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The power harnessed by cattle traction was undeniably a valuable asset to Neolithic communities. However, data are still lacking on the timing, purposes, and intensity of exploitation of draught animals. This paper sheds new light on a region of Europe–Neolithic Ireland–for which our knowledge is particularly restricted as evidence from both Ireland and Britain in this period has been so far patchy and inconclusive. Using a suite of methods and refined criteria for traction identification, we present new and robust data on a large faunal assemblage from Kilshane, Co. Dublin that strongly support cattle traction in the middle 4th millennium BC in Ireland. Bone pathology data combined with osteometric analysis highlight specialised husbandry practices, producing large males, possibly oxen, for the purpose of cattle traction. This new technology has important implications for early agriculture in the region since it provides a key support for more extensive land management practices as well as for megalithic construction, which increased considerably in scale during this period. We argue that access to draught animals and the exploitation of associated resources were at the heart of wider changes that took place in Neolithic Ireland in the second half of the 4th millennium BC.

Increased epithelial permeability is a key feature of IBD pathogenesis and it has been proposed that agents which promote barrier function may be of therapeutic benefit. We have previously reported the secondary bile acid, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), to be protective in a mouse model of colonic inflammation and that its bacterial metabolism is required for its beneficial effects. The current study aimed to compare the effects of UDCA, LCA, and a non‐metabolizable analog of UDCA, 6‐methyl‐UDCA (6‐MUDCA), on colonic barrier function and mucosal inflammation in a mouse model of colonic inflammation. Bile acids were administered daily to C57Bl6 mice by intraperitoneal injection. Colonic inflammation, induced by addition of DSS (2.5%) to the drinking water, was measured as disease activity index (DAI) and histological score. Epithelial permeability and apoptosis were assessed by measuring FITC‐dextran uptake and caspase‐3 cleavage, respectively. Cecal bile acids were measured by HPLC‐MS/MS. UDCA and LCA, but not 6‐MUDCA, were protective against DSS‐induced increases in epithelial permeability and colonic inflammation. Furthermore, UDCA and LCA inhibited colonic epithelial caspase‐3 cleavage both in DSS‐treated mice and in an in vitro model of cytokine‐induced epithelial injury. HPLC‐MS/MS analysis revealed UDCA administration to increase colonic LCA levels, whereas LCA administration did not alter UDCA levels. UDCA, and its primary metabolite, LCA, protect against intestinal inflammation in vivo, at least in part, by inhibition of epithelial apoptosis and promotion of barrier function. These data suggest that clinical trials of UDCA in IBD patients are warranted. Bacterial metabolism of UDCA to LCA protects against DSS‐induced colonic inflammation by preventing epithelial apoptosis and promoting barrier function. In conditions of IBD, increased production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines from the epithelium leads to recruitment of immune cells to the mucosa. Incoming immune cells produce additional cytokines and mediators that can promote epithelial apoptosis, leading to loss of barrier function. Administration of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) leads to the generation of lithocholic acid (LCA) in the colon which, in turn, acts on the epithelium to inhibit cytokine‐induced apoptosis, thereby promoting barrier function and protecting against inflammation.

Characterizing the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland has always been a lively pursuit. Following the referendums on Scottish independence and Brexit, and the consequent shifts in modern cultural and political identities, research into the first farming communities of these islands and their tangled traditions assumes particular resonance. The two volumes under review explore Neolithic identities in Scotland: the first, a \"Festschrift\" for Gordon Barclay, focused around the theme of mainland Scotland; the second, a monograph pulling together more than two decades of fieldwork led by Colin Richards and colleagues around the Bay of Firth in Orkney. [Publication Abstract]

