Tracing zoonotic parasite infections throughout human evolution

Parasites are useful pathogens to explore human-animal interactions because they have diverse life cycles that often rely on both as hosts. Moreover, some species are not host specific and are transmitted between animals and humans. Today most emerging infections are zoonoses. Here, we take a specific look at the emergence and re-emergence of zoonotic parasites throughout hominin evolution and consider evolutionary, cultural, and ecological factors involved in this. We combine genetic studies focused on molecular phylogenetic reconstructions, most often using the ribosomal RNA gene unit and mitochondrial genes from modern parasites, archaeological evidence in the form of preserved parasite eggs and antigens in skeletal and mummified remains, and modern epidemiological data to explore parasite infections throughout hominin evolution. We point out the considerably ancient origins of some key zoonotic parasites and their long coevolutionary history with humans, and discuss factors contributing to the presence of many zoonotic parasites in the past and today including dietary preferences, urbanization, waste disposal, and the population density of both humans and domesticated animals.This work was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Award (752-2016-2085), The Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust, and Trinity Hall College, University of Cambridge

Intestinal parasites in the cesspool

The archaeological sounding on the site of the Colegio del Pilar in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1996 was a salvage excavation, suspended for administrative reasons. The present publication offers the results of a rare archaeological investigation in the Christian Quarter. A stratigraphic survey showed Ayyubid (XII-XIIIth centuries) occupation on bedrock. Structural remains of the Mamluk period reflected the growth of the city in the XIV-XVth centuries, and a well-preserved stone-built cesspit of this period provided abundant pottery. Most of the volume describes the fully illustrated pottery, organized by stratigraphic context. The Mamluk pottery includes vessels imported from Italy. The analyses of faeces from the cesspit have provided important information on the health of the population at the time. There are reports on the glass, coins and animal bones up to the end of the Ottoman period. The del Pilar volume contributes to the renewed interest of archaeologists and historians in medieval Jerusalem

The transient response of global-mean precipitation to increasing carbon dioxide levels

The transient response of global-mean precipitation to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels of 1% yr(-1) is investigated in 13 fully coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) and compared to a period of stabilization. During the period of stabilization, when carbon dioxide levels are held constant at twice their unperturbed level and the climate left to warm, precipitation increases at a rate of similar to 2.4% per unit of global-mean surface-air-temperature change in the AOGCMs. However, when carbon dioxide levels are increasing, precipitation increases at a smaller rate of similar to 1.5% per unit of global-mean surface-air-temperature change. This difference can be understood by decomposing the precipitation response into an increase from the response to the global surface-temperature increase (and the climate feedbacks it induces), and a fast atmospheric response to the carbon dioxide radiative forcing that acts to decrease precipitation. According to the multi-model mean, stabilizing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide would lead to a greater rate of precipitation change per unit of global surface-temperature change

Violence in Hasmonean Judea : Skeletal evidence of a massacre from 2nd‐st century BCE Jerusalem

Partial funding for JD to complete this research was provided by Darwin College, University of Cambridge. The authors would like to thank Craig Cessford of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit for his assistance with the radiocarbon dates, David Errickson of Cranfield University for aiding in the analysis of the tool marks, and the reviewers for their comments on this manuscript. The excavation was carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (Permit number A7929) and supported by the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Tuberculosis before and after the Black Death (1346 – 1353 CE) in the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England

This article was published with Open Access under the Elsevier/Jisc Open Access agreement The authors would like to thank all of the members of the ‘After the Plague’ project, and the Cambridge Archaeological Unit for their help and support. We would also like to thank György Pálfi for organising the ICEPT-3 conference, at which the initial findings of this research were presented and for inviting us to contribute to this special issue. This research was funded by the Wellcome Trust (Award no 2000368/Z/15/Z) and St John's College, Cambridge.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Weapon injuries in the crusader mass graves from a 13th century attack on the port city of Sidon (Lebanon).

Archaeological excavations close to St Louis' castle in Sidon, Lebanon have revealed two mass grave deposits containing partially articulated and disarticulated human skeletal remains. A minimum of 25 male individuals have been recovered, with no females or young children. Radiocarbon dating of the human remains, a crusader coin, and the design of Frankish belt buckles strongly indicate they belong to a single event in the mid-13th century CE. The skeletal remains demonstrate a high prevalence of unhealed sharp force, penetrating force and blunt force trauma consistent with medieval weaponry. Higher numbers of wounds on the back of individuals than the front suggests some were attacked from behind, possibly as they fled. The concentration of blade wounds to the back of the neck of others would be compatible with execution by decapitation following their capture. Taphonomic changes indicate the skeletal remains were left exposed for some weeks prior to being collected together and re-deposited in the defensive ditch by a fortified gateway within the town wall. Charring on some bones provides evidence of burning of the bodies. The findings imply the systematic clearance of partially decomposed corpses following an attack on the city, where adult and teenage males died as a result of weapon related trauma. The skeletons date from the second half of the Crusader period, when Christian-held Sidon came under direct assault from both the Mamluk Sultanate (1253 CE) and the Ilkhanate Mongols (1260 CE). It is likely that those in the mass graves died during one of these assaults