Domestication and large animal interactions : Skeletal trauma in northern Vietnam during the hunter-gatherer Da but period

Funding: Grant sponsors were: Australian Research Council DP110101097; FT 120100299 awarded to MO; Institute of Advanced Study (IAS), Durham University and the COFUND 'Durham International Fellowships for Research and Enterprise' scheme. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia

Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders that are found in high prevalences in the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. These diseases provide varying levels of resistance to malaria and are proposed to have emerged as an adaptive response to malaria in these regions. The transition to agriculture in the Holocene has been suggested to have influenced the selection for thalassemia in the Mediterranean as land clearance for farming encouraged interaction between Anopheles mosquitos, the vectors for malaria, and human groups. Here we document macroscopic and microscopic skeletal evidence for the presence of thalassemia in both hunter-gatherer (Con Co Ngua) and early agricultural (Man Bac) populations in northern Vietnam. Firstly, our findings demonstrate that thalassemia emerged prior to the transition to agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia, from at least the early seventh millennium BP, contradicting a long-held assumption that agriculture was the main driver for an increase in malaria in Southeast Asia. Secondly, we describe evidence for significant malarial burden in the region during early agriculture. We argue that the introduction of farming into the region was not the initial driver of the selection for thalassemia, as it may have been in other regions of the world

Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia

Acknowledgements We would like to thank Dr. Ngo Anh Son, Mr. Bui Van Khanh and Ms. Nellissa Ling for their assistance with the radiographs. We are grateful to Dr. Dr. Nguyen Gia Doi for permission to extract histological samples. This work was supported by a National Geographic Early Career Grant (EC-54332R-18);Royal Society of New Zealand Skinner Fund Grant; University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship; Australian Research Council DP110101097 and FT120100299. Histologicalprocessing was funded by the Australian Research Council (DE190100068).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia.

Funder: Royal Society of New Zealand Skinner FundFunder: University of Otago Doctoral ScholarshipThalassemias are inherited blood disorders that are found in high prevalences in the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. These diseases provide varying levels of resistance to malaria and are proposed to have emerged as an adaptive response to malaria in these regions. The transition to agriculture in the Holocene has been suggested to have influenced the selection for thalassemia in the Mediterranean as land clearance for farming encouraged interaction between Anopheles mosquitos, the vectors for malaria, and human groups. Here we document macroscopic and microscopic skeletal evidence for the presence of thalassemia in both hunter-gatherer (Con Co Ngua) and early agricultural (Man Bac) populations in northern Vietnam. Firstly, our findings demonstrate that thalassemia emerged prior to the transition to agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia, from at least the early seventh millennium BP, contradicting a long-held assumption that agriculture was the main driver for an increase in malaria in Southeast Asia. Secondly, we describe evidence for significant malarial burden in the region during early agriculture. We argue that the introduction of farming into the region was not the initial driver of the selection for thalassemia, as it may have been in other regions of the world

Palaeohealth at Man Bac

The purpose of this chapter is to review the evidence of adult and subadult health for individuals recovered from the Man Bac site during the 2005 and 2007 excavation seasons. A fuller appreciation of the inhabitants of Man Bac can only be realised through an examination of the nature and patterning of health markers in the context of other bio-variables such as preservation, demographic profile, stature, diet and genetic relationships with contemporaneous, previous and later populations in the region. To this end, the health profile of the Man Bac inhabitants has been developed towards the end of this monograph.\ud \ud The palaeohealth of the ancient inhabitants of what is now Vietnam has been extensively examined and discussed in a number of studies (Oxenham et al., 2005; Oxenham, 2006; Oxenham et al., 2006). With respect to Man Bac specifically, limited examinations of childhood health, using remains from the 2005 season only, have been carried out in the context of broader mortuary archaeological questions (Oxenham, 2006). In this chapter, health variables are limited to two nonspecific signatures of physiological impairment, cribra orbitalia and linear enamel hypoplasia, as well as a range of oral health indicators, including dental caries, alveolar defects (often termed abscesses) and antemortem tooth loss. Subsequent publications will review the evidence for other health variables including trauma and infectious disease

The demographic profile of the Man Bac cemetery sample

The chief aims of this chapter are to describe the Man Bac human skeletal sample in terms of its sex and age-at-death distributions. Moreover, the preservation of the sample will be discussed in the context of a demographic reconstruction of the past population, which will include a range of measures of fertility. Inferences regarding the demographic 'health' of the population will be made with reference to major social and behavioural changes seen in the region some 3,500 years ago

Linear and appositional growth in infants and children from the prehistoric settlement of Ban Non Wat, Northeast Thailand: evaluating biological responses to agricultural intensification in Southeast Asia

