8 research outputs found
Emergence and Spread of Basal Lineages of <i>Yersinia pestis</i> during the Neolithic Decline
International audienc
Interdisciplinary analyses of the remains from three gallery graves at Kinnekulle : tracing Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age societies in inland Southwestern Sweden
In this paper, we investigate the Scandinavian Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Kinnekulle in southwestern Sweden. The above-mentioned periods in the study area are poorly understood and the archaeological record consists of a few stray finds and a concentration of 20 gallery graves. This study focuses on three of the gallery graves where commingled skeletons from successive burials were recovered. The human remains and the artefacts from the graves were used for discussing individual life stories as well as living societies with the aim of gaining new knowledge of the last part of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in southwestern Sweden. We focused on questions concerning health and trauma, mobility and exchange networks, and diet and subsistence of the people using the graves. Chronological, bioarchaeological, and biomolecular aspects of the burials were approached through the application of archaeological and osteological studies, as well as stable isotope, strontium isotope, radiocarbon, and mtDNA analyses. The study provides evidence for high mobility and diverse diets, as well as inhumations primarily dated to the transition between the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. We suggest that the mountain plateau of Kinnekulle was mainly reserved for the dead, while the people lived in agriculture-based groups in the surrounding lower lying regions
Mobility patterns in inland southwestern Sweden during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
In this paper, we investigate population dynamics in the Scandinavian Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in southwestern Sweden. Human mobility patterns in Falbygden were studied by applying strontium isotope analysis combined with archaeological and bioarchaeological data, including mtDNA and sex assessment on a large dataset encompassing 141 individuals from 21 megalithic graves. In combination with other archaeological and anthropological records, we investigated the temporal and spatial scale of individual movement, mobility patterns of specific categories of people and possible social drivers behind them. Our results of strontium and biomolecular analyses suggest that mobility increased in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age compared to the earlier parts of the Neolithic. The data indicate individuals moving both into and away from Falbygden. Mobility patterns and contact networks also shift over time
The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia
The Yamnaya expansions from the western steppe into Europe and Asia
during the Early Bronze Age (similar to 3000 BCE) are believed to have
brought with them Indo-European languages and possibly horse husbandry.
We analyzed 74 ancient whole-genome sequences from across Inner Asia and
Anatolia and show that the Botai people associated with the earliest
horse husbandry derived from a hunter-gatherer population deeply
diverged from the Yamnaya. Our results also suggest distinct migrations
bringing West Eurasian ancestry into South Asia before and after, but
not at the time of, Yamnaya culture. We find no evidence of steppe
ancestry in Bronze Age Anatolia from when Indo-European languages are
attested there. Thus, in contrast to Europe, Early Bronze Age
Yamnaya-related migrations had limited direct genetic impact in Asia