Beyond megadrought and collapse in the Northern Levant: The chronology of Tell Tayinat and two historical inflection episodes, around 4.2ka BP, and following 3.2ka BP

There has been considerable focus on the main, expansionary, and inter-regionally linked or ‘globalising’ periods in Old World pre- and proto-history, with a focus on identifying, analyzing and dating collapse at the close of these pivotal periods. The end of the Early Bronze Age in the late third millennium BCE and a subsequent ‘intermediate’ or transitional period before the Middle Bronze Age (~2200–1900 BCE), and the end of the Late Bronze Age in the late second millennium BCE and the ensuing period of transformation during the Early Iron Age (~1200–900 BCE), are key examples. Among other issues, climate change is regularly invoked as a cause or factor in both cases. Recent considerations of “collapse” have emphasized the unpredictability and variability of responses during such periods of reorganization and transformation. Yet, a gap in scholarly attention remains in documenting the responses observed at important sites during these ‘transformative’ periods in the Old World region. Tell Tayinat in southeastern Turkey, as a major archaeological site occupied during these two major ‘in between’ periods of transformation, offers a unique case for comparing and contrasting differing responses to change. To enable scholarly assessment of associations between the local trajectory of the site and broader regional narratives, an essential preliminary need is a secure, resolved timeframe for the site. Here we report a large set of radiocarbon data and incorporate the stratigraphic sequence using Bayesian chronological modelling to create a refined timeframe for Tell Tayinat and a secure basis for analysis of the site with respect to its broader regional context and climate history

Early Neolithic wine of Georgia in the South Caucasus

Chemical analyses of ancient organic compounds absorbed into the pottery fabrics from sites in Georgia in the South Caucasus region, dating to the early Neolithic period (ca. 6,000-5,000 BC), provide the earliest biomolecular archaeological evidence for grape wine and viniculture from the Near East, at ca. 6,000-5,800 BC. The chemical findings are corroborated by climatic and environmental reconstruction, together with archaeobotanical evidence, including grape pollen, starch, and epidermal remains associated with a jar of similar type and date. The very large-capacity jars, some of the earliest pottery made in the Near East, probably served as combination fermentation, aging, and serving vessels. They are the most numerous pottery type at many sites comprising the so-called "Shulaveri-Shomutepe Culture" of the Neolithic period, which extends into western Azerbaijan and northern Armenia. The discovery of early sixth millennium BC grape wine in this region is crucial to the later history of wine in Europe and the rest of the world

The satisfactory growth and development at 2 years of age of the INTERGROWTH-21st Fetal Growth Standards cohort support its appropriateness for constructing international standards.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recommends that human growth should be monitored with the use of international standards. However, in obstetric practice, we continue to monitor fetal growth using numerous local charts or equations that are based on different populations for each body structure. Consistent with World Health Organization recommendations, the INTERGROWTH-21st Project has produced the first set of international standards to date pregnancies; to monitor fetal growth, estimated fetal weight, Doppler measures, and brain structures; to measure uterine growth, maternal nutrition, newborn infant size, and body composition; and to assess the postnatal growth of preterm babies. All these standards are based on the same healthy pregnancy cohort. Recognizing the importance of demonstrating that, postnatally, this cohort still adhered to the World Health Organization prescriptive approach, we followed their growth and development to the key milestone of 2 years of age. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the babies in the INTERGROWTH-21st Project maintained optimal growth and development in childhood. STUDY DESIGN: In the Infant Follow-up Study of the INTERGROWTH-21st Project, we evaluated postnatal growth, nutrition, morbidity, and motor development up to 2 years of age in the children who contributed data to the construction of the international fetal growth, newborn infant size and body composition at birth, and preterm postnatal growth standards. Clinical care, feeding practices, anthropometric measures, and assessment of morbidity were standardized across study sites and documented at 1 and 2 years of age. Weight, length, and head circumference age- and sex-specific z-scores and percentiles and motor development milestones were estimated with the use of the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards and World Health Organization milestone distributions, respectively. For the preterm infants, corrected age was used. Variance components analysis was used to estimate the percentage variability among individuals within a study site compared with that among study sites. RESULTS: There were 3711 eligible singleton live births; 3042 children (82%) were evaluated at 2 years of age. There were no substantive differences between the included group and the lost-to-follow up group. Infant mortality rate was 3 per 1000; neonatal mortality rate was 1.6 per 1000. At the 2-year visit, the children included in the INTERGROWTH-21st Fetal Growth Standards were at the 49th percentile for length, 50th percentile for head circumference, and 58th percentile for weight of the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards. Similar results were seen for the preterm subgroup that was included in the INTERGROWTH-21st Preterm Postnatal Growth Standards. The cohort overlapped between the 3rd and 97th percentiles of the World Health Organization motor development milestones. We estimated that the variance among study sites explains only 5.5% of the total variability in the length of the children between birth and 2 years of age, although the variance among individuals within a study site explains 42.9% (ie, 8 times the amount explained by the variation among sites). An increase of 8.9 cm in adult height over mean parental height is estimated to occur in the cohort from low-middle income countries, provided that children continue to have adequate health, environmental, and nutritional conditions. CONCLUSION: The cohort enrolled in the INTERGROWTH-21st standards remained healthy with adequate growth and motor development up to 2 years of age, which supports its appropriateness for the construction of international fetal and preterm postnatal growth standards

