The Holocene distribution of European bison - the archaezoological record

El artículo presenta una reconstrucción de la distribución holocena del bisonte europeo. Está basada en el registro arqueozoologico de esta especie. El bisonte europeo fue un inmigrante al Continente europeo durante el Postglacial inicial. La más antigua evidencia procede de yacimientos del Norte de Euroopa Central y del Sur de Escandinavia, que datan del Preboreal. Durante el Holoceno medio y tardío el bisonte europeo estaba ampliamente distribuido en el Continente europeo. Su distribución se extendía desde Francia al W hasta Ucrania al E. Salvo para un área que comprende el E de Polonia, Bielorrusia, Lituania y Letonia, el bisonte europeo era una especie rara en la mayor parte de su distribución. En la Edad Media se da una reducción en la extension del bisonte europeo en su zona W

Pietrele in the Lower Danube region: integrating archaeological, faunal and environmental investigations

The c. 9m high tell-settlement of Pietrele-Magura Gorgana, situated close to the Danube river, is one of the westernmost sites of the Kod∫adermen-Gumelnita-Karanovo VI cultural complex that spread over the whole Westpontic region during the 5th millennium BC. Until recently tells were equated with the site when, in fact, they represent only the outstanding part of a far more complex settlement system as we now know from Pietrele thanks to geomagnetic prospections and subsequent excavations. People living on the tell, together with the inhabitants from the flat area around it, formed a vast community that must have had a strong impact on its habitat and, vice-versa, was strongly affected by the immediate surroundings. During the settlement period a lake covered huge parts of the floodplain. It provided not only a considerable part of the diet, but ensured, through the direct access to the main river, continuous and extensive over-regional exchange.Okoli 9 metrov visoka naselbina tipa tell Pietrele-Magura Gorgana se nahaja blizu reke Donave in je ena najbolj zahodnih naselbin kulturnega kompleksa Kodžadermen-Gumelnita-Karanovo VI, ki se je širil čez celotno zahodno pontsko regijo v času 5. tisočletja BC. V preteklosti so tell enačili z naseljem, danes pa zahvaljujoč geomagnetskim preiskavam in kasnejšim izkopavanjem na najdišču Pietrele vemo, da sama naselbina tell predstavlja le najbolj izjemen del veliko bolj kompleksnega naselja. Tisti ljudje, ki so živeli na tellu, in tisti, ki so živeli v ravnici okrog tella, so bili skupaj del velike skupnosti, ki je morala imeti močan vpliv na okolje, in na katero je tudi neposredna okolica morala imeti pomemben učinek. V času obstoja te naselbine se je v tej ravnici nahajalo veliko jezero. Le-to je predstavljajo pomemben vir za prehrano takratnih ljudi, prek neposrednega dostopa do glavne reke pa je omogočalo tudi stalno in obsežno menjavo na nadregionalni ravni

Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe

Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ∼10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ∼8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disappeared and was replaced by haplotypes associated with European wild boars. This turnover could be accounted for by substantial gene flow from local European wild boars, although it is also possible that European wild boars were domesticated independently without any genetic contribution from the Near East. To test these hypotheses, we obtained mtDNA sequences from 2,099 modern and ancient pig samples and 63 nuclear ancient genomes from Near Eastern and European pigs. Our analyses revealed that European domestic pigs dating from 7,100 to 6,000 y BP possessed both Near Eastern and European nuclear ancestry, while later pigs possessed no more than 4% Near Eastern ancestry, indicating that gene flow from European wild boars resulted in a near-complete disappearance of Near East ancestry. In addition, we demonstrate that a variant at a locus encoding black coat color likely originated in the Near East and persisted in European pigs. Altogether, our results indicate that while pigs were not independently domesticated in Europe, the vast majority of human-mediated selection over the past 5,000 y focused on the genomic fraction derived from the European wild boars, and not on the fraction that was selected by early Neolithic farmers over the first 2,500 y of the domestication process

Finding the Woolly Sheep. Meta-analyses of archaeozoological data from Southwest-Asia and Southeast-Europe

Archaeozoological data from 401 sites in Southwest-Asia and Southeast-Europe dating to the time span 7000–1500 BC were recorded and analysed for the question when and where the economic shift from a milk- and meatoriented sheep husbandry to one with a focus on wool production occurred. This research report offers some preliminary results of meta-analyses of the corresponding database. Among the parameters studied, fluctuations in the demographic composition of herds as well as osteometric data indicating changes in animal size and body shape have yielded some indirect evidence for incipient and/or increasing importance of wool exploitation in sheep. In Southwest-Asia, this development started around 4000 BC while in Southeast-Europe it began thousand years later

Research into the Origin and Spread of Wool Production between the Near East and Central Europe

