The Effectiveness of Sex Determination of Immature Individuals by Morphological Methods (A Case Study of Medieval Mamisondon Series, North Ossetia)

Introduction. One of the main issues in the analysis of human remains in paleoanthropology and forensic examination is the sex determination. A large number of reliable methods for sex determination in adult individuals exist. However, when examining the remains of children and adolescents, the problem of sex determination is much more complicate. Various methods of such determination have been developed. All of them have different degrees of accuracy, applicable to different osteological series. Methods and materials. The early Medieval Mamisondon series (North Ossetia) was chosen for the study, in which the sex of the buried, including children, determined the location of the corpse. Genetic analysis and peptide analysis of tooth enamel were carried out to confirm the connection of body location with sex. Three methods of morphological sex determination in children’s skeletons have been tested: the use of discriminant functions for the size of the teeth and the use of descriptive characteristics of the mandible and pelvis shape. Mesiodistal and bucco-lingual tooth sizes were measured in 60 adults and 43 children. Morphological features of the mandible were evaluated in 37 individuals and the ilium in 33. The evaluation of the descriptive characteristics of the postcranial skeleton was carried out by the blind method, and then the data obtained were compared with sex determination data confirmed by laboratory methods. Analysis. By the method of step-by-step discriminant analysis, the characters were selected that most successfully dividing individuals by sex in our series. Results. We have built several discriminant equations based on deciduous and permanent molars, which allow us to determine sex with an accuracy of 70–80%. In our work, we especially note the importance of the first permanent molar for sex determination in children, since it appears first among permanent teeth, which are more dimorphic than deciduous teeth. We consider this method to be promising, however, due to the unequal level of sexual dimorphism and the size of teeth in different populations, the discriminant functions created by us are not universal and are applicable only specifically to our series, or to another series with the same level of sexual dimorphism and dimensional characteristics of the teeth. The descriptive characteristics studied in the work showed a low percentage of correct decisions in determining sex. Authors’ contribution: D. Khodyreva – experimental research, data analysis, writing original draft; N. Goncharova – methodology of statistical analysis, formal analysis, review and editing; A. Buzhilova – methodology of the research algorithm, review and editing, critical revision in order to improve the content; N. Berezina – the concept of the research algorithm, methodology, writing, review and editing

Paleogenetic Analysis of the Residents from the Moscow Kremlin’s Podol (Lower Area) of the 14th Century (According to the Materials of Excavations in the Taynitsky Garden)

Introduction. The article presents the results of paleogenetic studies of medieval human remains of three people found in a closed archaeological complex (building 32) revealed during the excavations in 2007 in the Taynitsky Garden of the Moscow Kremlin (supervisor of excavations: N.A. Makarov). Previous studies on the dating of the complex links it to the devastation of Moscow by the troops of Tokhtamysh Khan in August 1382. The archaeological layer was formed at a time as a result of a fire and contained the remains of two adults and a 3-4 year old child who remained unburied. The aim of this work was the genetic study of the ancient DNA of the remains of people who died in the 14th century, clarification of their gender, determination of kinship and presumptive origin. Material and methods. For genetic examination, teeth were selected (permanent for adults, primary for a child). The laboratory research algorithm included a set of measures to protect archaeological DNA from contamination, sample preparation and extraction of DNA from dental remains, analysis of STR markers of the Y chromosome in males, analysis of ALU markers of autosomal chromosomes, targeted NGS sequencing of hyper-variable segments of mitochondrial DNA. Results and conclusion. Using the methods of molecular genetic research, it was possible to confirm that a man, a young woman and a child (boy) died in the fire. Based on the analysis of autosomal markers, with a high degree of probability (99.9%), a close biological relationship between a woman and a child (mother-son) was revealed. The man was not a relative of either the woman or the child. The mtDNA haplogroups and STR markers of the male specific Y chromosome identified in all three individuals are generally characteristic of the Slavic population of modern Europe. The mt haplogroup J1c, found in mother and child, is now most characteristic of the inhabitants of Europe. The man has a mitochondrial haplogroup K2, which is found mainly in Northwestern Europe

