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Abstract:

Plague is among the most devastating diseases in human history1. However, early strains of the plague-causing bacterium Yersinia pestis lacked virulence factors that are required for the bubonic form until around 3,800 years ago2, 3. Consequently, the morbidity and mortality of early plague strains remain unclear. Here we describe early plague strains that are associated with two phases of outbreaks among mid-Holocene hunter-gatherers near Lake Baikal in southeast Siberia, beginning from about 5,500 years ago. These outbreaks occur across four hunter-gatherer cemeteries, with a 39% detection rate for plague infection. By reconstructing kinship pedigrees, we show that small familial groups were affected, consistent with human-to-human spread of disease, and that the first outbreak occurred within a single generation. The infections appear to have resulted in acute mortality, especially among children (aged 8 to 11 years). We further note functional differences, including in the ypm superantigen locus, which is also present in present day Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. The new strains diverge ancestrally to known Y. pestis and constrain the timing of its emergence, indicating that this happened before approximately 5,700 years ago. These findings show that plague outbreaks happened earlier than previously thought and were indeed lethal. We contend that the occurrence of outbreaks among mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer communities well outside the sphere of Late Neolithic Europe challenges the notion that higher population densities and lifestyle changes during the Neolithic agricultural transition were prerequisites for plague epidemics.

Abstract:

Radiocarbon dating is essential for establishing robust chronologies in archaeological and paleoenvironmental contexts spanning the last 55,000 years. Pottery, pervasive in the archaeological record, offers a crucial framework for dating human activity during the Holocene. Traditionally, radiocarbon dating of pottery has relied on targeting carbonaceous inclusions such as organic temper or measuring stratigraphically associated materials like bone and charcoal. Inaccuracies can arise, however, if the targeted fraction does not reflect the timing of vessel use or if stratigraphic associations are uncertain. An alternative involves radiocarbon dating of lipid residues, particularly fatty acids absorbed into the ceramic matrix during the processing and storage of plant and animal-derived resources. This approach holds promise for delivering highly accurate measurements directly correlating to vessel use. At the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, efforts have been made to develop this methodology through compound-specific radiocarbon dating of pottery, employing a gas chromatography (GC)-preparative fraction collector (PFC) approach. Here, we describe the protocol and present preliminary findings, including analyses conducted on pottery samples sourced from an archaeological site with an established chronology.

Abstract:

Abstract. Chew Bahir, a lake that is dry for most of the year, located in a tectonic basin in the southern Ethiopian Rift, was the target of several scientific drilling expeditions between 2009 and 2014. The aim of these expeditions was to explore the basin and its lake sediments as an archive of past changes in the environmental conditions during the evolution of our species, Homo sapiens. In more than 25 publications, the scientific findings derived from the analysis of the sediments were presented and discussed in detail. In the present paper, we provide the background information on the project's origins, planning and implementation – that is, information that has not yet been presented in scientific papers, or only very briefly, but which could be important for those working on similar projects in the future. Herein, we particularly focus on the advantages and disadvantages of obtaining twin cores at a short distance, aiming at a continuous high-quality composite core, a strategy that had to be defended during the planning stage of the project due to the higher costs involved but which is considered to be the best practice for scientific drilling in modern sedimentary basins.

Abstract:

Narratives about the motivations and conditions for mass violence as a persistent feature of conflict throughout human history have evolved in complexity and materiality. Victims of these events are key for understanding the evolution and transformative power of violent behaviour as it developed from simple inter-group conflict to more strategic mass violence. Here we present the results of a bioarchaeological study of 77 and biomolecular analysis of 25 individuals from a 9th century BCE mass grave from Gomolava in the Carpathian Basin, Southeast Europe. The site is located at the interface of complex socio-spatial relations, divergent cultural traditions and values, and competing ideologies of landscape use. Here we show that excessive lethal violence enacted mostly on women and children suggests a selective demographic bias. The people buried together shared few, even distant, genetic relationships, and so their killing presents striking evidence for an episode of cross-regional conflict and an underlying aggressive shift in power, violence and gender relations in the region. Gomolava provides evidence for the deliberate annihilation of select sections of a regional population as a motivation for mass violence behaviour in later prehistoric Europe. It also shines new light on the socioeconomic agency and importance of women and young individuals in later European prehistory.

Abstract:

Narratives about the motivations and conditions for mass violence as a persistent feature of conflict throughout human history have evolved in complexity and materiality. Victims of these events are key for understanding the evolution and transformative power of violent behaviour as it developed from simple intergroup conflict to more strategic mass violence. Here we present the results of a bioarchaeological study of 77 and biomolecular analysis of 25 individuals from a ninth-century BCE mass grave from Gomolava in the Carpathian Basin, Southeast Europe. The site is located at the interface of complex sociospatial relations, divergent cultural traditions and values, and competing ideologies of landscape use. We show that excessive lethal violence enacted mostly on women and children suggests a selective demographic bias. The people buried together shared few, even distant, genetic relationships, and so their killing presents striking evidence for an episode of cross-regional conflict and an underlying aggressive shift in power, violence and gender relations in the region. Gomolava provides evidence consistent with deliberate annihilation of select sections of a regional population as a motivation for mass violence behaviour in later prehistoric Europe. It also shines new light on the socioeconomic agency and importance of women and young individuals in later European prehistory.