Prehistoric and historic exploitation of marine mammals in the Black Sea

The recent exploitation of marine species is relatively well documented and understood in terms of impacts on species abundance, distribution, and resource use. In contrast, ancient exploitation of marine mammals remains poorly documented; in part, because a detailed meta-analysis of their presence in the zooarchaeological record is lacking. This is true in the Black Sea, where cetaceans are reported in the zooarchaeological record but have not yet been studied comprehensively. Here, we synthesize all available published and unpublished zooarchaeological data from 27 sites around the Black Sea, dating from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods (6500-6000 BCE) to the Medieval period (641–1475 CE), to document the extent and nature of the exploitation of the Black Sea cetacean species. The results suggest that cetacean exploitation was practised continuously in the Black Sea over a period of 8500 years from the Neolithic through to the Medieval period. This suggests a much longer history of marine mammal exploitation in the Black Sea than previously understood, pushing back the timeline of human impacts on the Black Sea marine fauna.</p

Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 BC, from Natufian hunter–gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a ‘Basal Eurasian’ lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter–gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter–gatherers of Europe to greatly reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those of Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia

Review - MARC BARBIER, L´artisanat de l´os à l´époque Gallo-Romaine. De l´ostéologie à l´archéologie expérimentale, Archaeopress Roman Archaeology 16, Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, 2016

A book review - MARC BARBIER, L´artisanat de l´os à l´époque Gallo-Romaine. De l´ostéologie à l´archéologie expérimentale, Archaeopress Roman Archaeology 16, Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, 201

HISTOPATOLOGICAL ASPECTS IN NONALCOHOLIC STEATOHEPATITIS

The paper analyzes the macroscopic and the microscopic modifications of the liver, on a batch of dead patients,suffering from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis,all from the Districtual Hospital of Botosani, between February- June 2006. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is a condition characterized by two principal diagnostics criterions: evidences of steatosic modifications or of lobular hepatitis and the absence of the alcoholism

TEMPORAL MODELING OF DNA DEGRADATION IN BONE REMAINS

The aim of this study is to follow the changes that occur, in time, at DNA level and to establish an efficient and reliable protocol for ancestral DNA extraction from bones found in archaeological sites. To test whether the protocol is efficient and capable of yielding good quality DNA, extraction was first performed on fresh bones. The material consists of fresh pig (Sus scrofa) and cow (Bos taurus) bones that were grounded by using a drill operating at low speed. The bone powder was then incubated in lysis buffer in the presence of proteinase K. DNA isolation and purification were done by using the phenol:chloroform protocol and DNA was precipitated with absolute ethanol stored at -20oC. The extractions were carried out once every month for a total of four extraction

Preliminary study of molecular variability for neolithic pig (sus scrofa domesticus) from romania using the cytochrome b

The aim of the present study is to reveal molecular differences between old and actual populations of pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), based on the analysis of hyper variable first part of cytochrome b. Neolithic pig remains (bone fragments) are sampled from Poduri-Dealul Ghindaru Tell (Bacau County). The Tell of Poduri-Dealul Ghindaru (positioned in the Eastern part of Romania) has a complex stratigraphy and the archaeologists have carried out analyses on Chalcolithic (Precucuteni and Cucuteni) and Bronze Age levels