34 research outputs found
Vittrup Man–The life-history of a genetic foreigner in Neolithic Denmark
The lethally maltreated body of Vittrup Man was deposited in a Danish bog, probably as part of a ritualised sacrifice. It happened between c. 3300 and 3100 cal years BC, i.e., during the period of the local farming-based Funnel Beaker Culture. In terms of skull morphological features, he differs from the majority of the contemporaneous farmers found in Denmark, and associates with hunter-gatherers, who inhabited Scandinavia during the previous millennia. His skeletal remains were selected for transdisciplinary analysis to reveal his life-history in terms of a population historical perspective. We report the combined results of an integrated set of genetic, isotopic, physical anthropological and archaeological analytical approaches. Strontium signature suggests a foreign birthplace that could be in Norway or Sweden. In addition, enamel oxygen isotope values indicate that as a child he lived in a colder climate, i.e., to the north of the regions inhabited by farmers. Genomic data in fact demonstrates that he is closely related to Mesolithic humans known from Norway and Sweden. Moreover, dietary stable isotope analyses on enamel and bone collagen demonstrate a fisher-hunter way of life in his childhood and a diet typical of farmers later on. Such a variable life-history is also reflected by proteomic analysis of hardened organic deposits on his teeth, indicating the consumption of forager food (seal, whale and marine fish) as well as farmer food (sheep/goat). From a dietary isotopic transect of one of his teeth it is shown that his transfer between societies of foragers and farmers took place near to the end of his teenage years
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Vittrup Man–The life-history of a genetic foreigner in Neolithic Denmark
Acknowledgements: We acknowledge a conservation specialist from Finland (NLES, previous employee of Bevaringscenter Nordjylland) for calling attention to the archaic appearance of the Vittrup skull; Paula Reimer (14CHRONO, Queen’s University Belfast), for providing methodological clarifications on AMS dates and isotopic measurements; Paul Fullagar (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) and David Dettman (University of Arizona, Tucson) for effective handling of our enamel Sr and δ13C & δ18O samples, respectively, during a complicated period of pandemic close downs; Poul Otto Nielsen (Danish National Museum) for access to archives and for assistance in having artefact photos produced for the paper. Moreover, we express our sincere thanks to Niels Lynnerup (Copenhagen University), Poul Otto Nielsen (Danish National Museum) and Kurt Gron (Durham University) for useful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.Funder: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004472; Grant(s): M16-0455:1Funder: FP7 People: Marie-Curie Actions; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011264; Grant(s): 300554The lethally maltreated body of Vittrup Man was deposited in a Danish bog, probably as part of a ritualised sacrifice. It happened between c. 3300 and 3100 cal years BC, i.e., during the period of the local farming-based Funnel Beaker Culture. In terms of skull morphological features, he differs from the majority of the contemporaneous farmers found in Denmark, and associates with hunter-gatherers, who inhabited Scandinavia during the previous millennia. His skeletal remains were selected for transdisciplinary analysis to reveal his life-history in terms of a population historical perspective. We report the combined results of an integrated set of genetic, isotopic, physical anthropological and archaeological analytical approaches. Strontium signature suggests a foreign birthplace that could be in Norway or Sweden. In addition, enamel oxygen isotope values indicate that as a child he lived in a colder climate, i.e., to the north of the regions inhabited by farmers. Genomic data in fact demonstrates that he is closely related to Mesolithic humans known from Norway and Sweden. Moreover, dietary stable isotope analyses on enamel and bone collagen demonstrate a fisher-hunter way of life in his childhood and a diet typical of farmers later on. Such a variable life-history is also reflected by proteomic analysis of hardened organic deposits on his teeth, indicating the consumption of forager food (seal, whale and marine fish) as well as farmer food (sheep/goat). From a dietary isotopic transect of one of his teeth it is shown that his transfer between societies of foragers and farmers took place near to the end of his teenage years.</jats:p
Deposaries/reproducibility.
The lethally maltreated body of Vittrup Man was deposited in a Danish bog, probably as part of a ritualised sacrifice. It happened between c. 3300 and 3100 cal years BC, i.e., during the period of the local farming-based Funnel Beaker Culture. In terms of skull morphological features, he differs from the majority of the contemporaneous farmers found in Denmark, and associates with hunter-gatherers, who inhabited Scandinavia during the previous millennia. His skeletal remains were selected for transdisciplinary analysis to reveal his life-history in terms of a population historical perspective. We report the combined results of an integrated set of genetic, isotopic, physical anthropological and archaeological analytical approaches. Strontium signature suggests a foreign birthplace that could be in Norway or Sweden. In addition, enamel oxygen isotope values indicate that as a child he lived in a colder climate, i.e., to the north of the regions inhabited by farmers. Genomic data in fact demonstrates that he is closely related to Mesolithic humans known from Norway and Sweden. Moreover, dietary stable isotope analyses on enamel and bone collagen demonstrate a fisher-hunter way of life in his childhood and a diet typical of farmers later on. Such a variable life-history is also reflected by proteomic analysis of hardened organic deposits on his teeth, indicating the consumption of forager food (seal, whale and marine fish) as well as farmer food (sheep/goat). From a dietary isotopic transect of one of his teeth it is shown that his transfer between societies of foragers and farmers took place near to the end of his teenage years.</div
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) projecting Vittrup Man, Svinninge Vejle and PWC individuals onto a reference panel of 288 ancient individuals from European Hunter-Gatherer and Neolithic Farmer groups.
The Vittrup and Svinninge Vejle individuals cluster with humans of Mesolithic age, found in Norway and Sweden.</p
Polygenic trait predictions for the Svinninge Vejle individual (figure computed using polygenic scores obtained from [1]).
A: Polygenic scores for the Danish samples ordered chronologically, for four traits of interest: hair colour, basal metabolic rate (BMR), height and skin colour. B: Probability of having blue vs. brown vs. intermediate eye colour (green/hazel/grey). The Svinninge Vejle individual is highlighted via inserted probability values. The error bars denote 95% credible intervals.</p
Left lower leg bone and right ankle bone.
Like the cranial fragments and the lower jawbone these two bones are coloured brown from millennial deposition in the Vittrup mire. Arrows mark where material was taken for 14C analysis and dietary isotope measurements. Photo: Marie Louise Jørkov.</p
AMS dates and associated dietary carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for human and cattle bones from the Vittrup river mire.
AMS dates and associated dietary carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for human and cattle bones from the Vittrup river mire.</p