Megaliths & Monuments news, 2016

An Archaeological Study Tour

Megaliths & MonumentsBrittany, France & Wiltshire, England

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Stonehenge

© 2015 Bluestone Heights

May 4-18, 2016

Research news (2015-2016) on the European Neolithic

Roy Larick, Lecturer

15 Days

Megaliths & Monuments, 2016Research news relevant to the Neolithic of northwest Europe


Archaeological Tours study tour

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This year's news focuses on the genetic basis for understanding the Neolithic.

We are at the peak of modeling ancient gene flow based on modern and 'fossil' DNA. Addressed is the genetic makeup of prehistoric European humans, dogs, and wheat.

Bare-bones summaries of current research papers. Basic data, graphics and links only. News items to be fleshed out on tour.

Includes links to the original abstracts--the online papers usually lie behind a paywall.


Farming’s effect on the Homo sapiens skeleton

Gradual decline in mobility with the adoption of food production in Europe

Christopher Ruff et al. PNAS, July, 2015 (Vol. 112, pg. 7147)

1,842 European skeletons spanning 33 kyr, Upper Paleolithic to 20th century

Decreased bending strength implies a decline of mobility as agriculture came to dominate how people produced food. The original decline in mobility was more important than subsequent changes in farming technology.

http://www.pnas.org/content/112/23/7147.abstract

Decreased bending strength of leg bones accompanied the shift. The trend was not apparent during the last 2 ka, as agriculture became more mechanized.

From the Neolithic to Roman eras (7-2 ka) humans shifted from mobile to an increasingly sedentary lifestyles.


The study measured the strength of the tibia, femur, and humerus. The authors found little change in mediolateral, or side-to-side, bending strength in all the bones over time, but a decline in anteroposterior, or front-to-back, bending strength of the tibia and femur beginning in the Neolithic Period (7 ka), and continuing through the Iron/Roman Period (2 ka).

The results suggest that mild changes in activity levels may be insufficient to stimulate changes in bone mass and that vigorous exercise may be required to increase bone strength.

Temporal trends in bending strength relative to body size [mm3/(kg·mm)·104]. (A) Femoral A–P strength. (B) Tibial A–P strength. (C) Humeral A–Pstrength. (D) Femoral M–L strength. (E)Tibial M–L strength. (F) Humeral M–L strength. Males: blue; females: red.

http://genetics.med.harvard.edu/reich/Reich_Lab/Welcome_files/2015_Nature_Fu_Oase.pdf




Exotic objects of the European Neolithic

Signs of Wealth: Inequalities in the Neolithic

National Museum of Prehistory, Les EyziesJune 27 to November 15, 2015

As Neolithic communities dispersed into Europe, 8-4.2 ka, they brought new techniques for making and ornamenting material culture. Intricate manufacturing could produce very beautiful pieces.

High-value items usually signified wealth and distinction for the owner. Some were hoarded to be used in relations between the elites or with supernatural powers.

High-value items often featured exotic raw materials, some traveling hundreds of kilometers from quarry to workshop. Likewise, finished pieces, including necklaces, daggers, axes, bracelets, could circulate for long distances and times.

Signs of Wealth features "object sign" artifacts in exotic materials still valuable in our day (jade, gold, turquoise, jet, etc).

(Larick’s paraphrase)

15 ka, all humans lived by foraging wild animals and plants. Exploiting such resources worked best when people lived in tiny bands and moved around a lot. Individual foragers could not build much wealth or power. They tended to be very poor but very equal. SoL: $1.10 per day (1990 values)

12 ka, foragers numbered 6 million11 ka, population exploded with farming 2 ka, farmers numbered 250 millionBy 1800 AD, foraging was almost extinct

With farming, big social groups stayed in one place working their fields. They flourished at the expense of smaller, less sedentary ones. Farmers were typically richer than foragers SoL: $1.50-$2.20 per day

Farming’s effect on wealth distribution

To each age its inequality

Ian Morris New York Times, July 9, 2015

Farming needed more complicated divisions of labor than foraging. Some people became aristocrats or godlike kings; others became peasants or slaves. Economic inequality surged.

Modern Europe: three ancestral populations

Ancient and modern human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans

Iosif Lazaridis, et al.Nature 18 September 2014

Current Europeans derive from 3 populations: 1) west European hunter-gatherers (WHG)2) ancient north Eurasians (ANE) 3) early European farmers (EEF)

http://genetics.med.harvard.edu/reich/Reich_Lab/Welcome_files/2014_Nature_Lazaridis_EuropeThreeAncestries_1.pdf

Proportions of ancestry from each of three inferred ancestral populations (EEF, ANE and WHG)

Three-way mixture modelBlue: present-day samples Red: ancient samplesGreen: reconstructed ancestral populations Solid lines: descent without mixtureDashed lines: admixture

Genome sequencing makes clear what the archaeology makes difficult




Steppe migration and Indo-European

Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe

Evan GallowayNature 17 February 2015

Two fresh studies — one of ancient human DNA, the other a newly constructed genealogical ‘tree’ of languages — point to the steppes of Ukraine and Russia as the origin of this major language family, rekindling a long-standing debate.

http://www.nature.com/news/steppe-migration-rekindles-debate-on-language-origin-1.16935




(B) Large-scale stratigraphic profile of the site, indicating the depth and location of the Mesolithic palaeosol and the location of the area from which cores were taken.

