The symbolic and functional exploitation of ochre during the South African Middle Stone Age

Ochre is a ubiquitous artefact in Middle Stone Age (MSA) contexts throughout Africa and the Near East. Archaeological evidence for the abrasive processing of ochre to extract pigment powder becomes increasingly prevalent after 100 ka. The habitual exploitation of ochre is interpreted as evidence for symbolism, a proxy for the origin of language and as a key element of ‘symbolic’ and ‘modern’ human behaviour. Evolutionary explanations agree that ochre and the products of its processing played a significant role in the adaptive strategies of early modern humans, but they differ in the functions assigned to it. I therefore ask the following question: What role did symbolic and functional applications of ochre play in the enhancement of prehistoric technology, and how may these have functioned to promote and maintain social relations within MSA Homo sapiens societies? With the aim of answering this question, I follow a chaîne opératoire approach to elucidate the exploitation of ochre during the MSA. First, I present the results of an experimental study devised to infer the methods employed to process ochre. It is demonstrated that functional data derived from actualistic experiments can enhance our understanding prehistoric behaviour. Second, I describe one of the oldest instances of a deliberate engraving on ochre at 100 ka to 85 ka. I consider the possibility that specific types of raw material were selected for engraving purposes and expand on whether all engraved depictions inevitably functioned in ‘symbolic’ contexts. The third objective entails the evaluation of an often cited functional hypothesis for ochre, namely the use of red ochre as a ‘hide-tanning’ ingredient. I also introduce and discuss three further functional hypotheses, namely those concerning the use of ochre as a form of mineral supplementation and detoxification agent, as a sunprotection element and as an insect repellent. Ethnoarchaeological research has proven to be informative in terms of revealing a range of functional uses for red ochre. I therefore consider how data derived from the Ovashimba of northern Namibia can enhance current understandings of ochre use in the MSA. I propose that in order to assess any hypothesis concerning the exploitation of ochre in the MSA methodically and in a scientific manner, it is necessary to engage with the theories and analytical methods of cognitive and technical sciences not normally viewed as applicable to archaeological enquiry

Identity engraved: artistic endeavour and ethnic entities in Central South Africa

ABSTRACT Ethnicity has been a focus of socio-scientific research for at least three decades, but for the greater part of that period it has been virtually ignored by archaeologists. As a result, many researchers remain committed to an essentialist approach to ethnicity. The reluctance to respond to such views by taking up more explicitly the dynamic and situational approaches to identity, as is currently underway in anthropology and sociology, arise from several sources, which undeniably also include the political. Ultimately, though, the essential reason is practical. The literature demonstrates that ethnicity and ethnic identity are slippery concerns in contemporary societies, let alone in pre-historic social contexts. Rock art presents an opportunity for assessing assumptions about identityconsciousness. It provides a category of material culture for the establishment of historical and chronological records of multi-cultural interaction and ensuing episodes of adaptation and change. Engraved art is a source of information on past societies, subsistence strategies and, most importantly, on the development of cohesive social systems and social consciousness. Artwork is the most obvious example of symbolic storage outside the human mind, yet it is not universally practised by huntergatherers and it cannot therefore be used as the sole criterion for recognising modern symbolism, modern behaviour, and ethnicity. Given this ambiguity with regards the function of rock art in the demarcation of territorial boundaries and in the construction of social and ethnic identities, an exploration of additional spheres of ethnic conception and assertion may illuminate the question of how San huntergatherers conceived and conveyed their respective identities. This investigation into the association between art and ethnicity is founded upon the conviction that the complexity of social identity must be explored on a dynamic continuum that allows for interface between varied social factors. Notions concerning the ethnic orientation of social groups are represented, either unconsciously or purposefully, in socio-cultural spheres as diverse as territoriality, subsistence economy, language, religion, and also aesthetic and artistic cultural patterns. This study of the relationship between conceptions of identity and engraved art aspires to augment the existing understanding of the origins of processes of identity-formation, how such processes operate, and how they may be manifest in material cultural contexts

The Healthy Human Blood Microbiome: Fact or Fiction?

