Alterations of cervical vertebrae in two individuals from the Late Antiquity Necropolis from the "Big Mound" near Cabyle, Bulgaria

The anthropological examination of two skeletons, of individuals identified as males, at 30–40 and 60–65 years, respectively, excavated from the grave complexes of the Necropolis of Big Mound, Cabyle, dated in the late 4th century AD, revealed abnormalities in the cervical section of the vertebral column, in C 1st and 2nd. In the first case (grave N 2), neural arches of C1 and C2 are fused together by two clearly visible bony bridges at the dorsal side of neural arches. In the second case (grave N 3) both vertebrae are changed, with the dens axis strongly bended to the left, the articulation surfaces with the first vertebra are on different geometrical surfaces, the left one being on a higher positionand bended at approximately 90°. The form the first cervical vertebra is adequate to the changes of the second vertebra. A lack of lesions, characteristic of the trauma or the infection is observed. The case from grave N 2 appears easy to be explained with inborn anomaly, as the Clippel-Fiel syndrome. The appearance of fusion, realized by clearly distinguishable bony bridges and clearly divided vertebrae from each other, instead of characteristic of the inborn condition, close, undivided position of neural arches with unclear outlines, the result from abnormality in embryonic development makes it also possible to have the interpretation as a survived trauma in the region. The changes of cervical vertebrae from the individual from grave N 3, could be interpreted as the development in the course of ossification of the centre of the dens axis and these both as halves of atlas during infancy

Pазказът на костните останки: два скелета от вкопано жилище № 10, ранносредновековен комплекс Брестница–Полето, Северозападна България

The skeletal remains of two individuals were discovered in a dugout dwelling (# 10) during rescue excavations of the early medieval metallurgical centre “Brestnitsa–Poleto”, northwestern Bulgaria. While these are not the only skeletons discovered on the site, this find is of note because, unlike other burials excavated nearby, it doe s not represent a regular Christian burial Instead the remains were found on the floor of a housing structure. The radiocarbon dating of the bones indicates they were from the first decade / half of the 9th century. The current paper examines the process of discovering and documenting the skeletal remains in situ. It offers a reconstruction of the situation of the bodies at the time of their death – their positions and location, as well as a possible cause of death. The consequent laboratory analysis presents a detailed report of the individual characteristics of each skeleton starting with age, sex and stature estimation, and a thorough examination of pathological marks and changes, as well as dental and craniometrical indexes where the condition of the bones allowed a reconstruction

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

Graves from the Palace Centre – east site: an attempt at ethnic cultural identification of burials intra muros in Pliska

This study presents five graves discovered east of the Palace Centre in Pliska (fig. 1). They represent individual burials located in the inter-dwelling area (fig. 2). The graves’ contexts were studied interdisciplinarily. The archaeological study provided data on the stratigraphy of the graves and detailed documentation of the burial pits and skeletal remains. The anthropological study provided information about the sex, age and height of the buried individuals, also their anatomical and anthropological features, disease (pathologies), traumas and medical manipulations that left traces on the bone remains. Stratigraphically, the graves date to the last phase of habitation of the medieval city (between the 30s/40s of the 11th c. and the 60s of the 11th c.). The newly studied graves can be placed in the context of the other intramural graves in the Inner City of Pliska, which makes it possible to clarify and summarize a wide range of issues related to the stratigraphy and chronology of the intramural graves and their connection with the demographic and ethnic cultural changes in the medieval city

SEPOLTURE ANOMALE NELLE TOMBE DEL BA I-III DI TELL ES-SULTAN/ GERICO (SCAVI J. GARSTANG)

La letteratura scientifica inerente i contesti funerari del Levante, si è limitata ad una descrizione superficiale delle sepolture senza procedere nello specifico ad un’analisi dettagliata dei resti osteologici, fondamentale per la comprensione e l’interpretazione dei rituali funerari. In questo contributo si vogliono analizzare in particolar modo le tombe di Gerico scavate dalla prima missione inglese condotta da J. Garstang dal 1930-al 1936. L’importanza di questa necropoli deriva soprattutto, dall’estensione cronologica e dalla continuità delle sequenze stratigrafiche che vanno dall’inizio dell’urbanizzazione in Palestina fino al Bronzo Tardo. Sono state analizzate le fasi del Bronzo Antico, estremamente importanti per comprendere la struttura economica, sociale e ideologica connessa con il fenomeno della sedentarizzazione. L’interesse risiede anche nell’impiego coincidente con la prima esperienza urbana gerichiota che è ben visibile nella necropoli ed è testimoniata dal passaggio dalla sepoltura secondaria a quella primaria, questo a conferma della sedentarizzazione, a partire dal Bronzo Antico IB, degli abitanti di Gerico. Le sepolture primarie prese in esame si distinguono per la singolare posizione fatta assumere al defunto, al momento della deposizione e in alcuni casi anche per il corredo funerario ad esso associato. Si tratta di sepolture provenienti dalla grande tomba A e dalla tomba 351; ognuna delle quali è caratterizzata da un’anomalìa che non trova immediati confronti nel territorio palestinese. La metodologia adottata parte dall’analisi dei diari di scavo e di tutta la documentazione edita e inedita, fino ad una rielaborazione grafica delle piante originali. L’obiettivo finale è comprendere la simbologia che sta dietro al gesto intenzionale per poter così intuire il pensiero religioso che ha portato al singolare trattamento del defunto

Ancient DNA from Mesopotamia suggests distinct Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic migrations into Anatolia

We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia

A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia

Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom's northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region