Island networks: Transformations of inter-community social relationships in the Lesser Antilles at the advent of European colonialism

The Caribbean Sea was a conduit for human mobility and the exchange of goods and ideas during the whole of its pre-colonial history. The period cal. AD 1000-1800, covering the Late Ceramic Age and early colonial era, represents an archaeologically understudied time during which the Lesser Antilles came under increasing influence from the Greater Antilles and coastal South America and participated in the last phase of indigenous resistance to colonial powers. This article summarizes the results of the Island Network project, supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in which a multi-disciplinary set of archaeological, archaeometric, geochemical, GIS, and network science methods and techniques have been employed to disentangle this turbulent era in regional and global history. These diverse approaches reveal and then explore multi-layered networks of objects and people and uncover how Lesser Antillean communities were created and transformed through teaching, trade, migration, movement, and exchange of goods and knowledge

The population genomic legacy of the second plague pandemic

Human populations have been shaped by catastrophes that may have left long-lasting signatures in their genomes. One notable example is the second plague pandemic that entered Europe in ca. 1,347 CE and repeatedly returned for over 300 years, with typical village and town mortality estimated at 10%–40%.1 It is assumed that this high mortality affected the gene pools of these populations. First, local population crashes reduced genetic diversity. Second, a change in frequency is expected for sequence variants that may have affected survival or susceptibility to the etiologic agent (Yersinia pestis).2 Third, mass mortality might alter the local gene pools through its impact on subsequent migration patterns. We explored these factors using the Norwegian city of Trondheim as a model, by sequencing 54 genomes spanning three time periods: (1) prior to the plague striking Trondheim in 1,349 CE, (2) the 17th–19th century, and (3) the present. We find that the pandemic period shaped the gene pool by reducing long distance immigration, in particular from the British Isles, and inducing a bottleneck that reduced genetic diversity. Although we also observe an excess of large FST values at multiple loci in the genome, these are shaped by reference biases introduced by mapping our relatively low genome coverage degraded DNA to the reference genome. This implies that attempts to detect selection using ancient DNA (aDNA) datasets that vary by read length and depth of sequencing coverage may be particularly challenging until methods have been developed to account for the impact of differential reference bias on test statistics.publishedVersio

The population genomic legacy of the second plague pandemic

Human populations have been shaped by catastrophes that may have left long-lasting signatures in their genomes. One notable example is the second plague pandemic that entered Europe in ca. 1,347 CE and repeatedly returned for over 300 years, with typical village and town mortality estimated at 10%-40%.1 It is assumed that this high mortality affected the gene pools of these populations. First, local population crashes reduced genetic diversity. Second, a change in frequency is expected for sequence variants that may have affected survival or susceptibility to the etiologic agent (Yersinia pestis).2 Third, mass mortality might alter the local gene pools through its impact on subsequent migration patterns. We explored these factors using the Norwegian city of Trondheim as a model, by sequencing 54 genomes spanning three time periods: (1) prior to the plague striking Trondheim in 1,349 CE, (2) the 17th-19th century, and (3) the present. We find that the pandemic period shaped the gene pool by reducing long distance immigration, in particular from the British Isles, and inducing a bottleneck that reduced genetic diversity. Although we also observe an excess of large FST values at multiple loci in the genome, these are shaped by reference biases introduced by mapping our relatively low genome coverage degraded DNA to the reference genome. This implies that attempts to detect selection using ancient DNA (aDNA) datasets that vary by read length and depth of sequencing coverage may be particularly challenging until methods have been developed to account for the impact of differential reference bias on test statistics

Quantitative paleodietary reconstruction with complex foodwebs:An isotopic case study from the Caribbean

Stable isotope analysis has a long history in Caribbean archaeology. The Caribbean region, however, possesses a highly complex isotopic ecology, including both a large number of isotopically variable food sources, and a high degree of isotopic overlap between different food groups. As such, to date, most regional paleodietary studies have been limited to descriptive and qualitative conclusions concerning the relative contributions of different food sources. In this study we apply an iterative Bayesian multi-source mixing model (FRUITS) to skeletal stable isotope data from the prehistoric population of Tutu, St. Thomas, USVI, to test the feasibility of such models to generate quantitative and probabilistic individual paleodietary reconstructions. The isotope data set includes both bone collagen (δ13Cco and δ15Nco) and apatite (δ13Cap) data. The results of two different dietary models using four and five distinct food groupings, respectively, are compared and assessed relative to other relevant archaeological evidence pertaining to past diet at the site. We highlight the potentials and limitations of multi-source mixing models for regional paleodietary studies, and their relevance to ongoing debates within Caribbean archaeology concerning the relative importance of different food sources such as manioc, maize, and seafood

87Sr/86Sr data indicate human post-juvenile residence mobility decreases over time-elapsed since initial Holocene island colonization in the Pacific and Caribbean

During the Holocene colonization of islands in the Pacific and Caribbean by agropastoral and horticulturalist communities, a variety of proxies (material, genetic, zoogeographic etc.) indicate substantial inter-island and inter-community contact. It has been suggested that this contact represents an adaptive response to mitigate intrinsic demographic fragility during the initial phases of island colonization, and that this exogamous imperative faded in the aftermath of initial dispersal as overall population density increased. Here, we evaluate this model by synthesizing and comparing increasingly available 87Sr/86Sr data from funerary populations in the Pacific and Caribbean. After performing basic hygienic discrimination, we conclude that the Caribbean data—both from across the region, and on an intra-site/island basis—lend support to this model, with high early in-migration succeeded by comparatively low in-migration in a relationship which, based on chi-square tests, is statistically significant (1, N = 290) = 4.046, p = 0.044). The Pacific situation is more complex, with data from the Bismarck Archipelago and northern Solomon Islands skewing the analysis. However, in considering these data in detail, we demonstrate that there are reasons to suppose that the Pacific data may also tentatively support a model of high rates of in-migration being replaced later in settlement histories by comparatively low rates. We conclude by highlighting future directions for this incipient research program

