Gluhite Kamani: Old questions and new approaches

Големият интерес към Глухите камъни се дължи основно на многобройните ниши, изсечени по увенчаващите билото скални зъбери. Най-впечатляващи обаче са изсичанията в доминиращия над околните скален масив. Върху заравнения му връх е вкопана дълбока правоъгълна щерна за събиране и съхраняване на вода. До нея води добре оформена двураменна стълба. Южното лице на скалата, от където започва стълбата, е оформено отвесно. На това място е издълбано пещерообразно помещение, с правоъгълен план и куполообразно покритие. Първият опит за системно изследване на обекта е поставено от експедицията на Института по тракология през 1975 г. Затова с удоволствие представяме първоначалните си резултати в издание, посветено на 40-годишнината на Института. Първите археологически проучвания на Глухите камъни започват през 2008 г. под ръководството на д-р Г. Нехризов. Резултатите веднага показаха, че е необходимо ново теренно изследване и документиране на нишите с модерни технически средства и според съвременните стандарти за теренно проучване. През 2011 г. с финансиране от Фондация Америка за България чрез конкурс, организиран от Американския научен център в София, започна българо-американски проект с две основни задачи – теренно проучване на района на Глухите камъни и археологически разкопки в централния сектор на обекта. В настоящата работа представяме предварителните резултати от тези изследвания. Основната цел на теренното проучване беше оглед, точно локализиране с мобилни ГИС и GPS устройства, подробно описание и документиране на всички изкуствени изсичания върху скалите в м. Глухите камъни. В резултат на теренната работа бяха установени 459 ниши, част от които неизвестни досега. Те са обединени в 81 единични или групи от ниши, разположени върху 28 обособени скали и скални групи. Вероятно броят на нишите е по-голям, регистрирането им обаче е затруднено от гъстата растителност, която ограничава видимостта към скалите. Още в началото на археологическите разкопки се установи, че на обекта има значителни културни напластявания от ранната желязна епоха. Археологическите проучвания в централния сектор продължиха четири сезона докато културните отложения бяха напълно изчерпани. В резултат на стратиграфските наблюдения се установи, че под пласт от средновековието е отложен седимент от ранната желязна епоха с обща дебелина над 2,40 м. В него се разграничиха три стратиграфски пласта с различен интензитет. При проучванията на различни нива бяха разкрити огнища, замазки и други структури, както и голямо количество фрагментирани керамични съдове и разнообразни находки. Резултатите от четиригодишните проучвания на пластовете от ранната желязна епоха, както и изследванията на целия комплекс ни дават основания да потвърдим досегашната интерпретация на обекта – сложен комплекс с култов характер. Центърът на култовата дейност изглежда е бил на най-високото място, където сега се намират останките от средновековната църква. Предварителните резултати ни дават възможност само предпазливо да се обърнем към хипотези за предназначението на скалните ниши. Връзката на нишите с погребалната обредност не може да се изключи напълно. Трапецовидна форма на нишите би могла да е алюзия за погребални ритуали или възпоменателни ритуали за вожд или герой. Групите ниши може да са предназначени или изсечени от членовете на една социална единица, като например семейство или род. Също така може да се предположи, че те са били правени по време на различни ритуално (календарно) важни моменти. Дали става дума за почитане на божество, местен херой или култ към предците все още е рано да се каже. Бъдещите изследвания на Глухите камъни и съседните обекти вероятно ще помогнат за решаването на тези въпроси

The genetic history of the Southern Arc: a bridge between West Asia and Europe

By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe

Archaeological surface survey investigations in the Kazanlak valley 2009-2010 (preliminary report)

In the spring of 2009 a multidisciplinary research project continued to investigate the archaeological cultural potential of one of the important region in Bulgaria - the Kazanlak Valley. The main focus is the renewed archaeological surface surveys started by M. Domaradzki in 1996. The modern development of the GIS technologies and their application in the archaeological researches provides a powerful tool for mapping and recording of the terrain data, which allows the better storing and retrieving of the information and facilities thus the scientific researches. During the two spring campaigns in 2009-2010 a total of 56 sq km territory was covered, mainly around the Koprinka Dam and toward the Stara Planina Moutains. In these campaigns 358 archaeological features were mapped - 308 tumuli, 33 settlements, 8 fortresses, ancient quarries, e. c., from the prehistory to the mediaeval times. The precise mapping of the archaeological sites and filling of the Archaeological Map of Bulgaria will not only help further scientific investigations of the settlements pattern through the different époques in the studied area, but will also facilitate the better management of the cultural heritage of the region and their preservation.11 page(s

Natural Vegetation Recovery on Excavated Archaeological Sites: A Case Study of Ancient Burial Mounds in Bulgaria

As a distinctive component of the cultural landscape in Eurasia, burial mounds are well known for their historical value. Recently their role as biodiversity hotspots, especially in the homogenous agricultural landscape, has become particularly important. Archaeological excavations, although necessary, are destructive to the natural elements on the mounds. Restoration and vegetation recovery after such disturbances are needed for the preservation of biodiversity and for the cultural landscape integrity. In this study, we aimed to find out how effective is the natural vegetation recovery on the mounds after archaeological excavations. Successional stages between 2- and 30-years post-excavations have been studied. Vegetation sampling was performed on 15 mounds within 300 plots (1 × 1 m). Spontaneous succession was found to start immediately, and during the first decade, anthropophytes prevailed. In the subsequent years, their cover significantly decreased at the expense of species typical for the natural communities in the surroundings. Total species richness increased with the successional age and the vegetation composition became more similar to the semi-natural communities commonly established on mounds in Bulgaria. In the advanced successional stages, we registered a high rate of heterogeneity on the mounds, facilitated by the establishment of target plant species with different ecological requirements, including bryophytes. Provided the obtained results, we conclude that the natural vegetation recovery on the excavated and subsequently recovered mounds were very successful, and the current practice must continue in the future

First Survey of the Vascular and Cryptogam Flora on Bulgaria’s Ancient Mounds

This work represents the first study of the floristic diversity on Bulgaria’s ancient mounds. The objective of this research was to assess the importance of the mounds for the preservation of the native vascular and cryptogam flora. Our sampling design included 111 ancient mounds distributed throughout the country. We recorded a total of 1059 vascular plants, 58 bryophytes and 61 lichen taxa. Despite their small area, the mounds were shown to preserve nearly a quarter of the Bulgarian flora. The vegetation cover on the mounds included 61% perennials indicating a long-term persistence and stability. The majority (98%) of the established vascular plants were native species. Although the conservation significance of the vascular plant species were not common, we recorded 2 critically endangered, 9 endangered and 14 Balkan endemics during the present study. The lichen Arthopyrenia salicis was recorded for the first time in Bulgaria and a new locality of the rare bryophyte Ceratodon conicus was discovered. The established compositional difference between plots from the northern and southern slopes of the mounds (88.95%) is a testament to the high local habitat diversity. The prevalence of species characteristic for Festuco-Brometea suggests that the mounds preserve fragments of native grasslands and steppes. The variation in cover of agricultural and other human modified areas in the mounds’ immediate surroundings did not substantially affect their species richness. We argue that the ancient mounds should be taken into consideration in future green space planning

Population genomic analysis of ancient and modern genomes yields new insights into the genetic ancestry of the Tyrolean Iceman and the genetic structure of Europe.

Genome sequencing of the 5,300-year-old mummy of the Tyrolean Iceman, found in 1991 on a glacier near the border of Italy and Austria, has yielded new insights into his origin and relationship to modern European populations. A key finding of that study was an apparent recent common ancestry with individuals from Sardinia, based largely on the Y chromosome haplogroup and common autosomal SNP variation. Here, we compiled and analyzed genomic datasets from both modern and ancient Europeans, including genome sequence data from over 400 Sardinians and two ancient Thracians from Bulgaria, to investigate this result in greater detail and determine its implications for the genetic structure of Neolithic Europe. Using whole-genome sequencing data, we confirm that the Iceman is, indeed, most closely related to Sardinians. Furthermore, we show that this relationship extends to other individuals from cultural contexts associated with the spread of agriculture during the Neolithic transition, in contrast to individuals from a hunter-gatherer context. We hypothesize that this genetic affinity of ancient samples from different parts of Europe with Sardinians represents a common genetic component that was geographically widespread across Europe during the Neolithic, likely related to migrations and population expansions associated with the spread of agriculture