The objective of the research group Textile Revolution is to contribute to research on the still largely unclear introduction of wool production in later Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies from Western Asia to Central Europe. Since direct evidence of wool depends on rare conditions of preservation, a multi-proxy approach based on different kinds of indirect evidence was chosen. The previous history of research on early wool production as well as the domestication history of sheep are reviewed briefly. Anthropogenic impacts on the landscape, possibly related to intensified grazing, are one kind of indirect evidence that we take into account. For the later part of the presumably long-lasting development of wool production, written sources are available, the earliest of which date to the Late Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods (end of the 4th to beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE) in Mesopotamia. Indirect archaeological evidence consists of the tools used in textile production, among which spindle whorls and loom weights occur most frequently. Since they are not a priori specific to the type of fibre, be it linen or wool, statistical evaluations of metric data are necessary. Zooarchaeological analysis of large samples of animal bones from a wide spectrum of sites and time slices is a further crucial element of our multi-proxy approach. Both the demographic composition of herds and metric data indicating changes in animal size can yield indirect evidence for incipient or increasing importance of wool production. This article offers an overview of these different sources and methods, specific to the disciplines involved, and presents some preliminary results

Modelling landscape transformation at the Chalcolithic Tripolye mega-site of Maidanetske (Ukraine): Wood demand and availability

Wood was a crucial resource for prehistoric societies, for instance, as timber for house construction and as fuel. In the case of the exceptionally large Chalcolithic Tripolye ‘mega-sites’ in central Ukraine, thousands of burnt buildings, indicating huge population agglomerations, hint at such a massive use of wood that it raises questions about the carrying capacity of the sensitive forest-steppe environment. In this contribution, we investigate the wood demand for the mega-site of Maidanetske (3990–3640 BCE), as reconstructed based on wood charcoal data, wood imprints on daub and the archaeomagnetometry-based settlement plan. We developed a regional-scale model with a fuzzy approach and applied it in order to simulate the potential distribution and extent of woodlands before and after Chalcolithic occupation. The model is based upon the reconstructed ancient land surface, soil information derived from cores and the potential natural woodland cover reconstructed based on the requirements of the prevailing ancient tree species. Landscape scenarios derived from the model are contrasted and cross-checked with the archaeological empirical data. We aim to understand whether the demand for wood triggered the site development. Did deforestation and consequent soil degradation and lack of resources initiate the site’s abandonment? Or, alternatively, did the inhabitants develop sustainable woodland management strategies? Starting from the case study of Maidanetske, this study provides estimates of the extent of human impact on both carrying capacity and landscape transformations in the sensitive transitional foreststeppe environment. Overall, the results indicate that the inhabitants of the Chalcolithic site did not suffer from a significant shortage in the wood resource at any time of inhabitation in the contexts of the different scenarios provided by the model. An exception is given by the phase of maximum house construction and population within a scenario of dry climatic conditions

Endogenous Retroviral Insertions Indicate a Secondary Introduction of Domestic Sheep Lineages to the Caucasus and Central Asia between the Bronze and Iron Age

Sheep were one of the first livestock species domesticated by humans. After initial domestication in the Middle East they were spread across Eurasia. The modern distribution of endogenous Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus insertions in domestic sheep breeds suggests that over the course of millennia, successive introductions of improved lineages and selection for wool quality occurred in the Mediterranean region and most of Asia. Here we present a novel ancient DNA approach using data of endogenous retroviral insertions in Bronze and Iron Age domestic sheep from the Caucasus and Pamir mountain areas. Our findings support a secondary introduction of wool sheep from the Middle East between the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age into most areas of Eurasia

Retinoic acid receptor α as a novel contributor to adrenal cortex structure and function through interactions with Wnt and Vegfa signalling

International audiencePrimary aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent form of secondary arterial hypertension. Mutations in different genes increase aldosterone production in PA, but additional mechanisms may contribute to increased cell proliferation and aldosterone producing adenoma (APA) development. We performed transcriptome analysis in APA and identified retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) signaling as a central molecular network involved in nodule formation. To understand how RARα modulates adrenal structure and function, we explored the adrenal phenotype of male and female Rarα knockout mice. inactivation of Rarα in mice led to significant structural disorganization of the adrenal cortex in both sexes, with increased adrenal cortex size in female mice and increased cell proliferation in males. Abnormalities of vessel architecture and extracellular matrix were due to decreased Vegfa expression and modifications in extracellular matrix components. On the molecular level, Rarα inactivation leads to inhibition of non-canonical Wnt signaling, without affecting the canonical Wnt pathway nor PKA signaling. Our study suggests that Rarα contributes to the maintenance of normal adrenal cortex structure and cell proliferation, by modulating Wnt signaling. Dysregulation of this interaction may contribute to abnormal cell proliferation, creating a propitious environment for the emergence of specific driver mutations in PA. Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common and curable form of secondary arterial hypertension, with prevalence estimations of up to 10% of cases in referred hypertensive patients, 4% of patients in primary care 1,2 and 20% of patients with resistant hypertension 3,4. Rapid diagnosis and treatment are important to prevent severe cardiovas-cular consequences of long term aldosterone exposure, which are independent of blood pressure levels and are du