The history of the domestic cat in Central Europe

A recent study from Central Europe has changed our perception of the cat’s domestication history. The authors discuss how this has led to the development of an interdisciplinary project combining palaeogenetics, zooarchaeology and radiocarbon dating, with the aim of providing insight into the domestic cat’s expansion beyond the Mediterranean

Tracing Old Gestures: A Multiscale Analysis of Ground Stone Tools Developed on Sequential Lab-Controlled Replicative Experiments

This article presents an analytical procedure developed to replicate, document, and analyse the formation and evolution of use-wear traces on task-specific ground stone tools. The purpose of this study is to build a reference collection for wear patterns that occurred during the processing of vegetal resources, specifically those compatible with the MIS 3 period. To create the collection, riverine slabs and pebbles were utilised and various aspects related to their use in the transformation of aerial and underground plant organs were explored. Moreover, the feasibility of using perishable supports, such as a wooden base, for processing tasks was examined. The experiments explored the transformation of pebble stone surfaces during repeated cycles of processing plant organs by monitoring and recording the features at fixed intervals. Several variables that affect the surface texture, morphology, distribution, and extent of use-wear traces are identified and discussed. The influential factors under control included the petrographic and morphological characteristics of the unused stones, the type and amount of transformed vegetables, and the duration of the process, as well as monitoring human factors. The documentation strategy applied at various stages of the experiment was found to be suitable for tracing the cumulative development of wear. The replicative collection was tailored to the morphological and petrographic characteristics of the ground stone tools retrieved from the level attributed to the Prut River culture of Brînzeni I, a cave site located in NW Moldova

A woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) carcass from Maly Lyakhovsky Island (New Siberian Islands, Russian Federation)

A partial carcass of an adult woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) found in 2012 on Maly Lyakhovsky Island presents a new opportunity to retrieve associated anatomical, morphological, and life history data on this important component of Pleistocene biotas. In addition, we address hematological, histological, and microbiological issues that relate directly to quality of preservation. Recovered by staff from North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, this individual is a relatively old female preserving soft tissue of the anteroventral portion of the head, most of both fore-quarters, and the ventral aspect of much of the rest of the body. Both tusks were recovered and subjected to computed tomographic analysis in which annual dentin increments were revealed as cycles of variation in X-ray attenuation. Measurements of annual increment areas (in longitudinal section) display a pulsed pattern of tusk growth showing cycles of growth rate variation over periods of 3-5 years. These intervals are interpreted as calving cycles reflecting regular shifts in calcium and phosphate demand for tusk growth vs. fetal ossification and lactation. Brown liquid associated with the frozen carcass turned out to include remains of hemolyzed blood, and blood samples examined microscopically included white blood cells with preserved nuclei. Muscle tissue from the trunk was unusually well preserved, even at the histological level. Intestinal contents and tissue samples were investigated microbiologically, and several strains of lacticacid bacteria (e.g., Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus hirae) that are widely distributed as commensal organisms in the intestines of herbivores were isolated. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved

Winter temperature and forest cover have shaped red deer distribution in Europe and the Ural Mountains since the Late Pleistocene

Aim The Expansion-Contraction model has been used to explain the responses of species to climatic changes. During periods of unfavourable climatic conditions, species retreat to refugia from where they may later expand. This paper focuses on the palaeoecology of red deer over the past 54 ka across Europe and the Urals, to reveal patterns of change in their range and explore the role of environmental conditions in determining their distribution. Location Europe and western Asia to 63 degrees E. Taxon Red deer (Cervus elaphus). Methods We collected 984 records of radiocarbon-dated red deer subfossils from the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene, including 93 original dates. For each deer sample we compiled climatic and biome type data for the corresponding time intervals. Results During the last 54 ka changes in red deer range in Europe and the Urals were asynchronous and differed between western and eastern Europe and western Asia due to different environmental conditions in those regions. The range of suitable areas for deer during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was larger than previously thought and covered vast regions not only in southern but also in western and eastern Europe. Throughout the period investigated the majority of specimens inhabited forests in the temperate climatic zone. The contribution of forests in deer localities significantly decreased during the last 4 ka, due to deforestation of Europe caused by humans. Mean January temperature was the main limiting factor for species distribution. Over 90% of the samples were found in areas where mean January temperature was above -10 degrees C. Main conclusions Red deer response to climatic oscillations are in agreement with the Expansion-Contraction model but in contradiction to the statement of only the southernmost LGM refugia of the species. During the last 54 ka red deer occurred mostly in forests of the temperate climatic zone