Southern Britain coastal areas, 9840 to 7830 ka Floral and faunal

composition of the Mesolithic palaeosol.

Bouldnor Cliff, Isle of Wight: Wheat at 8 ka

Sedimentary DNA from a submerged site reveals wheat in the British Isles 8000 years ago

Oliver Smith et al.Science 27 February 2015:

Bouldnor CliffSolent, Isle of Wight

(C) Core area in detail, stratigraphic profile of the site indicating core sites (MS-04-8, and MS-20), and approximate location of the sediment sample taken for sedaDNA analysis

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/347/6225/998.abstract




Steppe migration and Indo-European

Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe

Wolfgang Haak, et al.Nature 02 March 2015

Western and Eastern Europe came into contact 4,500 years ago, as the Late Neolithic Corded Ware people from Germany traced 75% of their ancestry to the Yamnaya, documenting a massive migration into the heartland of Europe from its eastern periphery. This steppe ancestry persisted in all sampled central Europeans until at least 3,000 years ago, and is ubiquitous in present-day Europeans. These results provide support for a steppe origin of at least some of the Indo-European languages of Europe


Distribution of archaeological cultures and proposed population movements / turnovers

Early Neolithic farmers into Europe 9,000 to 7,000 years ago

Late Neolithic Steppe ancestry into central Europe

~4,500 years ago

Resurgence of hunter-gatherer ancestry during the Middle Neolithic

7,000 to 5,000 years ago

White arrows indicate two possible scenarios for the arrival of Indo-European language groups




Flow of Anglo-Saxons from present-day Germany into Britain after the departure of the Romans in 410 AD. Interbred with locals, not replacing them. Danish Vikings occupied Britain 700s to 1100s AD, left little genomic signature.

British Isles mapped by genetic ancestry

The fine-scale genetic structure of the British population migrations

Stephen Leslie, et al.Nature 18 March 2015

Among 17 genomic clusters, central and southern Englander are the largest group. Many groupings are more isolated, such as the split between Devonians and Cornish in Britain’s southwest. People who trace ancestry to the Orkney Islands, off the northeast coast of Scotland, fell into three distinct categories. likely so differentiated because the islands made it hard for different populations to mingle.

Timeline

9600 BC Late Paleo hunter-gatherers colonize upon glacial retreat

2500 BC Influx of settlers from east and western coastal routes

54 BC Julius Caesar invades/defeats British tribal chief Cassivellaunus

410 AD Collapse of Roman rule, Britain descends into the chaos

400-500 AD Large influx of Angles and Saxons

600-700 AD Anglo-Saxon rule throughout Britain–Welsh kings resist

865 AD Large-scale invasion by Danish Vikings

1066 AD Norman invasion


Fine-scale genetic variation between human populations is a signature of historical demographic events . We use haplotype-based statistical methods to analyse genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from a carefully chosen geographically diverse sample of 2,039 individuals from the UK.

The pattern of genetic differentiation has remarkable concordance with geography.

The regional genetic differentiation and differing patterns of shared ancestry with 6,209 individuals from across Europe carry clear signals of historical demographic events.

We estimate the genetic contribution to southeastern England from Anglo-Saxon migrations to be under half, and identify the regions not carrying genetic material from these migrations.

We suggest significant pre-Roman but post-Mesolithic movement into southeastern England from continental Europe, and show that in non-Saxon parts of the United Kingdom, there exist genetically differentiated subgroups rather than a general ‘Celtic’ population.

http://www.nature.com/news/british-isles-mapped-out-by-genetic-ancestry-1.17136



aDNA 2015: Neolithic insights

Major transitions in human evolution revisited: A tribute to ancient DNA

Ermini, Der Sarkissian, Willerslev & Orlando Journal of Human Evolution 26 March 2015

WHG mtDNA, Spain to W Russia ~ 30 to 4.1 ka suggests relative homogeneity in the mtDNA gene pool, with haplogroup U as dominant. Modern mtDNA: haplogroup U the oldest in Europe

aDNA reveals that Neolithic dietary shift introduced changes to our genomes and microbiomes

post-Mesolithic aDNA indicates the Neolithic as the main event responsible for the genetic discontinuity observed between WHG and present-day populations. Early European farmers (EEF) of the Linearband keramik culture (LBK) in Germany (~7.5 ka) were genetically different from WHG

http://horizon-magazine.eu/article/ice-age-europeans-roamed-small-bands-fewer-30-brink-extinction_en.html

