the ancient coastal port site of Lattara in southern France provide the earliest biomolecular archaeological evidence for grape wine and viniculture from this country, which is crucial to the later history of wine in Europe and the rest of the world. The data support the hypothesis that export of wine by ship from Etruria in central Italy to southern Mediterranean France fueled an ever-growing market and interest in wine there, which, in turn, as evidenced by the winepress, led to transplantation of the Eurasian grapevine and the beginning of a Celtic industry in France. Herbal and pine resin additives to the Etruscan wine point to the medicinal role of wine in antiquity, as well as a means of preserving it during marine transport.
Collapse
|