Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in human mobility patterns in Holocene Southwest Asia and the East Mediterranean

We present a spatiotemporal picture of human genetic diversity in Anatolia, Iran, Levant, South Caucasus, and the Aegean, a broad region that experienced the earliest Neolithic transition and the emergence of complex hierarchical societies. Combining 35 new ancient shotgun genomes with 382 ancient and 23 present-day published genomes, we found that genetic diversity within each region steadily increased through the Holocene. We further observed that the inferred sources of gene flow shifted in time. In the first half of the Holocene, Southwest Asian and the East Mediterranean populations homogenized among themselves. Starting with the Bronze Age, however, regional populations diverged from each other, most likely driven by gene flow from external sources, which we term “the expanding mobility model.” Interestingly, this increase in inter-regional divergence can be captured by outgroup-f$_3$-based genetic distances, but not by the commonly used F$_{ST}$ statistic, due to the sensitivity of F$_{ST}$, but not outgroup-f$_3$, to within-population diversity. Finally, we report a temporal trend of increasing male bias in admixture events through the Holocene

Population bio-cultural history in the South Aegean during the Bronze Age

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Social Variation in Middle Bronze Age Knossos

The present study uses high-quality data on stable carbon (13C/12C) and nitrogen (15N/14N) isotope ratio from two Middle Bronze Age human skeletal collections from Knossos for the purposes of a palaeodietary investigation in this context, and offers a nuanced insight into social variation in Middle Bronze Age Knossos. These isotope signatures are used to characterize the diet of the respective individuals and to explore in context patterns of dietary variation at the intra- and inter-populati..

Population bio-cultural history in the South Aegean during the Bronze Age

This research reconstructs the bio-cultural history of the Bronze Age South Aegean population and addresses two widely debated archaeological questions in a bioarchaeological research framework.  It responds to traditional culture history studies that frequently associate cultural discontinuity with population movements. It applies morphological (metric and non-metric) analysis of the skeleton to the study of Bronze Age populations from Naxos (Cyclades), and principally the Argolid (Mainland) and Crete, in order to explore issues of intra-population variation and inter-population biodistance at the regional and inter-regional level.  Analysis is oriented in time both vertically, providing time-depth, and horizontally, allowing the examination of inter-population biological relationships at the intra- and inter-regional level.  The vertical analytical approach investigates discontinuity or continuity in the biological history of the populations and provides negative or positive evidence respectively for the arrival and admixture of biologically different population elements.  The horizontal analysis assesses inter-population relationships (relatedness vs. divergence) in relation to the two principal archaeological questions examined.  Concerning the biological relationship between the Argolid and Central Crete populations, analysis monitors how it fluctuates in the course of the Bronze Age.  The two principal archaeological hypotheses explored concern the arrival and settlement of people from the Argolid (Mycenaeans) on Crete and Naxos following the LMIB and LHIIIB-C destructions on Crete and the Mainland respectively.  On the basis of the results of the morphological skeletal and strontium isotope ratio analysis both hypotheses were rejected.  Thereby analysis demonstrated that the introduction of novel cultural features (cultural discontinuity) to Knossos (Crete) and the Chora of Naxos need not have resulted from the settlement of the people suggested to be the first to create them.</p

Social Variation in Middle Bronze Age Knossos

The present study uses high-quality data on stable carbon (13C/12C) and nitrogen (15N/14N) isotope ratio from two Middle Bronze Age human skeletal collections from Knossos for the purposes of a palaeodietary investigation in this context, and offers a nuanced insight into social variation in Middle Bronze Age Knossos. These isotope signatures are used to characterize the diet of the respective individuals and to explore in context patterns of dietary variation at the intra- and inter-populati..

