A short history of Lagenaria siceraria (bottle gourd) in the Roman provinces: morphotypes and archaeogenetics

Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl. (bottle gourd) is pantropic and displays large variation in fruit and seed shape. Two subspecies are currently recognized: the African L. siceraria ssp. siceraria and the Asian L. siceraria ssp. asiatica. The Asian type of bottle gourd belongs to the earliest domesticated plants in the Americas. In Europe, bottle gourd only appears with some frequency from the Roman period onwards. The paper is the study of ancient DNA (aDNA) and seed morphology of one almost complete bottle gourd fruit from the Roman site of Oedenburg/Biesheim-Kunheim, France (1st century a.d.), and from individual seed finds from the Roman vicus of Petinesca-Vorderberg, Switzerland (3rd century a.d.), both recovered from waterlogged layers. Width and length measurements of seeds show large variation. Based on the index of width to length, seeds from both sites differ significantly (p<0.0001 Mann-Whitney) suggesting that there were different variants present north of the Alps. Genetically, the bottle gourd fruit from Roman Oedenburg/Biesheim-Kunheim and one commercial cultivar L. siceraria cv. ‘Herkuleskeule' are of Asian origin as identified by three Asian and African specific chloroplast markers. These results support an early and long-lasting presence of the Asian type of domestic bottle gourd in Europe. No chloroplast markers were found in the seeds from Petinesca-Vorderberg. However preserved nuclear high copy 5.8S rDNA fragments correctly matched to Cucurbitaceae, further supporting the evidence for preservation of DNA in waterlogged plant remain

Ancient plant DNA in archaeobotany

Plant diaspores, tissues and wood are preserved in natural and anthropogenic sediments. Also, over the past centuries, plants have been collected in herbaria. These plant remains carry macroscopic and molecular information, making them a rich source for reconstructing past plant use, agriculture, diet or vegetation—they are thus proxies for past economies, ecology, migrations or trade. This article focuses on the application of ancient DNA analyses from plants excavated at Holocene archaeological sites. A short methodological section is added to illustrate possibilities and limitations of ancient DNA research in plant

Matrilines in Neolithic cattle from Orkney, Scotland reveals complex husbandry patterns of ancestry

mtDNA, isotopic and archaeozoological analyses of cattle teeth and bones from the Late Neolithic site of Links of Noltland, Orkney, Scotland revealed these animals followed similar grazing regimes but displayed diverse genetic origins and included one cattle skull that carried an aurochs (wild cattle) genetic haplotype. Morphometric analyses indicate the presence of some cattle larger than published dimensions of Neolithic domestic cattle. Several explanations for these finding are possible but may be the evidence of a complex pattern of domestic cattle introductions into Neolithic Orkney and interbreeding between domestic and wild cattle