The power harnessed by cattle traction was undeniably a valuable asset to Neolithic communities. However, data are still lacking on the timing, purposes, and intensity of exploitation of draught animals. This paper sheds new light on a region of Europe-Neolithic Ireland-for which our knowledge is particularly restricted as evidence from both Ireland and Britain in this period has been so far patchy and inconclusive. Using a suite of methods and refined criteria for traction identification, we present new and robust data on a large faunal assemblage from Kilshane, Co. Dublin that strongly support cattle traction in the middle 4th millennium BC in Ireland. Bone pathology data combined with osteometric analysis highlight specialised husbandry practices, producing large males, possibly oxen, for the purpose of cattle traction. This new technology has important implications for early agriculture in the region since it provides a key support for more extensive land management practices as well as for megalithic construction, which increased considerably in scale during this period. We argue that access to draught animals and the exploitation of associated resources were at the heart of wider changes that took place in Neolithic Ireland in the second half of the 4th millennium BC.

The appearance of farming, from its inception in the Near East around 12 000 years ago, finally reached the northwestern extremes of Europe by the fourth millennium BC or shortly thereafter. Various models have been invoked to explain the Neolithization of northern Europe; however, resolving these different scenarios has proved problematic due to poor faunal preservation and the lack of specificity achievable for commonly applied proxies. Here, we present new multi-proxy evidence, which qualitatively and quantitatively maps subsistence change in the northeast Atlantic archipelagos from the Late Mesolithic into the Neolithic and beyond. A model involving significant retention of hunter–gatherer–fisher influences was tested against one of the dominant adoptions of farming using a novel suite of lipid biomarkers, including dihydroxy fatty acids, ω-(o-alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids and stable carbon isotope signatures of individual fatty acids preserved in cooking vessels. These new findings, together with archaeozoological and human skeletal collagen bulk stable carbon isotope proxies, unequivocally confirm rejection of marine resources by early farmers coinciding with the adoption of intensive dairy farming. This pattern of Neolithization contrasts markedly to that occurring contemporaneously in the Baltic, suggesting that geographically distinct ecological and cultural influences dictated the evolution of subsistence practices at this critical phase of European prehistory.

Detection of molecular biomarkers characteristic of beeswax in pottery vessels at archaeological sites reveals that humans have exploited bee products (such as beeswax and honey) at least 9,000 years ago since the beginnings of agriculture. Hive products in use before the beginnings of agriculture Bees and humans have enjoyed a long association, as evidenced by bee iconography in rock art and ancient Egyptian paintings and carvings, and a few isolated reports of beeswax in archeological contexts. But when did this association become common? Mélanie Roffet-Salque et al . use the telltale gas chromatographic signature of beeswax from lipid residues preserved in pottery vessels to plot the use of beeswax across Neolithic Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. They demonstrate its extensive and possibly continuous use in some places for 8,000 years or more. The association, therefore, goes back to the beginnings of agriculture and possibly earlier. The pressures on honeybee ( Apis mellifera ) populations, resulting from threats by modern pesticides, parasites, predators and diseases, have raised awareness of the economic importance and critical role this insect plays in agricultural societies across the globe. However, the association of humans with A. mellifera predates post-industrial-revolution agriculture, as evidenced by the widespread presence of ancient Egyptian bee iconography dating to the Old Kingdom (approximately 2400 bc ) 1 . There are also indications of Stone Age people harvesting bee products; for example, honey hunting is interpreted from rock art 2 in a prehistoric Holocene context and a beeswax find in a pre-agriculturalist site 3 . However, when and where the regular association of A. mellifera with agriculturalists emerged is unknown 4 . One of the major products of A. mellifera is beeswax, which is composed of a complex suite of lipids including n -alkanes, n -alkanoic acids and fatty acyl wax esters. The composition is highly constant as it is determined genetically through the insect’s biochemistry. Thus, the chemical ‘fingerprint’ of beeswax provides a reliable basis for detecting this commodity in organic residues preserved at archaeological sites, which we now use to trace the exploitation by humans of A. mellifera temporally and spatially. Here we present secure identifications of beeswax in lipid residues preserved in pottery vessels of Neolithic Old World farmers. The geographical range of bee product exploitation is traced in Neolithic Europe, the Near East and North Africa, providing the palaeoecological range of honeybees during prehistory. Temporally, we demonstrate that bee products were exploited continuously, and probably extensively in some regions, at least from the seventh millennium cal bc , likely fulfilling a variety of technological and cultural functions. The close association of A. mellifera with Neolithic farming communities dates to the early onset of agriculture and may provide evidence for the beginnings of a domestication process.