The Pre-Aksumite Period: indigenous origins and development in the Horn of Africa

The Pre-Aksumite Period (mid-second to late first millennia BC) witnessed the rise of complex societies in the Horn of Africa. Archaeological survey and excavations in the Gulo Makeda region of Eastern Tigrai by the Eastern Tigrai Archaeological Project (ETAP) have produced new data and insights into this critical juncture in the cultural history of the region. Based on data from Mezber and other archaeological sites, we present a new Pre-Aksumite chronology and discuss the material culture, settlement, political organisation, economy, agricultural history and regional interactions of this period. We recommend the use of the term ‘Pre-Aksumite Period’ to encompass this time when the earliest polities developed in the region. Mezber provides us with a glimpse into the lifeways of indigenous peoples inhabiting the northern Horn of Africa who encountered South Arabian visitors to the region during the early first millennium BC. Data from Mezber shift our focus from external influences to considering the culture and development of autochthonous peoples of the Ethiopian/Eritrean highlands who had an active role in negotiating cultural contacts. This perspective constitutes a missing piece of the puzzle needed to better understand the broader socio-economic, political and cultural dynamics of the Pre-Aksumite Period.ETAP investigations at Mezber were financially supported by three grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), including Standard Research Grants 410-2007-2472, 410-2011-1646 and Insight Grant 435-2014-01. Further support was obtained by grants from Simon Fraser University, including four SSHRC/SFU Institutional Grants and a VP Research SSHRC 4A grant. Field and laboratory microbotanical work completed by AR-G and CL was developed within the framework of the RAINDROPS project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC-Stg 759800) and both are part of CaSEs, a recognised research group of the Generalitat De Catalunya (AGAUR SGR-e-2017-212)

Grape and wine culture in Georgia, the South Caucasus

In 2014, the National Wine Agency of the Republic of Georgia initiated a three-year "Research Project for the study of Georgian Grapes and Wine Culture. Through collaborative research by Georgian and foreign institutions and researchers, the project aims to: stimulate research of Georgian viticulture and viniculture, through the lens of the country with the earliest tradition of grape domestication and winemaking; and to reconstruct the continuous development of viticulture and wine culture through time. The project advances the study of grape and wine culture by utilizing a multidisciplinary approach, including: archaeology, history, ethnography, molecular genetics, biomolecular archaeology, palaeobotany, ampelography, enology, climatology and other scientific fields. These studies are diachronic in their approach, beginning with the oldest Neolithic civilizations, to present day, creating a holistic understanding of the continuity and complexity of Georgian Wine Culture to help popularize Georgian Wine throughout the global wine market

Grape and wine culture in Georgia, the South Caucasus

In 2014, the National Wine Agency of the Republic of Georgia initiated a three-year “Research Project for the study of Georgian Grapes and Wine Culture. Through collaborative research by Georgian and foreign institutions and researchers, the project aims to: stimulate research of Georgian viticulture and viniculture, through the lens of the country with the earliest tradition of grape domestication and winemaking; and to reconstruct the continuous development of viticulture and wine culture through time. The project advances the study of grape and wine culture by utilizing a multidisciplinary approach, including: archaeology, history, ethnography, molecular genetics, biomolecular archaeology, palaeobotany, ampelography, enology, climatology and other scientific fields. These studies are diachronic in their approach, beginning with the oldest Neolithic civilizations, to present day, creating a holistic understanding of the continuity and complexity of Georgian Wine Culture to help popularize Georgian Wine throughout the global wine market