Diet and subsistence in Bronze Age pastoral communities from the southern Russian steppes and the North Caucasus

The flanks of the Caucasus Mountains and the steppe landscape to their north offered highly productive grasslands for Bronze Age herders and their flocks of sheep, goat, and cattle. While the archaeological evidence points to a largely pastoral lifestyle, knowledge regarding the general composition of human diets and their variation across landscapes and during the different phases of the Bronze Age is still restricted. Human and animal skeletal remains from the burial mounds that dominate the archaeological landscape and their stable isotope compositions are major sources of dietary information. Here, we present stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data of bone collagen of 105 human and 50 animal individuals from the 5th millennium BC to the Sarmatian period, with a strong focus on the Bronze Age and its cultural units including Maykop, Yamnaya, Novotitorovskaya, North Caucasian, Catacomb, post-Catacomb and late Bronze Age groups. The samples comprise all inhumations with sufficient bone preservation from five burial mound sites and a flat grave cemetery as well as subsamples from three further sites. They represent the Caucasus Mountains in the south, the piedmont zone and Kuban steppe with humid steppe and forest vegetation to its north, and more arid regions in the Caspian steppe. The stable isotope compositions of the bone collagen of humans and animals varied across the study area and reflect regional diversity in environmental conditions and diets. The data agree with meat, milk, and/or dairy products from domesticated herbivores, especially from sheep and goats having contributed substantially to human diets, as it is common for a largely pastoral economy. This observation is also in correspondence with the faunal remains observed in the graves and offerings of animals in the mound shells. In addition, foodstuffs with elevated carbon and nitrogen isotope values, such as meat of unweaned animals, fish, or plants, also contributed to human diets, especially among communities living in the more arid landscapes. The regional distinction of the animal and human data with few outliers points to mobility radii that were largely concentrated within the environmental zones in which the respective sites are located. In general, dietary variation among the cultural entities as well as regarding age, sex and archaeologically indicated social status is only weakly reflected. There is, however, some indication for a dietary shift during the Early Bronze Age Maykop period

Emergence and intensification of dairying in the Caucasus and Eurasian steppes

Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic-Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to their extensive mobility. Here, we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe and neighbouring South Caucasus, Oka-Volga-Don and East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus. During the fourth millennium Bc, Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep while reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversification of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture phases, followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy, including a new focus on horse milking.Peer reviewe

Emergence and intensification of dairying in the Caucasus and Eurasian steppes

Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic-Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to their extensive mobility. Here, we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe and neighbouring South Caucasus, Oka-Volga-Don and East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus. During the fourth millennium Bc, Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep while reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversification of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture phases, followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy, including a new focus on horse milking.Peer reviewe

Анализ биологического возраста по черепу ребенка эпохи каменного века с помощью конусно-лучевой компьютерной томографии