The blood that flows perpetually through our veins and arteries performs numerous functions essential to our survival. Besides distributing oxygen, this vast circulatory system facilitates nutrient transport, deters infection and dispenses heat throughout our bodies. Since human blood has traditionally been considered to be an entirely sterile environment, comprising only blood-cells, platelets and plasma, the detection of microbes in blood was consistently interpreted as an indication of infection. However, although a contentious concept, evidence for the existence of a healthy human blood-microbiome is steadily accumulating. While the origins, identities and functions of these unanticipated micro-organisms remain to be elucidated, information on blood-borne microbial phylogeny is gradually increasing. Given recent advances in microbial-hematology, we review current literature concerning the composition and origin of the human blood-microbiome, focusing on bacteria and their role in the configuration of both the diseased and healthy human blood-microbiomes. Specifically, we explore the ways in which dysbiosis in the supposedly innocuous blood-borne bacterial microbiome may stimulate pathogenesis. In addition to exploring the relationship between blood-borne bacteria and the development of complex disorders, we also address the matter of contamination, citing the influence of contaminants on the interpretation of blood-derived microbial datasets and urging the routine analysis of laboratory controls to ascertain the taxonomic and metabolic characteristics of environmentally-derived contaminant-taxa

Human biology and ancient DNA: exploring disease, domestication and movement

No abstract available.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iahb202020-07-15hj2019BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Migrating microbes : what pathogens can tell us about population movements and human evolution

BACKGROUND: The biology of human migration can be observed from the co-evolutionary relationship with infectious diseases. While many pathogens are brief, unpleasant visitors to human bodies, others have the ability to become life-long human passengers. The story of a pathogen’s genetic code may, therefore, provide insight into the history of its human host. The evolution and distribution of disease in Africa is of particular interest, because of the deep history of human evolution in Africa, the presence of a variety of non-human primates, and tropical reservoirs of emerging infectious diseases. METHODS: This study explores which pathogens leave traces in the archaeological record, and whether there are realistic prospects that these pathogens can be recovered from sub-Saharan African archaeological contexts. RESULTS: Three stories are then presented of germs on a journey. The first is the story of HIV’s spread on the back of colonialism and the railway networks over the last 150 years. The second involves the spread of Schistosoma mansoni, a parasite which shares its history with the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the origins of fresh-water fishing. Finally, we discuss the tantalising hints of hominin migration and interaction found in the genome of human herpes simplex virus 2. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence from modern African pathogen genomes can provide data on human behaviour and migration in deep time and contribute to the improvement of human quality-of-life and longevity.CJH was funded by the University of Cambridge. JBR was funded by the University of Pretoria and the South African National Research Foundation (ERTTG 2016 grant UID 105197). RFR was funded by the National Geographic Society/Waitt Fecundation Scientific Exploration Grant (Nr. W420-15) and the University of Pretoria. SJU was funded by Oxford Brookes University.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iahb202018-06-30hj2017Genetic

Impact of Individuals' Commuting Trips on Subjective Well-being: Evidence from Xi’an

Transportation as an important component for urban sustainability has been well recognized. Although the lay understanding of sustainability generally focuses on environmental stewardship, more broadly sustainability is comprised of three aspects: environmental, economic and social sustainability. Individual and societal well-being are critical indicators of social sustainability, however, little attention from research and policy has been paid to the impacts of transportation on well-being. With extensive urban expansion resulting from rapid urbanization, commuting has become a physical and mental burden for many residents in the megacities of China because of the increasing travel distances and worsening travel experiences, significantly influencing their well-being. Relying on the data from a survey conducted in Xi-an, a mega-city of western China, this study quantitatively investigated the relationship between commuting and subjective wellbeing in the Chinese context. Based on the evidence from Xi-an, China, this study found that (1) commute characteristics, including travel mode choice and level of services, significantly influence commuting satisfaction, which in turn significantly affects overall satisfaction with life; (2) the built environment has no direct effect on commuting satisfaction, however it could indirectly affect commuting satisfaction through the path of commuting characteristics; most of travel-related attitudes have both direct and indirect effects on travel satisfaction; (3) the lower income population are more likely to live in pedestrian and transit unfriendly places, are more captive to their travel modes, and have lower levels of life satisfaction; all of which contribute to the lower level of commuting satisfaction among the lower income population. This study contributes to the literature by framing and quantitatively exploring the complicated relationships between the built environment, attitudes, travel characteristics, travel satisfaction and subjective wellbeing. This study also informs policies that help to improve satisfaction with commuting and wellbeing

Rickettsia felis DNA recovered from a child who lived in southern Africa 2000 years ago

