The Kostënki 18 child burial and the cultural and funerary landscape of Mid Upper Palaeolithic European Russia

Palaeolithic burials are few and far between, and establishing their chronology is crucial to gaining a broader understanding of the period. A new programme of radiocarbon dating has provided a revised age estimate for the Palaeolithic burial at Kostënki 18 in European Russia (west of the Urals). This study reviews the need for redating the remains, and contextualises the age of the burial in relation to other Upper Palaeolithic funerary sites in Europe and Russia. The new date, obtained using a method that avoided the problems associated with previous samples conditioned with glue or other preservatives, is older than previous estimates, confirming Kostënki 18 as the only plausibly Gravettian burial known in Russia

Targeted and untargeted metabolite profiling of the ethnobotanical Martynia annua L. identifies bioactive compounds with medicinal properties

Martynia annua is an indigenous plant found endemic in the Indian subcontinent where it is commonly used for self-treatment of a variety of ailments and diseases. Previous studies have shown that preparations from the plant have antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and antiepileptic effects in vitro, but the biochemical composition and active compounds responsible for health benefits remain unknown. The aim of this study was to take extracts from different parts of the M. annua plant and, using targeted and untargeted metabolite profiling and quantitation, provide a comprehensive secondary metabolite profile to identify potential biotherapeutic metabolites. Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography, coupled directly to a Thermo Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer, was used for high-resolution targeted and untargeted analysis. 89 metabolites were identified and their relative and selected absolute abundances measured across 5 different parts of the plant (leaf, flower, fruit, stem, and root). A number of the compounds identified are known to have bioactive and therapeutic properties; these include trans-ferulic acid, homovanillic acid, syringic acid, isorhamnetin, apigenin, luteolin, and hispidulin. We report their concentrations in different parts of the plant. Our findings significantly extend the plant metabolite profile of M. annua and amongst the compounds identified, we have highlight those with known biotherapeutic properties. These results provide a foundation for future studies addressing specific compounds that may be responsible for the bioactivity and therapeutic use of M. annua

Targeted and untargeted metabolite profiling of the ethnobotanical Martynia annua L. identifies bioactive compounds with medicinal properties

Martynia annua is an indigenous plant found endemic in the Indian subcontinent where it is commonly used for self-treatment of a variety of ailments and diseases. Previous studies have shown that preparations from the plant have antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and antiepileptic effects in vitro, but the biochemical composition and active compounds responsible for health benefits remain unknown. The aim of this study was to take extracts from different parts of the M. annua plant and, using targeted and untargeted metabolite profiling and quantitation, provide a comprehensive secondary metabolite profile to identify potential biotherapeutic metabolites. Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography, coupled directly to a Thermo Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer, was used for high-resolution targeted and untargeted analysis. 89 metabolites were identified and their relative and selected absolute abundances measured across 5 different parts of the plant (leaf, flower, fruit, stem, and root). A number of the compounds identified are known to have bioactive and therapeutic properties; these include trans-ferulic acid, homovanillic acid, syringic acid, isorhamnetin, apigenin, luteolin, and hispidulin. We report their concentrations in different parts of the plant. Our findings significantly extend the plant metabolite profile of M. annua and amongst the compounds identified, we have highlight those with known biotherapeutic properties. These results provide a foundation for future studies addressing specific compounds that may be responsible for the bioactivity and therapeutic use of M. annua

Supercritical fluids for higher extraction yields of lipids from archaeological ceramics

The extraction and study of organic residues from ceramics has been a subject of interest for the last 50 years in archaeology and archaeological science. Lipids are among the bestpreserved organic substances in archaeological contexts and can provide information about the diets of ancient populations, as well as past environments. Here, we present a method which demonstrates significantly improved extraction of lipids from archaeological pots by replacing liquid organic solvents with supercritical fluids. Optimization of the procedure using response surface methodology (RSM) approach showed that, on our system, optimal conditions for supercritical extraction of lipids from synthetic fired clay ceramics could be achieved using carbon dioxide with 16 volume % of co-solvent EtOH:H2O (95:5 v/v) in 90 minutes at a flow rate of 2.3 ml/min, for a pressure of 30 MPa and a temperature of 50°C. For all reference and archaeological samples included in this study, lipid yields obtained by supercritical fluid extraction under these optimal conditions were systematically higher than by conventional solvent extraction. This study also highlighted a variability of the ratio of unsaturated versus saturated fatty acids depending on the extraction method. This can have important implications in the identification of the residue(s). The increased extraction efficiency provided by supercritical fluids, as well as their minimally destructive nature, enable new and refined approaches to residue analysis and dating of archaeological ceramics

Reassessing the chronology of the archaeological site of Anzick

Found in 1968, the archaeological site of Anzick, Montana, contains the only known Clovis burial. Here, the partial remains of a male infant, Anzick-1, were found in association with a Clovis assemblage of over 100 lithic and osseous artifacts—all red-stained with ochre. The incomplete, unstained cranium of an unassociated, geologically younger individual, Anzick-2, was also recovered. Previous chronometric work has shown an age difference between Anzick-1 and the Clovis assemblage (represented by dates from two antler rod samples). This discrepancy has led to much speculation, with some discounting Anzick-1 as Clovis. To resolve this issue, we present the results of a comprehensive radiocarbon dating program that utilized different pretreatment methods on osseous material from the site. Through this comparative approach, we obtained a robust chronometric dataset that suggests that Anzick-1 is temporally coeval with the dated antler rods. This implies that the individual is indeed temporally associated with the Clovis assemblage