Assessing the preservation of biogenic strontium isotope ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) in the pars petrosa ossis temporalis of unburnt human skeletal remains: A case study from Saba

RATIONALE: Strontium isotope ((87)Sr/(86)Sr) analysis of skeletal remains has become a powerful tool in archaeological studies of human migration and mobility. Owing to its resistance to post‐mortem alteration, dental enamel is the preferred sampling material used for (87)Sr/(86)Sr analysis in bioarchaeological provenance research, although recent studies have demonstrated that cremated bone is also generally resistant to diagenesis. This paper presents the results of a pilot study exploring the potential of unburnt petrous bone (pars petrosa) as a reservoir of biogenic (diagenetically unaltered) strontium, as the otic capsule or bony labyrinth within the petrous bone is extremely dense and is thought to be unable to remodel after early childhood, potentially providing an alternative for dental enamel. METHODS: From an individual from a colonial‐era (18th century) site on the island of Saba in the Caribbean for whom previous enamel (87)Sr/(86)Sr results had indicated non‐local origins, multiple locations (n = 4) on the petrous were sampled and measured for strontium isotope composition. Saba (13 km(2)) has been extensively mapped for baseline strontium isotopes (n = 50) with (87)Sr/(86)Sr varying from ca 0.7065 to 0.7090, whereas enamel (87)Sr/(86)Sr (n = 3) ranged from 0.7104 to 0.7112. RESULTS: All four petrous (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratios (0.7111–0.7122) are consistently and considerably higher than the local bioavailable range, and very similar to the enamel (87)Sr/(86)Sr. These results provide initial evidence that unburnt petrous bones may preserve biogenic strontium, at least in this specific burial context. CONCLUSIONS: While more research in diverse burial conditions is needed to validate this observation, if confirmed, it would have broader implications for sample selection strategies in bioarchaeological studies using the strontium isotope method

Assessing the preservation of biogenic strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) in the pars petrosa ossis temporalis of unburnt human skeletal remains: A case study from Saba

Rationale: Strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) analysis of skeletal remains has become a powerful tool in archaeological studies of human migration and mobility. Owing to its resistance to post-mortem alteration, dental enamel is the preferred sampling material used for 87Sr/86Sr analysis in bioarchaeological provenance research, although recent studies have demonstrated that cremated bone is also generally resistant to diagenesis. This paper presents the results of a pilot study exploring the potential of unburnt petrous bone (pars petrosa) as a reservoir of biogenic (diagenetically unaltered) strontium, as the otic capsule or bony labyrinth within the petrous bone is extremely dense and is thought to be unable to remodel after early childhood, potentially providing an alternative for dental enamel. Methods: From an individual from a colonial-era (18th century) site on the island of Saba in the Caribbean for whom previous enamel 87Sr/86Sr results had indicated non-local origins, multiple locations (n = 4) on the petrous were sampled and measured for strontium isotope composition. Saba (13 km2) has been extensively mapped for baseline strontium isotopes (n = 50) with 87Sr/86Sr varying from ca 0.7065 to 0.7090, whereas enamel 87Sr/86Sr (n = 3) ranged from 0.7104 to 0.7112. Results: All four petrous 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7111–0.7122) are consistently and considerably higher than the local bioavailable range, and very similar to the enamel 87Sr/86Sr. These results provide initial evidence that unburnt petrous bones may preserve biogenic strontium, at least in this specific burial context. Conclusions: While more research in diverse burial conditions is needed to validate this observation, if confirmed, it would have broader implications for sample selection strategies in bioarchaeological studies using the strontium isotope method

Human and hutia (Isolobodon portoricensis) interactions in pre-Columbian Hispaniola:The isotopic and morphological evidence

There are certain animal candidates for which researchers have long speculated as having been managed, or possibly domesticated, by indigenous peoples in the pre-Columbian Caribbean, the primary candidate being some members of a group of caviomorph rodents known as hutia (Capromyinae). This study comprises an isotopic and morphological investigation of the potential management of an extinct species endemic to Hispaniola, the Puerto Rican hutia (Isolobodon portoricensis). For comparisons, isotopic analysis was conducted of bone collagen samples examining carbon (∂13Cco) and nitrogen (∂15N) values of I. portoricensis with two other species of endemic hutia, guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), Antillean slider (Trachemys stejnegeri), rhinoceros iguana (Cyclura cornuta) and edible rat (Brotomys sp.) from four sites in the Dominican Republic: El Flaco, El Carril, El Cabo and La Entrada. This data was compared to human and dog collagen values available from El Flaco to assess similarities between these groups. Osteometric data was recorded for hutia mandibles, allowing for body mass estimations (n = 230). The findings suggest that some Isolobodon portoricensis specimens possessed carbon (δ13Cco) values similar to humans and dogs at El Flaco, possibly associated with the consumption of agriculturally produced maize. This research does not indicate whether domestication or management of this species was occurring, at least not in a systematic way. Concurrence with palaeoenvironmental and zooarchaeological data from the region in which El Flaco and El Carril are located indicate that indigenous agricultural practices may have affected populations of hutia, perhaps by attracting them and supporting them within anthropogenic mosaic landscapes. The data also suggests that some degree of either purposeful feeding or scavenging from human agricultural plots was occurring and supports some degree of commensalism between humans and Puerto Rican hutia at these sites