Late Pleistocene human genome suggests a local origin for the first farmers of central Anatolia

Anatolia was home to some of the earliest farming communities. It has been long debated whether a migration of farming groups introduced agriculture to central Anatolia. Here, we report the first genome-wide data from a 15,000-year-old Anatolian hunter-gatherer and from seven Anatolian and Levantine early farmers. We find high genetic continuity (~80–90%) between the hunter-gatherers and early farmers of Anatolia and detect two distinct incoming ancestries: an early Iranian/Caucasus related one and a later one linked to the ancient Levant. Finally, we observe a genetic link between southern Europe and the Near East predating 15,000 years ago. Our results suggest a limited role of human migration in the emergence of agriculture in central Anatolia

Burying power: New insights into incipient leadership in the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic from an outstanding burial at Baʻja, southern Jordan

In 2016, an extraordinary burial of a young adult individual was discovered at the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB, 7,500–6,900 BCE) settlement of Baʻja in southern Jordan. This burial has exceptional grave goods and an elaborate grave construction. It suggests discussing anew reconstructions of early Neolithic social structures. In this article, we will summarize former theories on the emergence of leadership and hierarchies and present a multivariate model according to which anthropological and archaeological data of the burial will be analyzed. In conclusion, we surmise that early Neolithic hierarchization in southern Jordan was based on corporate pathways to power rather than self-interested aggrandizers. However, some aspects of the burial point to regional exchange networks of prestige goods, a trait considered characteristic of network based leadership. In line with anthropological and sociological research, we argue that pathways to power should be considered as relational processes that can be understood only when comparing traits of the outstanding person to her/his social environment

Isotopic and DNA analyses reveal multiscale PPNB mobility and migration across Southeastern Anatolia and the Southern Levant

Growing reliance on animal and plant domestication in the Near East and beyond during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) (the ninth to eighth millennium BC) has often been associated with a “revolutionary” social transformation from mobility toward more sedentary lifestyles. We are able to yield nuanced insights into the process of the Neolithization in the Near East based on a bioarchaeological approach integrating isotopic and archaeogenetic analyses on the bone remains recovered from Nevalı Çori, a site occupied from the early PPNB in Turkey where some of the earliest evidence of animal and plant domestication emerged, and from Ba'ja, a typical late PPNB site in Jordan. In addition, we present the archaeological sequence of Nevalı Çori together with newly generated radiocarbon dates. Our results are based on strontium (87Sr/86Sr), carbon, and oxygen (δ18O and δ13Ccarb) isotopic analyses conducted on 28 human and 29 animal individuals from the site of Nevalı Çori. 87Sr/86Sr results indicate mobility and connection with the contemporaneous surrounding sites during the earlier PPNB prior to an apparent decline in this mobility at a time of growing reliance on domesticates. Genome-wide data from six human individuals from Nevalı Çori and Ba'ja demonstrate a diverse gene pool at Nevalı Çori that supports connectedness within the Fertile Crescent during the earlier phases of Neolithization and evidence of consanguineous union in the PPNB Ba'ja and the Iron Age Nevalı Çori

Threads of memory: Reviving the ornament of a dead child at the Neolithic village of Ba`ja (Jordan)

In 2018, a well-constructed cist-type grave was discovered at Ba`ja, a Neolithic village (7,400–6,800 BCE) in Southern Jordan. Underneath multiple grave layers, an 8-year-old child was buried in a fetal position. Over 2,500 beads were found on the chest and neck, along with a double perforated stone pendant and a delicately engraved mother-of-pearl ring discovered among the concentration of beads. The first was found behind the neck, and the second on the chest. The meticulous documentation of the bead distribution indicated that the assemblage was a composite ornament that had gradually collapsed, partly due to the burying position. Our aim was to challenge time degradation and to reimagine the initial composition in order to best explore the significance of this symbolic category of material culture, not as mere group of beads, but as an ornamental creation with further aesthetic, artisanal and socioeconomic implications. The reconstruction results exceeded our expectations as it revealed an imposing multi-row necklace of complex structure and attractive design. Through multiple lines of evidence, we suggest that the necklace was created at Ba`ja, although significant parts of beads were made from exotic shells and stones, including fossil amber, an unprecedented material never attested before for this period. The retrieval of such an ornament from life and its attribution to a young dead child highlights the significant social status of this individual. Beyond the symbolic functions related to identity, the necklace is believed to have played a key role in performing the inhumation rituals, understood as a public event gathering families, relatives, and people from other villages. In this sense, the necklace is not seen as belonging completely to the realm of death but rather to the world of the living, materializing a collective memory and shared moments of emotions and social cohesion

