Counting Roman chickens: multidisciplinary approaches to human-chicken interactions in Roman Britain.

This paper discusses some of the approaches and results from two multi-disciplinary projects. The first is the AHRC-funded ‘Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions’ Project. This is investigating the history of the exploitation of chickens in Europe. The second is the Leverhulme Trust-funded ‘Rural Settlement of Roman Britain’ Project, which has collated evidence from excavation reports from thousands of sites. This paper updates the evidence for the exploitation of chickens in Roman Britain, showing that there were significant variations in the abundance of chicken bones found on different types of settlement. There was also a modest increase in their abundance during the Roman period suggesting chickens became slightly more frequent contributors to the diet, albeit still only a rare commodity. However, they continued to be frequently represented in graves, shrines and other ritual deposits. The paper also discusses evidence of egg production and avian osteopetrosis, demonstrating that when traditional zooarchaeological research is integrated with scientific analyses, a deeper understanding of past human diet can be acquired

The identification of poultry processing in archaeological ceramic vessels using in-situ isotope references for organic residue analysis.

Poultry products are rarely considered when reconstructing pottery use through organic residue analysis, impinging upon our understanding of the changing role of these animals in the past. Here we evaluate an isotopic approach for distinguishing chicken fats from other animal products. We compare the carbon isotopes of fatty acids extracted from modern tissues and archaeological bones and demonstrate that archaeological bones from contexts associated with pottery provide suitable reference ranges for distinguishing omnivorous animal products (e.g. pigs vs. chickens) in pots. When applied to pottery from the Anglo-Saxon site of Flixborough, England, we succeeded in identifying residues derived from chicken fats that otherwise could not be distinguished from other monogastric and ruminant animals using modern reference values only. This provides the first direct evidence for the processing of poultry or their products in pottery. The results highlight the utility of ‘in-situ’ archaeological bone lipids to identify omnivorous animal-derived lipids in archaeological ceramic vessels

Exploring fishers’ perceptions of index insurance and coral reef health in the context of climate-driven changes in extreme events

Climate-change-driven storminess and extreme events are increasingly challenging fishers in tropical island countries. Weather-based index insurance is an emerging tool that can assist fishing communities in their recovery and adaptation to such events. In these regions, coral reefs support valuable fisheries and also provide coastal protection during extreme events. Surveying 80 fishers in Grenada, this exploratory study examined fishers’ perceptions of index insurance in the context of their experiences of extreme events. We also explore perceptions of reef health and its’ connections to fishing outcomes and coastal protection, given the indirect role this plays in supporting fishers’ resilience through associated fisheries and storm protection. Most fishers viewed extreme events as a severe risk to their livelihoods, affecting their ability to make future plans. Fishers comprehended the links between improved reef health and positive impacts on fishing (higher catches and incomes). Several challenges regarding index insurance were raised, which centred on themes of flexibility, affordability, inclusivity, and accessibility. These could pose barriers to fishers and undermine demand for or participation in such schemes. As such, research, design, and implementation of future index insurance schemes should consider issues raised by fishers to ensure that provision is equitable and improve uptake

Multi-method Analysis of Avian Eggs as Grave Goods: Revealing Symbolism in Conversion Period Burials at Kukruse, NE Estonia

Eggshells are unusual finds in the Iron Age of eastern Europe (500 BC–1200 AD) deserving extra attention in terms of analysis as well as interpretation. This paper discusses two rare eggshell finds, discovered in female burials at the conversion period (12th–13th century AD) cemetery at Kukruse, NE Estonia. Our multianalytical study combining FT-IR, SEM(-EDS), microscopy and ZooMS provides an overview of methods applicable for identifying egg species, their predepositional history and curation. Based on the analytical results and the comparative analysis of the content and context of these two burials, we argue that different aims and connotations lay behind depositing eggs as burial goods, allowing well-supported interpretations of both pagan and Christian religious worldviews simultaneously

Redefining the timing and circumstances of the chicken's introduction to Europe and north-west Africa

Little is known about the early history of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), including the timing and circumstances of its introduction into new cultural environments. To evaluate its spatio-temporal spread across Eurasia and north-west Africa, the authors radiocarbon dated 23 chicken bones from presumed early contexts. Three-quarters returned dates later than those suggested by stratigraphy, indicating the importance of direct dating. The results indicate that chickens did not arrive in Europe until the first millennium BC. Moreover, a consistent time-lag between the introduction of chickens and their consumption by humans suggests that these animals were initially regarded as exotica and only several centuries later recognised as a source of ‘food’

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist