Preliminary report on a Viking warrior grave at War Memorial Park, Islandbridge

The discovery of a Viking sword and spearhead was reported to the National Museum of Ireland in 2007. The artefacts were found accidentally when a trench for electrical cables was being dug at the War Memorial Park in Islandbridge, Dublin. A rescue excavation was undertaken in order to recover any other artefacts that may have been damaged during the ground works. A disturbed inhumation and three copper-alloy objects were found in the course of the excavation. This report is a preliminary summary of the findings of the excavation. It is suggested that the finds together represent the grave of a Scandinavian warrior. The results of isotope analysis on teeth found during the excavation are also presented

Four millennia of dairy surplus and deposition revealed through compound-specific stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating of Irish bog butters

Bog butters are large white or yellow waxy deposits regularly discovered within the peat bogs of Ireland and Scotland. They represent an extraordinary survival of prehistoric and later agricultural products, comprising the largest deposits of fat found anywhere in nature. Often found in wooden containers or wrapped in animal bladders, they are considered to have been buried intentionally by past farming communities. While previous analysis has determined that Irish bog butters derive from animal fat, their precise characterisation could not be achieved due to diagenetic compositional alterations during burial. Via compound-specific stable isotope analysis, we provide the first conclusive evidence of a dairy fat origin for the Irish bog butter tradition, which differs from bog butter traditions observed elsewhere. Our research also reveals a remarkably long-lived tradition of deposition and possible curation spanning at least 3500 years, from the Early Bronze Age (c. 1700 BC) to the 17th century AD. This is conclusively established via an extensive suite of both bulk and compound-specific radiocarbon dates

Insights Into Sibling Relationships and Longevity From Genetics of Healthy Ageing Nonagenarians: The Importance of Optimisation, Resilience and Social Networks

Understanding how to “Age Longer and Age Well” is a priority for people personally, for populations and for government policy. Approximately ten percent of nonagenarians reach 90 years and beyond in good condition and seem to have a combination of both age-span and health-span. However, the factors which contribute to human longevity remain challenging. Culture is a shared system of learning ideas, feelings, and survival strategies. It has a strong influence on each person’s psychological development, behavior, values and beliefs. Nonagenarians have rich life experiences that can teach us much about aging well; they are rich reservoirs of genetic, lifestyle and psychological information which can help understanding about how to live longer and better. Sibling or trio nonagenarians are important sources of family beliefs and behaviors upon which individual personalities may have been built. Their personal family histories and narratives are powerful tools that help to determine familial traits, beliefs and social behaviors which may help establish factors important in the siblings’ longevity. Using purposefully selected subjects, recruited to the Genetics of Healthy Ageing (GeHA) project in four European countries, this research used the simple life story and qualitative research methods to analyze contrasting and distinctive questions about the interface between the psychological and social worlds as presented in the nonagenarian siblings’ insights about their longevity. Their stories aimed to give better understanding about which psychological aspects of their common life journey and the degree of emotional support in their sibling relationships may have supported their paths to longevity. The most universal finding in each of the four European countries was that nonagenarians demonstrated high positivity, resilience and coping skills and were supported in social networks. Around this theme, nonagenarians reported “being happy,” “always cheerful,” “never melancholy” and having a contentment with a “rich life” and family relationships which fits with accumulating evidence that life satisfaction comes from a perceived self-efficacy and optimism. Most sibling relationships in this study, when analyzed according to the Gold classification, fit the “congenial” or “loyal” relationship type – demonstrating a healthy respect for the others’ opinion without overt dependence, which may help individual coping and survival mechanisms

Population genomics of the Viking world.

The maritime expansion of Scandinavian populations during the Viking Age (about AD 750-1050) was a far-flung transformation in world history1,2. Here we sequenced the genomes of 442 humans from archaeological sites across Europe and Greenland (to a median depth of about 1×) to understand the global influence of this expansion. We find the Viking period involved gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east. We observe genetic structure within Scandinavia, with diversity hotspots in the south and restricted gene flow within Scandinavia. We find evidence for a major influx of Danish ancestry into England; a Swedish influx into the Baltic; and Norwegian influx into Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. Additionally, we see substantial ancestry from elsewhere in Europe entering Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Our ancient DNA analysis also revealed that a Viking expedition included close family members. By comparing with modern populations, we find that pigmentation-associated loci have undergone strong population differentiation during the past millennium, and trace positively selected loci-including the lactase-persistence allele of LCT and alleles of ANKA that are associated with the immune response-in detail. We conclude that the Viking diaspora was characterized by substantial transregional engagement: distinct populations influenced the genomic makeup of different regions of Europe, and Scandinavia experienced increased contact with the rest of the continent

Interfacing Science, Literature, and the Humanities

It aims to investigate the relationship (links, affinities, differences, questions and problems) between the sciences and the humanities in order to question the very idea of \u2018influence\u2019 (or \u2018mutual influences\u2019) in favour of a more dynamic idea of \u2018INTERFACING\u2019. Therefore, a fundamental point of departure is to acknowledge the isomorphism of the two fields, recalling that they have often developed new models and strategies of investigation into complex scientific and cultural (artistic, literary) phenomena at the same time, simultaneously responding to their own actuality and societal matrices. This idea of isomorphism is no longer linked to the traditional ideas of \u2018cause\u2019 and \u2018effect\u2019, but instead implies simultaneity and not consequentiality. It is not always one of the two fields that influences or conditions the other one: isomorphism implies joint discoveries, as both domains tend to develop, at the same time, new investigative models which become, in turn, analogical mirrors of a world in constant progress. This idea leads us to view the sciences and the humanities together, because their mutual interfacing can trigger new, dynamic fields of knowledge in new contexts. Even in the more specific domain of literature or critical theory, the very idea of \u2018influence\u2019 has now become obsolete, to the point of being truly discredited in some circles. As a consequence, other possible paradigms have begun to emerge, following the development of new societal conditions, such as globalisation, changing political assets and the development of new \u2018mediascapes\u2019. In such a shifting context, the idea of \u201cinterface/interfacing\u201d (derived, as is well known, from the new ICT world) seems to offer a suitable paradigm triggering new heuristic implications. Also, the very idea of \u2018interfacing\u2019 leads to the interesting concept of \u2018complexity\u2019, itself a metaphor implying exchange, mutual interlinking and, above all, to the concept of \u2018networking\u2019, that is of new strategies for looking at and therefore rendering the world now in progress. Strategically, to pursue the idea of interfacing between the sciences and the humanities can lead a grasp of new implications underpinning the making of the new Europe, as well as to a development of possible guidelines suggesting new ways to conceive and assess the status of research, the idea of \u2018progress\u2019 and the questions of evolving identities for a reality (Europe) which aims to play a leading role in the international panorama. Among the ideas underpinning this new proposal, there is the one that views the gaps between the humanities and the sciences as an artificial construction articulated during the 19th century, and consolidated by the middle of the 20th century; a construction which is increasingly seen as an anachronism in the 21st century. In the two previous centuries, in fact, theories of education were developed around the ideas of distinction and choice: humanities on the one hand, sciences on the other hand. On the contrary, today students are asking for new educational models, reflecting the complexity and interplay of a world characterised by a different understanding of knowledge and, especially, by the rapid development of new societal matrices. We are facing a constantly evolving cultural situation and this is a fact that both domains have to acknowledge. There are already some positive responses, and, as noted above, also the previous ETNP ACUME has been exploring joint research projects. Among the most interesting examples there are, for instance, new university programs in medical schools, faculties of engineering and other scientific branches which are offering specific courses in literature, arts, philosophy, as well as courses encouraging creativity. On the other side, there are examples of positive applications of scientific research and knowledge in the humanities: from more practical applications, such as the creation of new disciplines within the humanities (e.g. the case of the \u2018Humanistic Informatics\u2019; the creation of new infrastructures, e-archives, new databases, etc.), to new theoretical developments combining theories of literature/criticism and scientific models of investigation (from \u2018field theory\u2019, to chaos theory, to fractal theories, etc.). Other interesting examples come from the social sciences, which have been playing a pivotal role in developing new lines of research and new concepts capable of breaking down barriers and encouraging interdisciplinary approaches. The case of anthropology is, in this regard, quite an exemplary one: take the case of the application, in this field, of the scientific idea of \u2018thick description\u2019 to analyse culture tout court, a broad and complex concept which nevertheless interfaces the two domains. Following similar patterns, in the last two decades scholars in the humanities have started to reconsider the very idea of \u2018literary phenomena\u2019, with literature no longer perceived as a closed system, but instead as a complex one, a network of events, therefore triggering a new understanding of \u2018zeitgeist\u2019. In such a shifting environment, inevitably the links between scientific discoveries and literary and artistic experiments are reconsidered not just as linear and sequential phenomena: they are, instead, interlinked and convergent

Population genomics of the Viking world

The maritime expansion of Scandinavian populations during the Viking Age (about ad 750–1050) was a far-flung transformation in world history1,2. Here we sequenced the genomes of 442 humans from archaeological sites across Europe and Greenland (to a median depth of about 1×) to understand the global influence of this expansion. We find the Viking period involved gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east. We observe genetic structure within Scandinavia, with diversity hotspots in the south and restricted gene flow within Scandinavia. We find evidence for a major influx of Danish ancestry into England; a Swedish influx into the Baltic; and Norwegian influx into Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. Additionally, we see substantial ancestry from elsewhere in Europe entering Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Our ancient DNA analysis also revealed that a Viking expedition included close family members. By comparing with modern populations, we find that pigmentation-associated loci have undergone strong population differentiation during the past millennium, and trace positively selected loci—including the lactase-persistence allele of LCT and alleles of ANKA that are associated with the immune response—in detail. We conclude that the Viking diaspora was characterized by substantial transregional engagement: distinct populations influenced the genomic makeup of different regions of Europe, and Scandinavia experienced increased contact with the rest of the continent