DATA AVAILABILITY : Raw reads from Ballito Bay A samples are available under the NCBI BioProject PRJEB22660. The R. felis BBayA mapped reads and the metagenome-assembled genome are available under the NCBI BioProject PRJNA930765. The NCBI WGS accession number is JAQQRK000000000.The Stone Age record of South Africa provides some of the earliest evidence for the biological and cultural origins of Homo sapiens. While there is extensive genomic evidence for the selection of polymorphisms in response to pathogen-pressure in sub-Saharan Africa, e.g., the sickle cell trait which provides protection against malaria, there is inadequate direct human genomic evidence for ancient human-pathogen infection in the region. Here, we analysed shotgun metagenome libraries derived from the sequencing of a Later Stone Age hunter-gatherer child who lived near Ballito Bay, South Africa, c. 2000 years ago. This resulted in the identification of ancient DNA sequence reads homologous to Rickettsia felis, the causative agent of typhus-like flea-borne rickettsioses, and the reconstruction of an ancient R. felis genome.A National Geographic Society Scientific Exploration Grant, the Oppenheimer Endowed Fellowship in Molecular Archaeology, the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.https://www.nature.com/commsbiohj2023BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Documenting the diversity of the Namibian Ju|’hoansi intestinal microbiome

We investigate the bacterial and fungal composition and functionality of the Ju|’hoansi intestinal microbiome (IM). The Juǀʼhoansi are a hunter-gatherer community residing in northeastern Namibia. They formerly subsisted by hunting and gathering but have been increasingly exposed to industrial dietary sources, medicines, and lifestyle features. They present an opportunity to study the evolution of the human IM in situ, from a predominantly hunter-gatherer to an increasingly Western urban-forager-farmer lifestyle. Their bacterial IM resembles that of typical hunter-gatherers, being enriched for genera such as Prevotella, Blautia, Faecalibacterium, Succinivibrio, and Treponema. Fungal IM inhabitants include animal pathogens and plant saprotrophs such as Fusarium, Issatchenkia, and Panellus. Our results suggest that diet and culture exert a greater influence on Ju|’hoansi IM composition than age, self-identified biological sex, and medical history. The Ju|’hoansi exhibit a unique core IM composition that diverges from the core IMs of other populations

Multi-proxy analyses of a mid-15th century Middle Iron Age Bantu-speaker palaeo-faecal specimen elucidates the configuration of the ‘ancestral’ sub-Saharan African intestinal microbiome

Funder: Ministère des Affaires Etrangères; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003763Abstract: Background: The archaeological incidence of ancient human faecal material provides a rare opportunity to explore the taxonomic composition and metabolic capacity of the ancestral human intestinal microbiome (IM). Here, we report the results of the shotgun metagenomic analyses of an ancient South African palaeo-faecal specimen. Methods: Following the recovery of a single desiccated palaeo-faecal specimen from Bushman Rock Shelter in Limpopo Province, South Africa, we applied a multi-proxy analytical protocol to the sample. The extraction of ancient DNA from the specimen and its subsequent shotgun metagenomic sequencing facilitated the taxonomic and metabolic characterisation of this ancient human IM. Results: Our results indicate that the distal IM of the Neolithic ‘Middle Iron Age’ (c. AD 1460) Bantu-speaking individual exhibits features indicative of a largely mixed forager-agro-pastoralist diet. Subsequent comparison with the IMs of the Tyrolean Iceman (Ötzi) and contemporary Hadza hunter-gatherers, Malawian agro-pastoralists and Italians reveals that this IM precedes recent adaptation to ‘Western’ diets, including the consumption of coffee, tea, chocolate, citrus and soy, and the use of antibiotics, analgesics and also exposure to various toxic environmental pollutants. Conclusions: Our analyses reveal some of the causes and means by which current human IMs are likely to have responded to recent dietary changes, prescription medications and environmental pollutants, providing rare insight into human IM evolution following the advent of the Neolithic c. 12,000 years ago. E_CXsNG9ctE_c_B9sn31A9Video Abtract

The Role of aDNA in Understanding the Coevolutionary Patterns of Human Sexually Transmitted Infections

Analysis of pathogen genome data sequenced from clinical and historical samples has made it possible to perform phylogenetic analyses of sexually transmitted infections on a global scale, and to estimate the diversity, distribution, and coevolutionary host relationships of these pathogens, providing insights into pathogen emergence and disease prevention. Deep-sequenced pathogen genomes from clinical studies and ancient samples yield estimates of within-host and between-host evolutionary rates and provide data on changes in pathogen genomic stability and evolutionary responses. Here we examine three groups of pathogens transmitted mainly through sexual contact between modern humans to provide insight into ancient human behavior and history with their pathogens. Exploring ancient pathogen genomic divergence and the ancient viral-host parallel evolutionary histories will help us to reconstruct the origin of present-day geographical distribution and diversity of clinical pathogen infections, and will hopefully allow us to foresee possible environmentally induced pathogen evolutionary responses. Lastly, we emphasize that ancient pathogen DNA research should be combined with modern clinical pathogen data, and be equitable and provide advantages for all researchers worldwide, e.g., through shared data.Peer reviewe