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"Archaeology - methods"
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Forensic archaeology : a global perspective
Forensic archaeology is mostly defined as the use of archaeological methods and principles within a legal context.However, such a definition only covers one aspect of forensic archaeology and misses the full potential this discipline has to offer.
eBook
Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia
The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000–1000
BC
) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.
An analysis of 101 ancient human genomes from the Bronze Age (3000–1000
bc
) reveals large-scale population migrations in Eurasia consistent with the spread of Indo-European languages; individuals frequently had light skin pigmentation but were not lactose tolerant.
Population changes in Bronze Age Eurasia
Was the Bronze Age of a period of major cultural changes because of circulation of ideas or because of large-scale migrations? The authors sequence and analyse low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia to reveal large-scale population migrations and replacements during this time. Analyses indicate that light skin pigmentation was already frequent among Europeans in the Bronze Age but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on the latter trait than previously believed. The reported findings are also consistent with the spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age reported on
page 207
of this issue.
Journal Article
Introducing “Validated entheses-Based reconstruction of activity 2.0” (VERA 2.0): Semi-automated 3D analysis of bone surface changes
In archaeological sciences, the macroscopic morphology of distinct dry bone structures, such as tubercles, ridges, epicondyles, and fossae, is routinely used to infer habitual activity patterns in past human populations, extinct hominins, and other animals. This study introduces “Validated Entheses-based Reconstruction of Activity 2.0” (VERA 2.0), a new method for precisely quantifying 3D surface irregularities on enthesis-bearing bone structures. Building on VERA 1.0, first introduced by the same author in 2016 and later named in a 2021 literature review, VERA 2.0 enhances the previous approach by incorporating a semi-automated image segmentation technique that reduces manual input while maintaining accuracy. The method involves selecting a predefined broad bone surface region, after which an algorithm automatically detects subtle surface irregularities (see example video in the step-by-step protocol at dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.5jyl82z8dl2w/v3 ). Validation analyses confirm VERA 2.0’s precision and reliability for activity reconstruction through intra- and inter-observer repeatability tests, experimental research comparing activity and control laboratory specimens, and analyses of historical human skeletons with extensively detailed long-term occupational data. Moreover, while this anthropological 3D measuring protocol paper cannot and does not aim to analyze the anatomical and histological nature of bone surface irregularities, preliminary anatomical dissection and virtual analysis of a cadaveric thumb enthesis suggest a possible association with attaching muscles and ligaments. Future anatomical and histological research aiming to explore soft-hard tissue interactions could clarify how these identified surface changes exactly relate to the attaching tissues. Overall, VERA 2.0 provides a robust, efficient quantitative tool for inferring activity patterns from skeletal remains, with applications across paleontological, paleoanthropological, and bioarchaeological contexts.
Journal Article
Prehistoric adaptation in the American Southwest
This resource is about post-Pleistocene adaptive change among the aboriginal cultures of the mountains and deserts of Arizona and New Mexico.
Book
The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age
Thermoluminescence dating of fire-heated flint artefacts, and directly associated newly discovered remains of
Homo sapiens
, indicate that the Middle Stone Age site of Jebel Irhoud in Morocco is 383–247 thousand years old.
Early dawn for
Homo sapiens
The exact place and time that our species emerged remains obscure because the fossil record is limited and the chronological age of many key specimens remains uncertain. Previous fossil evidence has placed the emergence of modern human biology in eastern Africa around 200,000 years ago. In this issue of
Nature
, Jean-Jaques Hublin and colleagues report new human fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco; their work is accompanied by a separate report on the dating of the fossils by Shannon McPherron and colleagues. Together they report remains dating back 300,000–350,000 years. They identify numerous features, including a facial, mandibular and dental morphology, that align the material with early or recent modern humans. They also identified more primitive neurocranial and endocranial morphology. Collectively, the researchers believe that this mosaic of features displayed by the Jebel Irhoud hominins assigns them to the earliest evolutionary phase of
Homo sapiens
. Both papers suggest that the evolutionary processes behind the emergence of modern humans were not confined to sub-Saharan Africa.
The timing and location of the emergence of our species and of associated behavioural changes are crucial for our understanding of human evolution. The earliest fossil attributed to a modern form of
Homo sapiens
comes from eastern Africa and is approximately 195 thousand years old
1
,
2
, therefore the emergence of modern human biology is commonly placed at around 200 thousand years ago
3
,
4
. The earliest Middle Stone Age assemblages come from eastern and southern Africa but date much earlier
5
,
6
,
7
. Here we report the ages, determined by thermoluminescence dating, of fire-heated flint artefacts obtained from new excavations at the Middle Stone Age site of Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, which are directly associated with newly discovered remains of
H. sapiens
8
. A weighted average age places these Middle Stone Age artefacts and fossils at 315 ± 34 thousand years ago. Support is obtained through the recalculated uranium series with electron spin resonance date of 286 ± 32 thousand years ago for a tooth from the Irhoud 3 hominin mandible. These ages are also consistent with the faunal and microfaunal
9
assemblages and almost double the previous age estimates for the lower part of the deposits
10
,
11
. The north African site of Jebel Irhoud contains one of the earliest directly dated Middle Stone Age assemblages, and its associated human remains are the oldest reported for
H. sapiens
. The emergence of our species and of the Middle Stone Age appear to be close in time, and these data suggest a larger scale, potentially pan-African, origin for both.
Journal Article
HOPS: automated detection and authentication of pathogen DNA in archaeological remains
High-throughput DNA sequencing enables large-scale metagenomic analyses of complex biological systems. Such analyses are not restricted to present-day samples and can also be applied to molecular data from archaeological remains. Investigations of ancient microbes can provide valuable information on past bacterial commensals and pathogens, but their molecular detection remains a challenge. Here, we present HOPS (Heuristic Operations for Pathogen Screening), an automated bacterial screening pipeline for ancient DNA sequences that provides detailed information on species identification and authenticity. HOPS is a versatile tool for high-throughput screening of DNA from archaeological material to identify candidates for genome-level analyses.
Journal Article