The young and nearby normal type Ia supernova 2018gv: UV-optical observations and the earliest spectropolarimetry

The nondetection of companion stars in SN Ia progenitor systems lends support to the notion of double-degenerate systems and explosions triggered by the merging of two white dwarfs. This very asymmetric process should lead to a conspicuous polarimetric signature. By contrast, observations consistently find very low continuum polarization as the signatures from the explosion process largely dominate over the pre-explosion configuration within several days. Critical information about the interaction of the ejecta with a companion and any circumstellar matter is encoded in the early polarization spectra. In this study, we obtain spectropolarimetry of SN 2018gv with the ESO Very Large Telescope at −13.6 days relative to the B-band maximum light, or ~5 days after the estimated explosion—the earliest spectropolarimetric observations to date of any SN Ia. These early observations still show a low continuum polarization (lesssim0.2%) and moderate line polarization (0.30% ± 0.04% for the prominent Si ii λ6355 feature and 0.85% ± 0.04% for the high-velocity Ca component). The high degree of spherical symmetry implied by the low-line and continuum polarization at this early epoch is consistent with explosion models of delayed detonations and is inconsistent with the merger-induced explosion scenario. The dense UV and optical photometry and optical spectroscopy within the first ~100 days after the maximum light indicate that SN 2018gv is a normal SN Ia with similar spectrophotometric behavior to SN 2011fe

Similar but different: displaying social roles of subadults in burials from the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Ba`ja, Southern Jordan

Benz, Marion; Gresky, Julia; Alarashi, Hala. "Similar but different. Displaying social roles of subadults in burials from the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Ba`ja, Southern Jordan". In: H. Alarashi and R.M. Dessì (eds.). The art of human appearance : from prehistory to the present day. Actes des 40es Rencontres Internationales d'Archéologie et d'Histoire. Nice: Éditions APDCA.[EN] Increasing social differentiation and the emergence of collective identities are considered to be fundamental changes brought about by Neolithisation. Commitment and loyalty – and therefore socialization within the group – became important elements in Neolithic agricultural communities. Henceforth, personal identities were probably mainly determined by the group and the ascription of social roles will have begun at quite an early age. Within the framework of the project Household and Death – Commodification and Identities in Ba`ja during the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB) of the Southern Levant, more than eighteen subadult interments in single, double and collective burials were discovered. On the one hand, these burials show striking similarities in their rituals, obviously adhering to distinct social rules, but on the other hand, there are many differences in the way the bodies are displayed and in the organization of the funerary space. Besides grave constructions of differing complexity, jewelry and so-called grave goods were used as diacritical means with which the community indicated social differences during burial rituals. The locations and associations of certain burials could be indicative of Neolithic concepts concerning social groups. We will compare the burial rituals, the appearance of the bodies and the objects within the graves to seek reasons for these differences, and thereby assess the social roles ascribed to subadults at the Neolithic site of Ba`ja.[FR] L’augmentation de différences sociales et l’émergence des identités collectives sont considérées comme des changements fondamentaux de la Néolithisation. L’engagement et la loyauté envers le groupe – et donc la socialisation – devinrent des critères décisifs pour les communautés néolithiques. Dès lors, l’identité personnelle était probablement profondément déterminée par le groupe et l’attribution des rôles sociaux commençait sans doute dès l’enfance. Dans le cadre du projet Household and Death – Commodification and Identities in Ba`ja during the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB) of the Southern Levant, plus de dixhuit squelettes d’enfants furent découverts dans des sépultures individuelles, doubles et collectives. D’une part, ces sépulcres montrent des similitudes frappantes dans leurs rites funéraires, reflet probable de conventions sociales bien définies. D’autre part, des différences considérables relatives à la disposition des corps et à l’organisation de l’espace funéraire sont observées. Parallèlement à la construction généralement complexe des tombes, la variabilité des parures corporelles et le mobilier funéraire suggèrent une mise en scène des différences sociales des individus enterrés. La localisation et l’association de certaines tombes peuvent indiquer un concept de « groupe social » au sein de cette société néolithique. Nos études intégrales des funéraires, de l’apparence du corps et des offrandes tentent d´expliquer ces différences sociales rendues visibles au sein des inhumations d’enfants du site néolithique de Ba`ja.Peer reviewe