Studying of opportunities of the Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) in an assessment of bone structure and of a tooth formula was an objective for aging of a paleoanthropological finding. Remains of the child of the Stone Age from a cave Staroselye (Crimea) are subjected to examination. Beam research was carried out when using CBCT with individual selection of laying, physics and technology conditions and modes of scanning depending on anatomic accessory and the size of fragments. The images received as a result of CBCT differ in high informational content (from 7.5 to 10.6 pixels/mm), optimum spatial permission, clearness and contrast. The software of CBCT includes parameters and possibility of post-processor processing of images (creation of panoramic, multiplanar and 3D reconstruction). The method allows carrying out the analysis of anthropological material without the need for their destruction that is the extremely important for work with samples of museum collections. Use of a high-informative beam method of CBCT is perspective for the paleoantropological researches.Цель исследования: изучение возможностей конусно-лучевой компьютерной томографии (КЛКТ) в оценке костной структуры, анализе зубной формулы при определении возраста палеоантропологической находки. Экспертизе подвергнуты останки ребенка каменного века из пещеры Староселье (Крым). Лучевое исследование выполнялось при использовании КЛКТ с индивидуальным подбором укладок, физико-технических условий и режимов сканирования в зависимости от анатомической принадлежности и размера фрагментов. Полученные в результате КЛКТ изображения отличаются высокой информативностью (от 7,5 до 10,6 пикселей/мм), оптимальным пространственным разрешением, четкостью и контрастностью. Программное обеспечение КЛКТ включает параметры и возможность постпроцессорной обработки изображений (построение панорамных, мультипланарных и 3D-реконструкций). Метод позволяет проводить анализ антропологического материала без необходимости их разрушения, что крайне важно для работы с образцами музейных коллекций. Использование высокоинформативного лучевого метода исследования КЛКТ является перспективным для палеоантропологических исследований

The genetic prehistory of the Greater Caucasus

5月16日，厦门大学人类学系、德国马普所、德国考古所、俄罗斯文化遗产联合会、奥地利维也纳大学人类学系、爱尔兰都柏林大学学院考古系、罗蒙诺索夫莫斯科国立大学考古系和人类学博物馆、俄罗斯国立东方艺术博物馆、俄罗斯联邦达吉斯坦考古与民族志研究所历史系、美国韦尔斯利学院人类学系、瑞士巴塞尔大学史前与考古科学研究所、德国国家遗产博物馆等36家单位的46位共同作者组成的国际合作团队在BioRxiv上预发表论文《The genetic prehistory of the Greater Caucasus》，厦门大学人类学系王传超研究员为论文的第一作者和通讯作者，也是该国际团队中的唯一一位来自中国的合作者。【Abstract】Archaeogenetic studies have described the formation of Eurasian 'steppe ancestry' as a mixture of Eastern and Caucasus hunter-gatherers. However, it remains unclear when and where this ancestry arose and whether it was related to a horizon of cultural innovations in the 4th millennium BCE that subsequently facilitated the advance of pastoral societies likely linked to the dispersal of Indo-European languages. To address this, we generated genome-wide SNP data from 45 prehistoric individuals along a 3000-year temporal transect in the North Caucasus. We observe a genetic separation between the groups of the Caucasus and those of the adjacent steppe. The Caucasus groups are genetically similar to contemporaneous populations south of it, suggesting that - unlike today - the Caucasus acted as a bridge rather than an insurmountable barrier to human movement. The steppe groups from Yamnaya and subsequent pastoralist cultures show evidence for previously undetected Anatolian farmer-related ancestry from different contact zones, while Steppe Maykop individuals harbour additional Upper Palaeolithic Siberian and Native American related ancestry.This work was funded by the Max Planck Society and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI). C.C.W. was funded by Nanqiang Outstanding Young Talents Program of Xiamen University (X2123302) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. 该研究由德国马普学会、德国考古所、厦门大学南强青年拔尖人才支持计划资助

Mycobacterium leprae diversity and population dynamics in medieval Europe from novel ancient genomes

