Reconstructing the childhood diet of the individuals from the Middle Late Bronze Age Bezdanjača Cave, Croatia (ca. 1430 1290 BCE) using stable C and N isotope analysis of dentin collagen

This paper investigates the childhood diet of 16 individuals from the Middle Late Bronze Age (1430 1290 BCE) Bezdanjača Cave (Lika region, Croatia) using stable isotope analysis of dentin collagen from permanent first molars. Results from the analysis reveal that the individuals from Bezdanjača consumed notable quantities of C4 plants during their childhood. The most common C4 plant is millet, whose spread throughout Southern Europe was recently dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE, which agrees with the results obtained in this research. Comparisons between the data collected for the individuals from Bezdanjača and other Middle and Late Bronze Age sites in Croatia suggest that only the individuals from the site of Veliki Vital (Middle Bronze Age, inland Croatia) exhibit similar isotopic values to those from Bezdanjača. Human isotopic values from coastal sites, however, reveal that during the Middle and Late Bronze Age people from the coast had diet that still predominantly contained C3 plant-based foods, which appears to suggest that the dispersion of this crop in Croatia during the Bronze Age followed an east-west trajectory, appearing earlier (Middle and Late Bronze Age) in inland settlements such as Veliki Vital and Bezdanjača and only later (Late Bronze Age and mostly Iron Age) in coastal sites

Strontium Isotope MC-ICP-MS Analysis of Hair Strands from Human Mummies: Transhumance Pastoralism of Early-Modern Individuals between Northern and Central Italy

Mammal hair is formed by a scleroprotein, namely keratin, composed by some major elements (C, N, H, O, S), but including also trace elements such as Sr, Pb, Fe, K, Na and Ca. The latter are fixed through diet and exposure to exogenous sources, mainly water and air. Given that the average human scalp hair growth is ~1 cm/month, timeresolved hair sampling yields information about a specific period, reflecting the elemental and isotopic composition of the diet and environment at that time. The 87Sr/86Sr ratio of mammal tissues is generally directly correlated to the local bioavailable strontium, providing the chance to reconstruct the individual movements in a given time interval. In this work, we developed our protocol to analyse low-Sr concentration mammal hairs for their 87Sr/86Sr ratio by Neptune MC-ICP-MS. We tested the method on a modern individual who traveled cyclically between Italy and Brazil. Hair strands were sampled with a time resolution of 1 to 2 months, yielding time resolved isotopic variations from the highest radiogenic ratios of the São Paulo area to the lower ones of Modena waters. Thus, the Sr analysis of hair has been applied to human mummies (Roccapelago, Modena, 16th-18th cent.). Hair strands were cut in several sub-samples with different length (time-resolution) in relation to the amount of available material. The best achieved time-resolution was of 3 months in a 12-cm-long strand. These samples revealed cyclical human movements from Roccapelago to the high radiogenic area of the Tuscan Magmatic Province. Historical documents attest a high frequency of human seasonal travels to Tuscany, up to the Grosseto area, likely linked to the exploitation of transhumance pastoralism

Late Neanderthal subsistence at San Bernardino Cave (Berici Hills-Northeastern Italy) inferred from zooarchaeological data