Population Genomic Analysis of Ancient and Modern Genomes Yields New Insights into the Genetic Ancestry of the Tyrolean Iceman and the Genetic Structure of Europe

<div><p>Genome sequencing of the 5,300-year-old mummy of the Tyrolean Iceman, found in 1991 on a glacier near the border of Italy and Austria, has yielded new insights into his origin and relationship to modern European populations. A key finding of that study was an apparent recent common ancestry with individuals from Sardinia, based largely on the Y chromosome haplogroup and common autosomal SNP variation. Here, we compiled and analyzed genomic datasets from both modern and ancient Europeans, including genome sequence data from over 400 Sardinians and two ancient Thracians from Bulgaria, to investigate this result in greater detail and determine its implications for the genetic structure of Neolithic Europe. Using whole-genome sequencing data, we confirm that the Iceman is, indeed, most closely related to Sardinians. Furthermore, we show that this relationship extends to other individuals from cultural contexts associated with the spread of agriculture during the Neolithic transition, in contrast to individuals from a hunter-gatherer context. We hypothesize that this genetic affinity of ancient samples from different parts of Europe with Sardinians represents a common genetic component that was geographically widespread across Europe during the Neolithic, likely related to migrations and population expansions associated with the spread of agriculture.</p></div

Allele sharing and D-tests with whole-genome datasets.

<p>(A) Normalized derived allele sharing rate of the Iceman with Eurasian whole genomes from Complete Genomics. Each circle represents the rate of sharing with a particular genome, grouped by population of origin. Positions on the y-axis have added jitter for ease of visualization. Populations with EUR suffix correspond to the European ancestry tracts of individuals of populations with known European admixture (ASW, MXL). Due to differences in admixture proportions among individuals from those populations, the total number of observations varies between individuals, indicated by the size of the circles. (B) D-test results for the ancient samples compared to populations from the 1000 Genomes project and Sardinia. Each panel shows results for a particular ancient sample, grouped by cultural context. Diamonds indicates the value of the D-statistic for a single D-test involving the ancient sample and a pair of modern populations, shown on the left and right of the panels. Significance at Z = 3 is indicated with filled diamonds, and the line shows the corresponding standard error of the D-statistic. Plot colors indicate different pairs of geographic regions within Europe (blue: Europe S/Europe N; green: Europe S/Europe S).</p

Pulling out the 1%: Whole-Genome Capture for the Targeted Enrichment of Ancient DNA Sequencing Libraries

Most ancient specimens contain very low levels of endogenous DNA, precluding the shotgun sequencing of many interesting samples because of cost. Ancient DNA (aDNA) libraries often contain &lt;1% endogenous DNA, with the majority of sequencing capacity taken up by environmental DNA. Here we present a capture-based method for enriching the endogenous component of aDNA sequencing libraries. By using biotinylated RNA baits transcribed from genomic DNA libraries, we are able to capture DNA fragments from across the human genome. We demonstrate this method on libraries created from four Iron Age and Bronze Age human teeth from Bulgaria, as well as bone samples from seven Peruvian mummies and a Bronze Age hair sample from Denmark. Prior to capture, shotgun sequencing of these libraries yielded an average of 1.2% of reads mapping to the human genome (including duplicates). After capture, this fraction increased substantially, with up to 59% of reads mapped to human and enrichment ranging from 6- to 159-fold. Furthermore, we maintained coverage of the majority of regions sequenced in the precapture library. Intersection with the 1000 Genomes Project reference panel yielded an average of 50,723 SNPs (range 3,062–147,243) for the postcapture libraries sequenced with 1 million reads, compared with 13,280 SNPs (range 217–73,266) for the precapture libraries, increasing resolution in population genetic analyses. Our whole-genome capture approach makes it less costly to sequence aDNA from specimens containing very low levels of endogenous DNA, enabling the analysis of larger numbers of samples