An isotopic study of provenance and residential mobility at the Circle and the Xemxija tombs

The ERC-funded FRAGSUS Project (Fragility and sustainability in small island environments: adaptation, culture change and collapse in prehistory, 2013–18) led by Caroline Malone has focused on the unique Temple Culture of Neolithic Malta and its antecedents. This third volume builds on the achievements of Mortuary customs in prehistoric Malta, published by the McDonald Institute in 2009. It seeks to answer many questions posed, but left unanswered, of the more than 200,000 fragments of mainly commingled human remains from the Xagħra Brochtorff Circle on Gozo. The focus is on the interpretation of a substantial, representative subsample of the assemblage, exploring dentition, disease, diet and lifestyle, together with detailed understanding of chronology and the affinity of the ancient population associated with the ‘Temple Culture’ of prehistoric Malta. The first studies of genetic profiling of this population, as well as the results of intra-site GIS and visualization, taphonomy, health and mobility, offer important insights into this complex mortuary site and its ritual. Remarkable evidence on the bioanthropology of care practised by these populations, together with a relatively low level of interpersonal violence, and examples of longevity, reveal new aspects about the Neolithic Maltese. Detailed case studies employing computerized tomography describe disease such as =scurvy and explore dietary issues, whilst physical activity and body size have been assessed through biomechanical analysis, supported by taphonomic study, isotopic analyses, a review of mortuary practices during prehistory and a robust new chronology. The results form a rich contextualized body of material that advances understanding of cultural change within the context of small island insularity, and provides biological comparisons for the graphic figurative art of early Malta. These data and the original assemblage are conserved in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta as a resource for future study.This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-2007-2013) (Grant agreement No. 323727)

Establishing the Middle Sea: The Late Bronze Age of Mediterranean Europe (1700–900 BC)

Funder: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di BolognaAbstractThe Late Bronze Age (1700–900 BC) represents an extremely dynamic period for Mediterranean Europe. Here, we provide a comparative survey of the archaeological record of over half a millennium within the entire northern littoral of the Mediterranean, from Greece to Iberia, incorporating archaeological, archaeometric, and bioarchaeological evidence. The picture that emerges, while certainly fragmented and not displaying a unique trajectory, reveals a number of broad trends in aspects as different as social organization, trade, transcultural phenomena, and human mobility. The contribution of such trends to the processes that caused the end of the Bronze Age is also examined. Taken together, they illustrate how networks of interaction, ranging from the short to the long range, became a defining aspect of the “Middle Sea” during this time, influencing the lives of the communities that inhabited its northern shore. They also highlight the importance of research that crosses modern boundaries for gaining a better understanding of broad comparable dynamics.</jats:p

Minoan Archaeology

More than 100 years ago Sir Arthur Evans' spade made the first cut into the earth above the now well-known Palace at Knossos. His research at the Kephala hill as well as contemporary fieldwork at further sites on Crete saw the birth of a new discipline: Minoan Archaeology. Since these beginnings in the first decades of the 20th century, the investigation of Bronze Age Crete has experienced fundamental progress. The impressive wealth of new data relating to the sites and material culture of this Bronze Age society and its impact beyond the island's shores, the refinement of its chronology, the constant development of hermeneutical approaches to social, religious or political issues, and new methods and instruments employed for the exploration and conservation of the archaeological remains have shaped the dynamic trajectory of this discipline for more than a century. In March 2011 - exactly 111 years after the beginning of Evans' work at Knossos - a conference on Minoan Archaeology took place at Heidelberg with the aim to outline current trends and prospects of this scientific field, by setting up an open dialogue between renowned scholars and the young generation of researchers. The present volume brings together most of the papers presented during the conference. They are subsumed under six chapters highlighting current key issues in the study of Bronze Age Crete with a pronounced focus on the broad subject of society

Minoan Archaeology

More than 100 years ago Sir Arthur Evans' spade made the first cut into the earth above the now well-known Palace at Knossos. His research at the Kephala hill as well as contemporary fieldwork at further sites on Crete saw the birth of a new discipline: Minoan Archaeology. Since these beginnings in the first decades of the 20th century, the investigation of Bronze Age Crete has experienced fundamental progress. The impressive wealth of new data relating to the sites and material culture of this Bronze Age society and its impact beyond the island's shores, the refinement of its chronology, the constant development of hermeneutical approaches to social, religious or political issues, and new methods and instruments employed for the exploration and conservation of the archaeological remains have shaped the dynamic trajectory of this discipline for more than a century. In March 2011 - exactly 111 years after the beginning of Evans' work at Knossos - a conference on Minoan Archaeology took place at Heidelberg with the aim to outline current trends and prospects of this scientific field, by setting up an open dialogue between renowned scholars and the young generation of researchers. The present volume brings together most of the papers presented during the conference. They are subsumed under six chapters highlighting current key issues in the study of Bronze Age Crete with a pronounced focus on the broad subject of society