North-eastern Italy is a key region for the study of Neanderthal way of life over a wide timeframe, as attested by over 20 Middle Palaeolithic multi-layered sites in caves, rock shelters and at open-air sites. Here we contribute to increase our understanding of Neanderthal subsistence strategies through the study of the faunal assemblage of Unit II dated to the first half of Marine Isotopic Stage 3 (MIS3), from San Bernardino Cave. The site is located in the Berici Hills, at low altitude near the edge of a karstic plateau dissected by valleys and delimited by the alluvial lowland. Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analyses suggest that Neanderthal groups were the primary agent for the accumulation of mammal remains, and that hunting mainly focused on ungulates, such as Cervus elaphus and Capreolus capreolus. Forested environment sustained by mild climatic conditions is also inferred by micromammals evidence. Our data suggest a selective transport of the prey - even for the roe deer - which might have implied a long distance transportation from the site. Also, it might have been related to the age of the prey or to multiple preys hunted in a single episode. The Bayesian method applied to the analysis of skeletal profiles shows a high level of attrition at the site and a greater degree of processing appendicular skeleton. Neanderthals used San Bernardino Cave as a place where carcasses processing was finalized, after an initial process at the kill-site, and then prepared for consumption. Also, discarded bones were used for lithic manufacturing. The San Bernardino evidence can be compared with productive systems for exploiting available ungulate game from other regional-scale MIS 3 Middle Palaeolithic sites.Excavations and studies at San Bernardino Cave are coordinated by the University of Ferrara (M.P.) and supported by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Tourism and Veneto Archaeological Superintendency (SABAPVerona, Vicenza and Rovigo), public institutions (Veneto Region - Department for Cultural Heritage, Province of Vicenza, Municipality of Mossano). Author contributions: M.P. conceived research; V.L., G.T. and M.R. analysed data; A.B.M.A. supported new radiocarbon dating; S.B. and M.R. are supported by the ERC-CoG Horizon 2020 project SUCCESS (Ref 724046 - website: http://www.erc-success.eu/); G.T. and M.P. wrote the paper with inputs from A.B.M.A., M.R. and S.B. The authors want to acknowledge Lucía Agudo Pérez for graphic support. Radiocarbon dating has been funded by the ERC-CoG Horizon 2020 project SUBSILIENCE (Ref 818299 - website: https://www.subsilience.eu/) led by A. B. Marín-Arroyo

On the traces of lost identities: chronological, anthropological and taphonomic analyses of the Late Neolithic/Early Eneolithic fragmented and commingled human remains from the Farneto rock shelter (Bologna, northern Italy)

The present study examines the prehistoric human skeletal remains retrieved starting from the 1920s in the deposit of the Farneto rock shelter, situated in the area of the 'Parco dei Gessi Bolognesi e Calanchi dell'Abbadessa' (San Lazzaro di Savena, Bologna, northern Italy). An exact dating and a reliable interpretation of the assemblage had not been reached so far because of the lack of contextual data useful for dating purposes, the inaccurate recovery procedures of the remains and their state of preservation. In fact, the skeletal remains from the Farneto rock shelter are highly fragmented and commingled, whereas reliable information about their original position and their recovery procedures are not available. Despite these difficulties, radiocarbon analyses allowed the precise dating of the remains to a final phase of the Neolithic and an early phase of the Eneolithic period in Emilia Romagna (northern Italy). The study of the assemblage enabled to clarify the use of the context for funerary purposes. Moreover, the anthropological and taphonomic analyses of the skeletal remains shed light on the biological profile of the individuals and on some events that occurred after their death. In particular, the analysis of perimortem lesions highlighted the existence of intentional interventions related to corpse treatment, referable to dismembering/disarticulation and scarnification, i.e. cleaning of bones from soft tissues. Finally, the comparison with other Italian and European Neo/Eneolithic funerary contexts enabled a better understanding of these complex ritual practices

Sex-related morbidity and mortality in non-adult individuals from the Early Medieval site of Valdaro (Italy): the contribution of dental enamel peptide analysis

In this work, osteological and paleopathological analyses are combined with liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry to study life and death of 30 non-adult individuals from an Early Medieval Italian funerary context (Valdaro, 7th-8th cent. AD). We estimated individual sex by exploiting sexual differences in enamel-bounded peptides. Enamel proteins were extracted through an acid etching of the whole tooth crowns for 4 samples\ud and through a partial digestion of small enamel chunks for the remaining 26 samples. Both protocols were informative on the sex of the individuals through the identification of amelogenin isoforms (AMELX and AMELY). In addition, low-mineralized tooth germs were analysed and they provided reliable information on the infants’ sex. We observed the presence of 13 males and 17 females among the non-adults of Valdaro, not significantly different from a random sample with an equal frequency of males and females. Cribra cranii and endocranial lesion occurrence showed an association with sex, with higher frequencies in male individuals