German Late Neolithic Corded Ware culture (~4.8 kyr ago) saw introduction of mtDNA lineages I and U2 from an eastern European origin. The Corded Ware culture co-existed in Germany with Bell Beaker culture (BBC), which is thought to have left a substantial legacy on the mtDNA of central Europeans,

aDNA to pinpoint wild ancestors of domestic species. Full genome sequencing will reveal genetic pathways to the diversity of today’s forms, and cultural contexts, particular traits arose.

we now have genomic data from no less than 24 ancient individuals, eight of which are archaic hominins. new target enrichment methods for full chromosomes (Fu et al., 2013a) andfull genomes (Carpenter et al., 2013) are now available and will likely help in retrieving genome-wide sequence information at reasonable cost from the broader repertoire of archaeological remains.

the field of ancient human DNAwill increasingly move towards the study of human evolution at deeper timescales (i.e., within the last millions of years). The sensitivity of these new methods will also allow the recovery ofgenome-wide sequence information from much younger samplespreserved in warm environments, which could only exceptionallyprovide reliable genetic results.

possible to obtain more molecular informationfrom human archaeological remains. Such information willlikely be used to identify regions with differential epigeneticregulation and gene expression levels in ancient and modernpopulations. Ancient protein sequencing might also allow the recoveryof past information beyond the range of DNA survival,allowing access to the deep evolutionary past of the human lineage



Using >120 diagrams and photographs, Wiseman summarizes the monument's construction and its archaeological excavation.

Stonehenge has for many centuries been viewed through the shroud of stark majesty; a shambling folly in grand decay, singularly stoic and alone out on the blustery Salisbury Plain, England

Atkinson called the builders 'Howling Savages'. Stukeley 'Our Rude Cousins'. But how did such brutes erect this monument with a precision unmatched until Roman times - 2,000 years later?

Stonehenge

Stonehenge and the Neolithic Cosmos: A New Look at the Oldest Mystery in the World

Neil S. Wisemman30 March 2015

The text is quirky with some self-deprecating humour, making it highly readable. I found myself drawn into the monument's story and like a good novel, at its end I was left wanting more.

http://www.amazon.com/Stonehenge-Neolithic-Cosmos-Oldest-Mystery/dp/0692362827/





Carnac

Musée de Préhistoire J. Miln – Z. Le RouzicInternational colloquium on Neolithic variscite jewelry

http://www.museedecarnac.com/evenements.php

Variscite is phosphate hydrated aluminum, close to turquoise in mineral composition and color.

As a semi-precious gemstone, variscite was called ‘callais’ by older authors. In 1853, callais jewelry was found in great quantity within the mounds of the Carnac region. It has since been found in many other sites in Carnac and beyond.

In the last 20 years, variscite has been the subject of intense research activity, especially in regard to its geological sources, quarrying methods, and long distance transport.

In early April 2015, the Carnac Prehistory Museum held a pan-European symposium on Neolithic variscite.

Fifteen researchers (archaeologists, geologists, gemologists, chemists, etc) came together in Carnac to disclose the results of investigations of this prestigious material of the Western Europe Neolithic. There were five themes:

1) physical and chemical properties of variscite. 2) Neolithic variscite mines on the Iberian peninsula. 3) geochemical sourcing for particular artifacts. 4) Variscite consumption in Spain, Portugal, France. 5) Trans-Europe Neolithic transport and exchange.



Modern Humans and DogsThe Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction

Pat Shipman, UCSD (2015)

Modern humans domesticated dogs soon after Neanderthals began to disappear (33 ka)

This alliance between two predator species, gave moderns success in hunting large Ice Age mammals--a distinct and ultimately decisive advantage for human invaders at a time when climate change made both humans and Neanderthals vulnerable.

Genome Sequencing Highlights Genes Under Selection and the Dynamic Early History of Dogs

Robert Wayne, Beth Shapiro, et al.Nature, 2013

Dogs split from European wolves 30-18 ka Modern humans hunted grassland steppe

hoping to widen scope with more DNA from fossils outside of Europe, while also looking at the genes of living dogs that might hold important clues.

Some wolves began to scavenge left carcasses. As they migrated along with people, some were isolated from others.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/science/wolf-to-dog-scientists-agree-on-how-but-not-where.html?action=click&contentCollection=Science&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Paleolithic dog fossil recovered from a cave in Belgium


http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-invaders-by-pat-shipman-1426884980





An Archaeological Study Tour

Megaliths & MonumentsBrittany, France & Wiltshire, England

[email protected]

Stonehenge


May 6-20, 2015


15 Days

I look forward to meeting you on Megaliths & Monuments 2015

Roy Larick

Walk back in time Look to the Future

Euclid bluestone outcropDoan Brook, Cleveland OH

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Megaliths & Monuments news, 2016