The bioarchaeological model of health change predicts a deterioration inpopulation health with the adoption and intensification of agriculture. However, research in mainland Southeast Asia challenges this model, showing no clear pattern of health deterioration associated with the intensification of rice agriculture. Childhood growth, a sensitive indicator of general population stress, is used in this paper to test the applicability of the bioarchaeological model at the prehistoric site of Ban Non Wat in Northeast Thailand. Agricultural intensification at Ban Non Wat is most apparent in the Iron Age rather than the earlier periods. Linear and appositional growth patterns of infants and children (n = 95) at Ban Non Wat were compared among the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age periods (1750 BCE–430 CE) to assess differences in growth patterns associated with agricultural intensification over time. Comparative analysis of linear growth found no evidence for differences among the chronological phases at the site. A detailed assessment of appositional growth from the larger Bronze Age sample showed no evidence for extreme nutritional stress. These findings are consistent with other bioarchaeology health research in prehistoric Southeast Asia. A gradual transition to intensified agriculture over time and retention of a broad-spectrum based diet at Ban Non Wat may have provided a buffer from the biological stress exhibited in other parts of the world during agricultural intensification

Social Status and Its Relationship to Non-specific Stress at Late Iron Age Non Ban Jak, Northeast Thailand

The rise of social inequality is a key development in human history and is linked to deteriorating health. These associated health impacts are poorly understood for Iron Age (420 B.C.-A.D. 500) northeast Thailand. To clarify this issue we investigate whether social status differences influence non-specific stress at the site of Non Ban Jak (A.D. 300-800), which comprises two separate burial mounds. These mounds are thought to represent the neighborhoods of two distinct social groups at the site. Quantitative analyses were used to explore differences in grave goods among the adults of Non Ban Jak (N = 47). Long bone lengths, ages at death, and linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) were examined to explore differences in non-specific stress on the basis of age, sex, burial mound, and mortuary phase. Results demonstrated that older adults of both sexes, males of all ages, and west mound individuals received greater grave good quantities and may therefore have been of higher social status. West mound individuals were taller and had a lower prevalence of LEH compared to those from the east mound. Although female LEH prevalence and mortality were reduced relative to males, decreasing stature over time and high neonatal mortality indicated greater female stress. Lower-status individuals may therefore have suffered increased stress relative to those of higher status. Artifactual and epigraphic evidence supports the suggestion of sex- and class-based status differences at Non Ban Jak, legitimized and perpetuated through the adoption of residential burial and new religious ideologies.This research has been funded by the Australian Research Council (DP110101997), the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund and a University of Otago Research Grant. SW was funded by a University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship, a University of Otago Department of Anatomy Departmental Award, and a University of Otago Publishing Bursary

On the origin of pre-Angkorian peoples: perspectives from cranial and dental affinity of the human remains from Iron Age Phum Snay, Cambodia

This article presents the results of an assessment of the morphological affinities of the skeletal remains from a large mortuary assemblage, dated to Iron Age, in Phum Snay, a village in Banteay Meanchey Province, northwest Cambodia. The purpose of the research is to address the origin of these pre-Angkorian people. Multivariate comparisons using cranial and dental metrics, as well as dental nonmetric traits, demonstrate that the characteristic affinities intermediate between the early Holocene Hoabinhian groups akin to Australo-Melanesians and the present-day people in the mainland Southeast Asia. This finding suggests that the ancient people of Phum Snay preserved genetic traits of early indigenous populations, whereas modern mainland Southeast Asians, including Cambodians, were more affected by gene flow from later migrants from East Asia into this region

Developing a new project: the impact of social change on health at the late Iron Age site of Non Ban Jak in Northeast Thailand

This paper introduces on-going research by presenting the original proposal for this work. This research seeks to combine archaeological and bioarchaeological analyses, as well as theoretical perspectives from these fields, to obtain an integrated and holistic perspective of social change and its effect on health in prehistory. This approach will be tested on the archaeological and human skeletal remains from the late Iron Age site of Non Bak Jak in northeast Thailand. Social organization prior to the advent of state society in mainland Southeast Asia has long been a focus of archaeological research. The Iron Age of northeast Thailand (420 BCE-500 CE) has received particular archaeological attention, as rapid social and technological change has been identified in this region during this period. These changes include increasing social complexity, which is often associated with inequality between social groups and deterioration of population health. In contrast, bioarchaeological research in northeast Thailand has largely focused on the periods prior to the Iron Age, leaving the biocultural consequences of these late social changes relatively less well understood. Excavations at Non Ban Jak, a moated settlement and residential burial site with two distinct mounds, have been undertaken from 2011 to 2017. These have provided a well-preserved skeletal sample, unusual for this period in Thailand, making it ideal for investigating health and social change. The project underway aims to explore how a putative rise in social inequality might have affected levels of physiological stress using the holistic approach presented. Social groupings will be identified through spatial analyses of grave wealth, burial practice and location in the Esri ArcGIS programme. This programme uses statistics to identify and explore the patterning and relatedness of spatial data. Dental enamel defects and long bone lengths will provide information on physiological disruptions in growth. It is expected that this work will inform on health and social organization during a period of rapid social transition