The early history of Moscow: C-14 dates from Red Square

For the first time, a series of C-14 dates has been obtained for samples from the archaeological excavations in Red Square, the historical center of Moscow. The remains of burned dwellings from the bottom of the cultural layer were dated as well as dispersed charcoal from the underlying plough soil. The results correspond to a 200-yr time interval and prove that arable activity at the site began as early as the late 11th century AD. The field belonged to Moscow itself or to rural settlements nearby. The oldest dwelling was built ca. the late 12th-early 13th century AD

Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet

Although it is generally agreed that the Arctic flora is among the youngest and least diverse on Earth, the processes that shaped it are poorly understood. Here we present 50 thousand years (kyr) of Arctic vegetation history, derived from the first large-scale ancient DNA metabarcoding study of circumpolar plant diversity. For this interval we also explore nematode diversity as a proxy for modelling vegetation cover and soil quality, and diets of herbivorous megafaunal mammals, many of which became extinct around 10 kyr bp (before present). For much of the period investigated, Arctic vegetation consisted of dry steppe-tundra dominated by forbs (non-graminoid herbaceous vascular plants). During the Last Glacial Maximum (25–15 kyr bp), diversity declined markedly, although forbs remained dominant. Much changed after 10 kyr bp, with the appearance of moist tundra dominated by woody plants and graminoids. Our analyses indicate that both graminoids and forbs would have featured in megafaunal diets. As such, our findings question the predominance of a Late Quaternary graminoid-dominated Arctic mammoth steppe