Cadre géologique et environnemental

Pfyngut: Geologischer Rahmen und natürliches Umfeld Dieses Kapitel ist der Geologie der Region gewidmet, unter besonderer Beachtung der Schichtabfolge von Pfyngut. Die Fundstelle befindet sich im alpinen Raum, am Oberlauf der Rhone, zwischen Siders und Leuk. Sie liegt auf einem Schuttkegel, der sich am Fusse des Illgrabens gebildet hat, einer tief in die penninischen Decken eingeschnittenen Schlucht mit carbonatreichen Gesteinen und Quarziten. Die untersuchten Schichtabfolgen liegen auf der linken Seite des Rhonetals, rund 20 m über der Überschwemmungsebene, und bestehen hauptsächlich aus Wildbachablagerungen und durch Oberflächenwasser verlagerten Feinsedimenten, zwischen denen sich fossile Böden erhalten haben. Diese Ablagerungen erreichen eine Gesamtmächtigkeit von maximal 2,50 m und liegen über den pedogen verwitterten Schottern (cambisol) des Illgrabenfächers. Die Sequenz beginnt an der Basis mit einer Abfolge fossiler Böden. Mikromorphologische Untersuchungen, in Kombination mit den Ergebnissen der Pollenanalysen und Makrorestuntersuchungen belegen, dass der menschliche Einfluss ab der frühen Eisenzeit das lokale Landschaftsbild zu verändern begann : nach einer Rodungsphase, setzte Erosion ein, auf die ackerbauliche Nutzung folgt. Pollen von Weizen und Ruderalplanzen sprechen für eine ausgedehnte Bewirtschaftung der Gegend ab der späten Eisenzeit. Ein weiterer starker menschlicher Eingriff stellt der Bau einer grossen Fernverkehrsstrasse in frührömischer Zeit dar. Sie wird mehfach aufwändig erneuert und nach Aufgabe von feinkörnigen Überflutungssedimenten überdeckt. An deren Oberfläche bildet sich wiederum ein humöser Oberboden, der Pflugspuren eines ausgedehnten Ackerbaus aufweist und ins Mittelalter datiert. Nach dem 12. Jh. wird die gesamte Westflanke des Kegels wiederholt von Bachgeschiebe und Murgangsedimenten überdeckt, was auf eine Destabilisierung der Berghangs hinweist. Der oberste Bereich der Schichtabfolge besteht hauptsächlich aus feinen Ablagerungen, wie sie bei der Bewässerung der Wiesen mittels Suonen entstehen. Darüber folgt der Humushorizont der heutigen Bodenoberfläche. Die Untersuchung der Pflanzenreste erbrachte ausschliesslich den Nachweis von Wildpflanzen, die wohl alle aus der nahen Umgebung stammen. Sie zeigt zudem, dass die Waldföhre bereits in der Eisenzeit die dominante Baumart im Gebiete des Pfynwalds war. Die Landschaft war relativ offen und besass Wiesen- und Weideflächen. Das Fehlen von Kulturpflanzen, wie auch von typischen Ackerunkräutern lässt den Schluss zu, dass in dieser frühen Zeit kaum Ackerstandorte in unmittelbarer Nähe des Fundorts lagen, und mit den untersuchten Proben auch keine Siedlungsbereiche erfasst worden sind, wo Nahrungsmittel gelagert oder verarbeitet wurden

Burial condition is the most important factor for mtDNA PCR amplification success in Palaeolithic equid remains from the Alpine foreland

Faunal remains from Palaeolithic sites are important genetic sources to study preglacial and postglacial populations and to investigate the effect of climate change and human impact. Post mortem decay, resulting in fragmented and chemically modified DNA, is a key obstacle in ancient DNA analyses. In the absence of reliable methods to determine the presence of endogenous DNA in sub-fossil samples, temporal and spatial surveys of DNA survival on a regional scale may help to estimate the potential of faunal remains from a given time period and region. We therefore investigated PCR amplification success, PCR performance and post mortem damage in c. 47,000 to c. 12,000-year-old horse remains from 14 Palaeolithic sites along the Swiss Jura Mountains in relation to depositional context, tissue type, storage time and age, potentially influencing DNA preservation. The targeted 75 base pair mitochondrial DNA fragment could be amplified solely from equid remains from caves and not from any of the open dry and (temporary) wetland sites. Whether teeth are better than bones cannot be ultimately decided; however, both storage time after excavation and age significantly affect PCR amplification and performance, albeit not in a linear way. This is best explained by the—inevitable—heterogeneity of the data set. The extent of post mortem damage is not related to any of the potential impact factors. The results encourage comprehensive investigations of Palaeolithic cave sites, even from temperate regions

Mitochondrial d-loop variation, coat colour and sex identification of Late Iron Age horses in Switzerland

In the Celtic world, horses enjoyed a prominent position as status symbols and objects of veneration, yet little is known about these Celtic horses except that they were rather small. The Late Iron Age was a time defined by increasing inter-cultural contact between Celtic peoples and the Romans. This is, amongst other features, observable in the phenotypes of domestic livestock such as horses. Amongst the usually small animals, larger ones are rarely but regularly encountered in the archaeological record. We have investigated mitochondrial (mt) DNA d-loop diversity, sex and coat colour using bones from 34 horses of different size from three Swiss sites (Mormont, Basel-Gasfabrik, Aventicum) most of them dating from 150 to 50 BCE. The aim was to characterise the diversity of matrilineages and coat colourations of Iron Age horses, and to identify molecular sex. We detected eleven mt haplotypes clustering into six haplogroups (B, D, F, I, X2, X3) in the ancient dataset (n = 19). Large individuals were all male, but smaller stallions were also identified; molecular sexing confirmed and augmented to morphological results. The horses were bay, chestnut and black in colour, and spottings or dilutions were absent in all animals. With a simplified primer system to detect premature greying, white coats can be excluded as well. The limited colour range proposes selection for monochrome animals. Additionally, ancient matrilineages were compared to modern horses from regions appertaining to the Late Roman Republic and to European pony breeds. Based on Principal Component Analysis (haplotype frequencies) and FST-values (genetic distances) the mtDNA variation of the Iron Age horses investigated here has survived in modern European breeds, particularly in northern European ponies

