The Medieval Cemetery outside the Eastern Gate of Gamizgrad (Felix Romuliana): A Paleodemographic Interpretation

The medieval cemetery was archaeologically investigated between 1981 and 1992. It consisted of 91 graves containing 95 anthropologically identified skeletons. Further anthropological analysis has established 31 reliably or highly likely adult males, 31 reliably or highly likely adult females, 3 poorly preserved and therefore unsexed adult skeletons, and 30 children most of whom died within the first ten years after birth. From the paleodemographic viewpoint, this would be the necropolis of a single medieval community showing a dearth of children of all age groups, which may be interpreted in several ways, ranging from reduced procreation to inadequate archaeological excavation

Anthropological traces of Slav presence in Kosovo and Metochia

At the current level of anthropological research on medieval populations of Kosovo and Metochia, the total of five skeleton series is available Matičane, Djonaj, Rezala, Kuline and, partly, Novo Brdo. The necropolises roughly cover the period between the tenth and sixteenth centuries. Their anthropological contents indicate curvoccipital dolichocranial Slavs, and a planoccipital brachycranial population buried mostly around Orthodox churches

Is the Mesolithic-Neolithic Subsistence Dichotomy Real? New Stable Isotope Evidence from the Danube Gorges

The article presents new results of stable isotope analyses made on animal and human bones from the Mesolithic-early Neolithic sites of Lepenski Vir and Vlasac in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans. It reconstructs the food web for the region during these periods on the basis of stable isotope analyses of mammal and fish species found at Vlasac. These results are compared to measurements made on human burials from the two sites. In the light of these new results, the article also discusses interpretations provided by previous isotopic studies of this material. It concludes that great care is required in the interpretation of stable isotope results due to inherent methodological complexities of this type of analysis, and suggests that it is also necessary to integrate stable isotope results with information based on the examination of faunal remains and the archaeological context of analysed burials when making inferences about palaeodietary patterns

Deux necropolis de la Grande migration des peoples à Viminacium

The necropolis known as Više Grobalja at Viminacium has undergone an anthropological revision. Namely, guided by the initially formulated archaeological criteria, the author interpreted the Migration Period necropolis as a single cemetery. However, the latest analysis has ascertained two necropolises simply abutting onto one another: an older, dated to the second half of the fifth century and containing 36 skeletons, and a younger dated to the second half of the sixth century and containing 58 skeletons. Both are attributed to the Gepidae, but the older has 26 skulls (72 percent) showing artificial deformation, and the younger only five (9 percent). The figures reflect a change that occurred in Gepidean funerary practices within about a century. It should be added that the two fully excavated necropolises are now anthropologically analyzed and interpreted as well

A note on the earliest distribution, cultivation and genetic changes in bitter vetch (vicia ervilia) in ancient Europe

Bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia (L.) Willd.) was a part of the everyday diet of the Eurasian Neanderthal population and the modern human Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers at the end of the last Ice Age. The major criteria to determine the domestication in bitter vetch and other ancient grain legumes are non-dehiscent pods, larger seed size and smooth seed testa. Bitter vetch seeds were found among the earliest findings of cultivated crops at the site of Tell El-Kerkh, Syria, from 10th millennium BP. Along with cereals, pea and lentil, bitter vetch has become definitely associated with the start of the 'agricultural revolution' in the Old World. Bitter vetch entered Europe in its south-east regions and progressed into its interior via Danube. Its distribution was rapid, since the available evidence reveals its presence in remote places at similar periods. Recently the first success has been obtained in the extraction of ancient DNA from charred bitter vetch seeds. The linguistic evidence supports the fact that most of Eurasian peoples have their own words denoting bitter vetch, meaning that its cultivation preceded the diversification of their own proto-languages

Pisum & Ervilia Tetovac: Made in Early Iron Age Leskovac, Part one: Two charred pulse crop storages of the fortified hill fort settlement Hissar in Leskovac, South Serbia

Arheološki lokalitet Hisar je gradinsko naselje Brnjičke kulturne grupe (gvozdeno doba I u Pomoravlju), podignuto na vrhu, odnosno na platou brda Hisar koje kontroliše zonu ušća Jablanice i Veternice u Južnu Moravu i najveći deo Leskovačke kotline. Prilikom arheoloških istraživanja 2005. godine u objektima koji se vezuju za Brnjica II a fazu (12. vek pre nove ere) pronađene su dve velike količine ugljenisanih semena graška (Pisum sativum L) i urova (Vicia ervilia (L) Willd). Zalihe ove dve zrnaste mahunarke bile su skoro čiste, sa malim procentom nečistoća koje su pre svega činili plodovi, pre svega žitarica, drugih mahunarki (sočivo - Lens culinaris Medik. i bob - Vicia faba L), ali i biljaka uljarica, što ukazuje da su grašak i urov bili odvojeno uzgajani, a potom i odvojeno skladišteni. Ovi nalazi, a pre svega nesvakidašnji nalaz zalihe graška, potvrđuju dugu tradiciju uzgajanja mahunarki u leskovačkom kraju.A lucky find of 2,572 charred pea (Pisum sativum L) seeds in a single archaeobotanical sample from the hill fort settlement Hissar near Leskovac represents a unique example in Bronze / Iron Age research in South East Europe. Another mass storage of bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia (L) Willd) from the same site and period (Brnjica cultural group, beginning of the Iron Age in the Morava valley) confirms a long tradition of the city of Leskovac region as a pulse crop production centre in modern Serbia. Both pulse storages were almost pure with small amount of admixture from other crops mainly cereals, other pulses, such as lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) and broad bean (Vicia faba L), and oil/fibre plants. Both pulses were cultivated as main crops and were stored separately

Grašak i urov Tetovac - made in ranogvozdenodobni Leskovac, Deo drugi - ekstrakcija drevne DNK iz ugljenisanih semena sa nalazišta Hisar u južnoj Srbiji

The extracts were prepared from the samples of 3,200-year-old charred pea and bitter vetch seeds from the site of Hissar near Leskovac, South Serbia, using two different DNA extraction procedures. We used CTAB method with some modification and obtained low quantity of ancient DNA in comparison with the second method used - commercial available kit. After the extraction, a whole genome amplification using Phi29 DNA polymerase was performed. The amplified DNAs were used for PCR reaction using primers for 26S rDNA gene, which is located on the nuclear genome. The single band corresponding to 26S rDNA fragment from modern relatives was obtained. We conclude that DNA from charred pea and vetch seed can be extracted and used for further archaeobotanical analysis at the molecular level.Primenom dve različite procedure ekstrahovana je drevna DNK iz ugljenisanih semena graška i urova starih 3200 godina sa lokaliteta Hisar kod Leskovca. Korišćena je modifikovana CTAB metoda i dobijena je relativno mala količina drevne DNK u poređenju sa drugom primenjenom metodom - komercijalno dostupnim kitom za izolaciju DNK. Nakon ekstrakcije primenjeno je umnožavanje celog genoma pomoću Phi29 DNK polimeraze. Umnožena DNK je korišćena za PCR reakciju primenom prajmera za 26S rDNK gen, koji je lociran u jedarnom genomu. Dobijen je fragment iste veličine kao i PCR fragment 26S rDNK savremenih srodnika graška i urova. Može se zaključiti da je moguće ekstrahovati drevnu DNK iz ugljenisanih semena graška i urova i koristiti je za dalje arheobotaničke analize na molekularnom nivou

Field pea (Pisum sativum L.) as a companion crop for the establishment of perennial legumes

Pea is one of the most important crops in the world. Among the many ways of utilization of this crop are that related for forage production. Forage pea may be cultivated alone as a pure crop, or in mixture with other crops, usually cereals. In recent time, several attempts have been made to cultivate forage pea with other legumes, where pea would play the role of cover crop. The results reported here are obtained in a greenhouse experiment aimed to assess the pea as a companion crop for establishment of lucerne (Medicago sativa L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) and sainfoin (Onobrychis sativa L.) as undersown crops. The semi-leafless pea cultivar Jezero with three population densities (30, 60 and 90 plants per m2) were used in this experiment. Two control treatments also included in the experiment – the perennial legumes grown as a pure stand, and the perennial legumes with oat as a cover crop. The effect of pea on forage yield, chlorophyll content, leaf surface and LER is determined. According to obtained results, the best combination for lucerne is 30 pea plants per m2, 90 for red clover and 60 pea plants per m2 for sainfoin

Salt stress response in three pea species (Pisum arvense, P. sativum and P. fulvum) in vitro cultures

Salinity is one of the major abiotic factors limiting plants productivity. Processes, such as seed germination, seedling growth and vigor, vegetative growth, flowering, and fruit set, are adversely affected by high saltconcentrations, ultimately causing diminished economic yield and also quality of products. Shoots of micropropagated Pisum fulvum, P. sativum and P. arvense were treated with 75, 120, 150 and 200 mMNaClin order to study pea tissues capacity to tolerate salt stress and their antioxidant capacity. We used the phenol content and DPPH antioxidant assay as oxidative damage indicators. Results showed that salt stress caused slower plant growth, leading to an increase in lipid peroxidation and a decrease in total chlorophyll in pea tissues. Further, results showed that P. fulvum is to be considered as potentially less sensitive to high NaCl concentrations in comparison to P. sativum and P. arvense and could represents a gene pool which could be used for improving the characteristics of field pea

Dehydration affected the expression of miR398 and miR408 in pea (Pisum sativum L.)

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), recently recognized as important regulator of gene expression at posttranscriptional level, have been found to be involved in plant stress responses. The observation that some miRNAs are up- or down regulated by stress implies that that could play vital roles in plant resistance to abiotic and biotic stress. We investigated the effect of water stress treatment during 10 days on expression of conserved miRNAs-miR398a/b and miR408 in pea plants. This time frame could reflect the changes as closely as possible those during water stress cause visible effects under field condition. It was observed that dehydration strongly down regulates the expression of both miR398a/b and miR408 in pea roots and shoots. The down-regulation of miR398a/b and the up-regulation of potential target genes copper superoxide dismutase, CSD1, highlight the involvement of this miRNA in pea stress response. On the contrary, the mRNA level of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 5 (COX5b) was not changed in roots and shoots of water-stressed plants, compared to control-well hydrated plants. This suggests that COX5b is not target of miR398, or that its expression is regulated by some other mechanism. P1B-ATPase expression increased during water deficit only in shoots of pea; in the roots there was no changes in expression. Our results might help to understand the possible role of investigated miRNAs and their contribution to pea capacity to cope with water deficit