Le Campaniforme : phénomène et culture archéologique

Zusammenfassung Der Glockenbecher, seine Uniformitàt und die europaweite Verbreitung haben die urges chichtliche Forschung zu den unterschiedlichsten, teilweise widerspriichlichen Interpretationen gefuhrt. Deshalb ist es notwendig, von einer strengen Definition ausgehend erneutzu klassifizieren und seine Stellung innerhalb der endneolithischen Kulturen zu prtifen. Die Zusammenstellung der 14C-Daten zeigt daben daji der Zierstil nicht primar chronologisch zu deuten ist. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchung und die Einbeziehung neuer theoretischen Ansàtzeftihrten dann zur Herausarbeitung des sogenannten Crémade-Modells. Dieses beschreibt in erster Linien das Glockenbecher-Phanomen als Ausdruck einer Ideologie, deren wesent- liches Merkmal in einer Selbstausgrenzung besteht. Sie kann auch zur Herausbildung einer archaologischen Kultur, der Glockenbecher-Kultur ftihren.Abstract The uniformity and wide distribution of the Bell Beaker have given rise to a whole series of different — and sometimes contradictory — interpretative models. It is therefore necessary to classify all the documentation on the basis of a precise definition and to reconsider its place within the Late Neolithic. C14 dates at present available show that pottery styles are not always directly linked to chronology. The results of this research have led us to formulate a new interpretative model. The "Crémade model "describes the Bell Beaker phenomenon as the expression of an ideology characterised in particular by a need to demonstrate autonomy (Selbs- tausgrenzung). This ideology can lead to the formation of an archaeological culture, the Bell Beaker culture.Résumé L'uniformité et la large répartition du gobelet campaniforme sont à l'origine de toute une série de modèles interprétatifs différents et parfois contradictoires. Il est donc nédessaire de classifier l'ensemble de la documentation en se basant sur une définition précise et de reconsidérer la place qu 'elle occupe au sein du Néolithique final. Les datations radiocarbones actuellement disponibles montrent que les styles céramiques ne sont pas toujours directement liés à la chronologie. Les résultats de cette étude nous amènent à formuler un nouveau modèle interprétatif Le "modèle Crémade " décrit le Phénomène Campaniforme comme étant l'expression d'une idéologie caractérisée en particulier par un besoin de manifester son autonomie. Cette idéologie peut conduire à la formation d'une culture archéologique, la Culture Campaniforme.Benz Marion, Strahm Christian, van Willigen Samuel. Le Campaniforme : phénomène et culture archéologique. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, tome 95, n°3, 1998. pp. 305-314

Kritik der Karte. Mapping als literaturwissenschaftliches Verfahren

Benz M. Kritik der Karte. Mapping als literaturwissenschaftliches Verfahren. In: Picker M, Maleval V, Gabaude F, eds. Die Zukunft der Kartographie. Neue und nicht so neue epistemologische Krisen. Kultur- und Medientheorie. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag; 2013: 199-218

Adaptions in subsistence strategy to environment changes across the Younger Dryas-Early Holocene boundary at Kortiktepe, Southeastern Turkey

The site of Körtiktepe in southeastern Turkey is one of few sites in the Upper Mesopotamia basin that attests continuous, permanent occupation across the boundary from end of the colder, drier Younger Dryas (YD) into the comparatively wetter and warmer Early Holocene (EH). This allows for the study of the degree of environmental change experienced on a local level over this boundary as well as for the study of the adaptations that the occupants of the site undertook in response to these changes. The mammal assemblage of Körtiktepe remains relatively stable across the YD – EH transition with the main contributors to diet being mouflon (Ovis orientalis) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) in approximately the same quantities, although the contribution of aurochs (Bos primigenius) increases in the EH. The most significant changes can be seen in the shift in avifauna remains, with a sharp increase of waterbirds during the EH. It is proposed that these shifts reflect changes in the local environment with an increase in woodland cover as well as expansion of local waterways, which is generally consistent with previously published archaeobotanical studies. In terms of species exploited, mortality profiles as well as size distribution of mammals, a great deal of continuity is observed. This suggests that over this particular period the local impact of the beginning of the Early Holocene was not overly dramatic, allowing for cultural continuity of previously established subsistence strategies