A bioarcheological contribution to the social history of Roman Macedonia:The Pontokomi‐Vrysi site in Kozani Prefecture, Greece

Roman Macedonia has been largely neglected by bioarcheological research. As a result, little is known about the imprint of living conditions of that time on the skeletons of its inhabitants, especially those of the lower classes. This paper presents the paleopathological study conducted on a Roman period (1st–4th c. CE) skeletal assemblage from Pontokomi-Vrysi, a site in the semi-mountainous region of Eordaea in Upper Macedonia (now in Kozani Prefecture, Greece). The aim is to investigate differences in the frequency of multiple paleopathological conditions in the buried population and to assess whether these are linked to sex- or age-related differences. The study examines cribra orbitalia (CO), porotic hyperostosis (PH), enamel hypoplasia (EH), osteoarthritis (OA), vertebral osteoarthritis (VOA), intervertebral disk disease (IDD), Schmorl's nodes (SNs), trauma (Tr), and lower limb periostitis/periostosis (PO). The results show higher frequencies of OA, IDD, PO, and Tr among males compared with those among females. These results suggest increased male physical hardship, pointing to a possible gender division of labor with the men of the community being mostly responsible for the physically demanding agricultural and animal husbandry activities. Additionally, comparisons of the CO, PH, and EH patterns in adults and nonadults support that, in general, the Pontokomi-Vrysi community was resilient enough to overcome stress. Overall, these findings make an important contribution to both the bioarcheology and social history of Roman Macedonia and stress the need for more studies that combine historical, archeological (cultural), and bioarcheological data

Oral health and its implications on male-female dietary differences:A study from the Roman Province of Macedonia

This paper examines the permanent dentition of sixty-one individuals from the Pontokomi-Vrysi Roman rural population of the Provincia Macedonia (1st-4th c. CE) aiming to explore differences in the oral health between males and females of the assemblage. All teeth were macroscopically examined for dental pathologies and dental wear, and observations were compared at an intra-assemblage level, between males and females, as well as against published data from two Roman-Italian and two Graeco-Roman sites. Results show a homogenous pattern in the oral health of the Pontokomi-Vrysi population, pointing to a rather undifferentiated diet between the two sexes, characterized mainly by the consumption of carbohydrates and to a lesser extent by the supplementary intake of protein-deriving food sources. Comparison of the results with those from the other Greek and Italian sites reveals complex oral health and dietary profiles for these populations. This paper suggests caution when universal oral health and dietary patterns for the inhabitants of the Roman Empire are sought

A bioarcheological contribution to the social history of Roman Macedonia: The Pontokomi‐Vrysi site in Kozani Prefecture, Greece

Roman Macedonia has been largely neglected by bioarcheological research. As a result, little is known about the imprint of living conditions of that time on the skeletons of its inhabitants, especially those of the lower classes. This paper presents the paleopathological study conducted on a Roman period (1st–4th c. CE) skeletal assemblage from Pontokomi-Vrysi, a site in the semi-mountainous region of Eordaea in Upper Macedonia (now in Kozani Prefecture, Greece). The aim is to investigate differences in the frequency of multiple paleopathological conditions in the buried population and to assess whether these are linked to sex- or age-related differences. The study examines cribra orbitalia (CO), porotic hyperostosis (PH), enamel hypoplasia (EH), osteoarthritis (OA), vertebral osteoarthritis (VOA), intervertebral disk disease (IDD), Schmorl's nodes (SNs), trauma (Tr), and lower limb periostitis/periostosis (PO). The results show higher frequencies of OA, IDD, PO, and Tr among males compared with those among females. These results suggest increased male physical hardship, pointing to a possible gender division of labor with the men of the community being mostly responsible for the physically demanding agricultural and animal husbandry activities. Additionally, comparisons of the CO, PH, and EH patterns in adults and nonadults support that, in general, the Pontokomi-Vrysi community was resilient enough to overcome stress. Overall, these findings make an important contribution to both the bioarcheology and social history of Roman Macedonia and stress the need for more studies that combine historical, archeological (cultural), and bioarcheological data

The genomic history of the Aegean palatial civilizations

The Cycladic, the Minoan, and the Helladic (Mycenaean) cultures define the Bronze Age (BA) of Greece. Urbanism, complex social structures, craft and agricultural specialization, and the earliest forms of writing characterize this iconic period. We sequenced six Early to Middle BA whole genomes, along with 11 mitochondrial genomes, sampled from the three BA cultures of the Aegean Sea. The Early BA (EBA) genomes are homogeneous and derive most of their ancestry from Neolithic Aegeans, contrary to earlier hypotheses that the Neolithic-EBA cultural transition was due to massive population turnover. EBA Aegeans were shaped by relatively small-scale migration from East of the Aegean, as evidenced by the Caucasus-related ancestry also detected in Anatolians. In contrast, Middle BA (MBA) individuals of northern Greece differ from EBA populations in showing ∼50% Pontic-Caspian Steppe-related ancestry, dated at ca. 2,600-2,000 BCE. Such gene flow events during the MBA contributed toward shaping present-day Greek genomes.We thank the INCD (https://incd.pt/) for use of their computing infrastructure, which is funded by FCT and FEDER ( 01/SAICT/2016 022153 ).C.P., E.G., A.S., L.W., and J. Burger acknowledge the support of the European Union and the General Secretariat of Research and Innovation-GSRI, Ministry of Development & Investments in Greece, and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research-BMBF in Germany under the Bilateral Cooperation Program Greece – Germany 2017 (project BIOMUSE-0195 ). O.L. and O. Dolgova acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to the EMBL partnership, Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa, CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Generalitat de Catalunya through Departament de Salut and Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement, as well as co-financing with funds from the European Regional Development Fund by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation corresponding to the Programa Operativo FEDER Plurirregional de España (POPE) 2014-2020, and by the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca, Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement of the Generalitat de Catalunya corresponding to the Programa Operatiu FEDER de Catalunya 2014-2020. F.C., C.E.G.A., S.N., D.I.C.D., L.A., B.S.d.M., Y.O.A.C., F.M., J.V.M.-M., and A.-S.M. were supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SFNS) and a European Research Council (ERC) grant to A.-S.M. M.U., S.T., D.U.-K., and C.P. were co-financed by the EU Social Fund and the Greek national funds research funding program ARISTEIA II ( project-3461 ). C.P., E.G., A.S., L.W., and J. Burger were co-financed by the Greek-German bilateral cooperation program 2017 (General Secreteriat for Research and Innovation, Ministry of Development and Investments, Greece, and Federal Ministry of Education and Research - BMBF, Germany) project BIOMUSE-0195 funded by the Operational Programme “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (NSRF 2014-2020 ) and co-financed by Greece and the European Union (EU Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund). E.K. was funded by the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (IKY). O. Delaneau is funded by a SNSF (project grant PP00P3_176977 ). V.C.S. was supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through funds granted to cE3c ( UIDB/00329/2020 ) and individual grant CEECIND/02391/2017 . O.L. was supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MEIC) (RYC-2013-14797), a PGC2018-098574-B-I00 (MEIC/FEDER) grant, and the support of Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya ( GRC 2017 SGR 937 ). O. Dolgova was supported by a PGC2018-098574-B-I00 (MEIC/FEDER) grant. J.D.J. was funded by National Institutes of Health grants R01GM135899 and R35GM13938