Allelic Heterogeneity at the Equine KIT Locus in Dominant White (W) Horses

White coat color has been a highly valued trait in horses for at least 2,000 years. Dominant white (W) is one of several known depigmentation phenotypes in horses. It shows considerable phenotypic variation, ranging from ∼50% depigmented areas up to a completely white coat. In the horse, the four depigmentation phenotypes roan, sabino, tobiano, and dominant white were independently mapped to a chromosomal region on ECA 3 harboring the KIT gene. KIT plays an important role in melanoblast survival during embryonic development. We determined the sequence and genomic organization of the ∼82 kb equine KIT gene. A mutation analysis of all 21 KIT exons in white Franches-Montagnes Horses revealed a nonsense mutation in exon 15 (c.2151C>G, p.Y717X). We analyzed the KIT exons in horses characterized as dominant white from other populations and found three additional candidate causative mutations. Three almost completely white Arabians carried a different nonsense mutation in exon 4 (c.706A>T, p.K236X). Six Camarillo White Horses had a missense mutation in exon 12 (c.1805C>T, p.A602V), and five white Thoroughbreds had yet another missense mutation in exon 13 (c.1960G>A, p.G654R). Our results indicate that the dominant white color in Franches-Montagnes Horses is caused by a nonsense mutation in the KIT gene and that multiple independent mutations within this gene appear to be responsible for dominant white in several other modern horse populations

Incorporation of aurochs into a cattle herd in Neolithic Europe: single event or breeding?

Domestication is an ongoing process continuously changing the lives of animals and humans and the environment. For the majority of European cattle (Bos taurus) genetic and archaeozoological evidence support initial domestication ca. 11’000 BP in the Near East from few founder aurochs (Bos primigenius) belonging to the mitochondrial DNA T macro-haplogroup. Gene flow between wild European aurochs of P haplogroup and domestic cattle of T haplogroup, coexisting over thousands of years, appears to have been sporadic. We report archaeozoological and ancient DNA evidence for the incorporation of wild stock into a domestic cattle herd from a Neolithic lake-dwelling in Switzerland. A complete metacarpus of a small and compact adult bovid is morphologically and genetically a female. With withers height of ca. 112 cm, it is comparable in size with small domestic cattle from contemporaneous sites in the area. The bone is directly dated to 3360–3090 cal BC and associated to the Horgen culture, a period of the secondary products revolution. The cow possessed a novel mtDNA P haplotype variant of the European aurochs. We argue this is either a single event or, based on osteological characteristics of the Horgen cattle, a rare instance of intentional breeding with female aurochs. Domestication is an ongoing process continuously changing the lives of animals and humans and theenvironment. For the majority of European cattle (Bos taurus) genetic and archaeozoological evidencesupport initial domestication ca. 11’000 BP in the Near East from few founder aurochs (Bos primigenius)belonging to the mitochondrial DNA T macro-haplogroup. Gene flow between wild European aurochs of Phaplogroup and domestic cattle of T haplogroup, coexisting over thousands of years, appears to have beensporadic. We report archaeozoological and ancient DNA evidence for the incorporation of wild stock into adomestic cattle herd from a Neolithic lake-dwelling in Switzerland. A complete metacarpus of a small and compact adult bovid is morphologically and genetically a female. With withers height of ca. 112 cm, it is comparable in size with small domestic cattle from contemporaneous sites in the area. The bone is directly dated to 3360–3090 cal BC and associated to the Horgen culture, a period of the secondary products revolution. The cow possessed a novel mtDNA P haplotype variant of the European aurochs. We argue this is either a single event or, based on osteological characteristics of the Horgen cattle, a rare instance ofintentional breeding with female aurochs