Background: Hansen’s disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to its major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, can significantly improve our understanding of the disease’s complex history. Previous studies have identified a high genetic continuity of the pathogen over the last 1500 years and the existence of at least four M. leprae lineages in some parts of Europe since the Early Medieval period. Results: Here, we reconstructed 19 ancient M. leprae genomes to further investigate M. leprae’s genetic variation in Europe, with a dedicated focus on bacterial genomes from previously unstudied regions (Belarus, Iberia, Russia, Scotland), from multiple sites in a single region (Cambridgeshire, England), and from two Iberian leprosaria. Overall, our data confirm the existence of similar phylogeographic patterns across Europe, including high diversity in leprosaria. Further, we identified a new genotype in Belarus. By doubling the number of complete ancient M. leprae genomes, our results improve our knowledge of the past phylogeography of M. leprae and reveal a particularly high M. leprae diversity in European medieval leprosaria. Conclusions: Our findings allow us to detect similar patterns of strain diversity across Europe with branch 3 as the most common branch and the leprosaria as centers for high diversity. The higher resolution of our phylogeny tree also refined our understanding of the interspecies transfer between red squirrels and humans pointing to a late antique/early medieval transmission. Furthermore, with our new estimates on the past population diversity of M. leprae, we gained first insights into the disease’s global history in relation to major historic events such as the Roman expansion or the beginning of the regular transatlantic long distance trade. In summary, our findings highlight how studying ancient M. leprae genomes worldwide improves our understanding of leprosy’s global history and can contribute to current models of M. leprae’s worldwide dissemination, including interspecies transmissions

Mycobacterium leprae diversity and population dynamics in medieval Europe from novel ancient genomes.

Funder: Max-Planck SocietyFunder: St John’s College, CambridgeFunder: Fondation Raoul FollereauFunder: University of Zurich’s University Research Priority Program “Evolution in Action: From Genomes to Ecosystems”Funder: the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (S-HEP) at the University of TübingenBackgroundHansen's disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to its major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, can significantly improve our understanding of the disease's complex history. Previous studies have identified a high genetic continuity of the pathogen over the last 1500 years and the existence of at least four M. leprae lineages in some parts of Europe since the Early Medieval period.ResultsHere, we reconstructed 19 ancient M. leprae genomes to further investigate M. leprae's genetic variation in Europe, with a dedicated focus on bacterial genomes from previously unstudied regions (Belarus, Iberia, Russia, Scotland), from multiple sites in a single region (Cambridgeshire, England), and from two Iberian leprosaria. Overall, our data confirm the existence of similar phylogeographic patterns across Europe, including high diversity in leprosaria. Further, we identified a new genotype in Belarus. By doubling the number of complete ancient M. leprae genomes, our results improve our knowledge of the past phylogeography of M. leprae and reveal a particularly high M. leprae diversity in European medieval leprosaria.ConclusionsOur findings allow us to detect similar patterns of strain diversity across Europe with branch 3 as the most common branch and the leprosaria as centers for high diversity. The higher resolution of our phylogeny tree also refined our understanding of the interspecies transfer between red squirrels and humans pointing to a late antique/early medieval transmission. Furthermore, with our new estimates on the past population diversity of M. leprae, we gained first insights into the disease's global history in relation to major historic events such as the Roman expansion or the beginning of the regular transatlantic long distance trade. In summary, our findings highlight how studying ancient M. leprae genomes worldwide improves our understanding of leprosy's global history and can contribute to current models of M. leprae's worldwide dissemination, including interspecies transmissions

Population genomics of the Viking world.

The maritime expansion of Scandinavian populations during the Viking Age (about AD 750-1050) was a far-flung transformation in world history1,2. Here we sequenced the genomes of 442 humans from archaeological sites across Europe and Greenland (to a median depth of about 1×) to understand the global influence of this expansion. We find the Viking period involved gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east. We observe genetic structure within Scandinavia, with diversity hotspots in the south and restricted gene flow within Scandinavia. We find evidence for a major influx of Danish ancestry into England; a Swedish influx into the Baltic; and Norwegian influx into Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. Additionally, we see substantial ancestry from elsewhere in Europe entering Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Our ancient DNA analysis also revealed that a Viking expedition included close family members. By comparing with modern populations, we find that pigmentation-associated loci have undergone strong population differentiation during the past millennium, and trace positively selected loci-including the lactase-persistence allele of LCT and alleles of ANKA that are associated with the immune response-in detail. We conclude that the Viking diaspora was characterized by substantial transregional engagement: distinct populations influenced the genomic makeup of different regions of Europe, and Scandinavia experienced increased contact with the rest of the continent