Bog butters are large white or yellow waxy deposits regularly discovered within the peat bogs of Ireland and Scotland. They represent an extraordinary survival of prehistoric and later agricultural products, comprising the largest deposits of fat found anywhere in nature. Often found in wooden containers or wrapped in animal bladders, they are considered to have been buried intentionally by past farming communities. While previous analysis has determined that Irish bog butters derive from animal fat, their precise characterisation could not be achieved due to diagenetic compositional alterations during burial. Via compound-specific stable isotope analysis, we provide the first conclusive evidence of a dairy fat origin for the Irish bog butter tradition, which differs from bog butter traditions observed elsewhere. Our research also reveals a remarkably long-lived tradition of deposition and possible curation spanning at least 3500 years, from the Early Bronze Age (c. 1700 BC) to the 17 th century AD. This is conclusively established via an extensive suite of both bulk and compound-specific radiocarbon dates.

The analysis of processing standards alongside samples for quality assurance in radiocarbon (14C) analyses is critical. Ideally, these standards should be similar both in nature and age to unknown samples. A new compound-specific approach was developed at the University of Bristol for dating pottery vessels using palmitic and stearic fatty acids extracted from within the clay matrix and isolated by preparative capillary gas chromatography. Obtaining suitable potsherds for use as processing standards in such analyses is not feasible, so we suggest that bog butter represents an ideal material for such purposes. We sampled ca. 450 g from two bog butter specimens and homogenized them by melting. We verified the homogeneity of both specimens by characterization of their lipid composition, δ13C values of individual lipids, and both bulk- and compound-specific radiocarbon analyses on 10 sub-samples of each bog butter specimen. The weighted means of all 14C measurements on the bog butter standards are 3777 ± 4 BP (IB33) and 338 ± 3 BP (IB38), thereby providing age-relevant standards for archaeological and historical fatty acids and ensuring the accuracy of radiocarbon determinations of lipids using a compound-specific approach. These new secondary standards will be subjected to an intercomparison exercise to provide robust consensus values.

Pottery is one of the most commonly recovered artefacts from archaeological sites. Despite more than a century of relative dating based on typology and seriation 1 , accurate dating of pottery using the radiocarbon dating method has proven extremely challenging owing to the limited survival of organic temper and unreliability of visible residues 2 – 4 . Here we report a method to directly date archaeological pottery based on accelerator mass spectrometry analysis of 14 C in absorbed food residues using palmitic (C 16:0 ) and stearic (C 18:0 ) fatty acids purified by preparative gas chromatography 5 – 8 . We present accurate compound-specific radiocarbon determinations of lipids extracted from pottery vessels, which were rigorously evaluated by comparison with dendrochronological dates 9 , 10 and inclusion in site and regional chronologies that contained previously determined radiocarbon dates on other materials 11 – 15 . Notably, the compound-specific dates from each of the C 16:0 and C 18:0 fatty acids in pottery vessels provide an internal quality control of the results 6 and are entirely compatible with dates for other commonly dated materials. Accurate radiocarbon dating of pottery vessels can reveal: (1) the period of use of pottery; (2) the antiquity of organic residues, including when specific foodstuffs were exploited; (3) the chronology of sites in the absence of traditionally datable materials; and (4) direct verification of pottery typochronologies. Here we used the method to date the exploitation of dairy and carcass products in Neolithic vessels from Britain, Anatolia, central and western Europe, and Saharan Africa. Using lipid residues absorbed in potsherds, the ages of pottery from various archaeological sites are determined and validated using sites for which the dates are well known from other methods.