Automated glycan assembly of peptidoglycan backbone fragments

We report the automated glycan assembly (AGA) of different oligosaccharide fragments of the bacterial peptidoglycan (PGN) backbone. Iterative addition on a solid support of an acetyl glucosamine and a new muramic acid building block is followed by cleavage from the solid support and final deprotection providing 10 oligosaccharides up to six units

Heterotopic kidney tissue in the lung of a free-living common dolphin (Delphinus delphis)

A spontaneous case of renal heterotopia involving the lung parenchyma of a free-living, adult, female common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), which was found stranded alive on the North Adriatic Sea coast of Italy, is reported in this study. The lesion, slightly visible from the macroscopic point of view, had the histologic appearance of a "foreign tissue island," which was poorly demarcated from the surrounding pulmonary tissue. Within such an island, several regularly shaped and apparently mature kidney glomeruli and tubules could be observed, with no evidence of secondary tissue reaction. To the best of our knowledge, this should be the first description of heterotopic kidney tissue occurrence in the lung of any domestic or wild animal species

Primary structure of the nuclear forms of phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx) in rat spermatozoa

Phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase is a monomeric Se-peroxidase highly expressed in mammalian male germ cells. Its nuclear form, sperm nuclei glutathione peroxidase (snGPx), has been originally identified in maturating spermatozoa as a transcription product containing an alternative exon within the phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase gene. In this paper, we show that this form is inconstantly detectable in rat spermatozoa where a 20.0 and 25.9 kDa major forms are detected instead. These have been conclusively characterized. The N-terminus sequence of the 20.0 kDa form confirmed that the protein is identical to cytosolic form, suggesting diffusion into the nucleus. The 25.9 kDa protein represented a truncated form of the previously described nuclear snGPx, lacking the basic nuclear localization signal. This protein is present in two forms differing from each other by the presence of an N-terminal methionine. The presence of traces of the larger snGPx form suggests that exhaustive proteolytic processing of the precursor produces the 25.9 kDa enzyme, although the alternate use of a downstream ATG, at least in rodents, could not be unequivocally ruled out

Functional interaction of phospholid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase with sperm mitochondrion-associated cysteine-rich protein discloses the adjacent cysteine motif as a new substrate of the Se-peroxidase.

The mitochondrial capsule is a selenium- and disulfide-rich structure enchasing the outer mitochondrial membrane of mammalian spermatozoa. Among the proteins solubilized from the sperm mitochondrial capsule, we confirmed, by using a proteomic approach, the presence of phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx) as a major component, and we also identified the sperm mitochondrion-associated cysteine-rich protein ( SMCP) and fragments/aggregates of specific keratins that previously escaped detection (Ursini, F., Heim, S., Kiess, M., Maiorino, M., Roveri, A., Wissing, J., and Flohe ', L. ( 1999) Science 285, 1393 - 1396). The evidence for a functional association between PHGPx, SMCP, and keratins is further supported by the identification of a sequence motif of regularly spaced Cys-Cys doublets common to SMCP and high sulfur keratin-associated proteins, involved in bundling hair shaft keratin by disulfide cross-linking. Following the oxidative polymerization of mitochondrial capsule proteins, catalyzed by PHGPx, two-dimensional redox electrophoresis analysis showed homo- and heteropolymers of SMCP and PHGPx, together with other minor components. Adjacent cysteine residues in SMCP peptides are oxidized to cystine by PHGPx. This unusual disulfide is known to drive, by reshuffling oxidative protein folding. On this basis we propose that oxidative polymerization of the mitochondrial capsule is primed by the formation of cystine on SMCP, followed by reshuffling. Occurrence of reshuffling is further supported by the calculated thermodynamic gain of the process. This study suggests a new mechanism where selenium catalysis drives the cross-linking of structural elements of the cytoskeleton via the oxidation of a keratin-associated protein