Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history

The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe, however, remains poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of European black rats, we first generate a de novo genome assembly of the black rat. We then sequence 67 ancient and three modern black rat mitogenomes, and 36 ancient and three modern nuclear genomes from archaeological sites spanning the 1st-17th centuries CE in Europe and North Africa. Analyses of our newly reported sequences, together with published mitochondrial DNA sequences, confirm that black rats were introduced into the Mediterranean and Europe from Southwest Asia. Genomic analyses of the ancient rats reveal a population turnover in temperate Europe between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, coincident with an archaeologically attested decline in the black rat population. The near disappearance and re-emergence of black rats in Europe may have been the result of the breakdown of the Roman Empire, the First Plague Pandemic, and/or post-Roman climatic cooling.Peer reviewe

Chasse et utilisation du caribou au Groenland occidental : variantes entre passé et présent

En 2012, une série d’entretiens a été conduite auprès de chasseurs groenlandais (de 26 à 86 ans) sur la chasse au caribou et son utilisation dans le centre ouest du Groenland. Jusqu’aux années 1952, pratiquement toutes les parties du caribou étaient intensément utilisées. Au cours des décennies suivantes, de nombreuses utilisations ont disparu et des nouveaux usages sont apparus. Quelques Groenlandais racontent qu’ils ont observé durant leur enfance l’utilisation de parties de caribou qu’ils n’ont plus utilisées par la suite. L’utilisation intense de la graisse et des tendons de caribou a disparu, tandis que l’exploitation du caribou comme attraction touristique est une nouveauté. Une partie des utilisations anciennes du caribou est appréhendable par l’archéologie mais une proportion signification reste indétectable.In 2012, a series of interviews was carried out with Greenlandic hunters (26 to 86 years old) on caribou hunting and utilization in central West Greenland. As recently as 1950 AD, almost all parts of the caribou were utilized intensively. In the following decades, numerous uses disappeared, and a few new ones were added. A few Greenlanders reported that they had experienced the utilization of parts of caribou during their childhood that they had not used in the last decades. The intensive use of fat and caribou hides disappeared, whereas the exploitation of caribou as a tourist attraction was new. A portion of the earlier pattern of caribou utilization would be visible in an archaeozoological investigation, however a significant part would remain undetectable.</p

Cave finds indicate elk (Alces alces) hunting during the Late Iron Age in the Bavarian Alps

The finding of a partially preserved elk skeleton from the Bavarian Alps is reported. Remnants of an adult male were found, together with skeletal elements of juvenile moose calves, at the base of a talus cone in the pit cave Stiefelschacht, next to Lenggries (southern Germany). The adult's bones exhibited anthropogenic traces like cut marks and were radiocarbon-dated to the Late Iron Age. A projectile hole in the left shoulder blade and cut marks on the bones are indicative of hunting and meat usage. The elk remains were associated with several wild and domestic species such as ungulates and hare but were not, however, accompanied by archaeological artefacts. Other archaeological sites of the Late Iron Age are so far not known within a distance of less than 30 km to the Stiefelschacht. While the presence of elk during prehistoric times in the Alps has already been known before, the finds and the location are unique in that they are the first evidence of elk hunting during the Late Iron Age in the northern Alps

Evaluation of geochemical proxies and radiocarbon data from a loess record of the Upper Palaeolithic site Kammern-Grubgraben, Lower Austria

Two loess sections from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Kammern-Grubgraben (Lower Austria) were analysed to test geochemical proxies, as well as radiocarbon data of different components, for their reliability and consistency in an archaeological context. Only a reliable basal age (28.9-27.8 ka cal BP) was obtained from charcoal fragments derived from a tundra gley underlying the archaeological horizons and assigned to Greenland Interstadials 3 or 4. Grain size, organic and inorganic geochemistry, and stable isotopes of the fine organic fraction (delta C-13(org)) and of rhizoconcretions (delta C-13, delta O-18) were analysed to provide information on palaeoenvironmental conditions. Low-resolution geochemical and sedimentological analyses document a humidity-related variability, while delta C-13(org) values indicate predominant C-3 vegetation. High-resolution elemental variations derived from X-ray fluorescence scanning exhibit increasing Ca and decreasing Fe and Ti values, indicating drier conditions towards the top. Secondary pedogenic carbonate concretions provide post-sedimentary (Holocene) ages and are not suitable for assessing climate and environmental changes for the Palaeolithic