| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Muru, Merle, et al.
(författare)
-
Reconstructing Holocene shore displacement and Stone Age palaeogeography from a foredune sequence on Ruhnu Island, Gulf of Riga, Baltic Sea
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Geomorphology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-555X .- 1872-695X. ; 303, s. 434-445
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Holocene shore displacement and the palaeogeography of Late Mesolithic and Late Neolithic settlements on Ruhnu Island, Gulf of Riga, were reconstructed using foredune sequence luminescence dating, sedimentological data supported by ground-penetrating radar analysis, and GIS-based landscape modelling. The foredune ridges consist of very well to well sorted fine-to medium-grained aeolian sand and are underlain by seaward dipping foreshore sediments. The studied sequence of 38 ridges was formed between 6.91 +/- 0.58 ka and 2.54 +/- 0.19 ka ago, and represents a period of falling relative sea level. Foredune plain progradation, with average rates of 0.3-0.6 m per year, was controlled by isostatic land uplift, which caused a continuous withdrawal of shorelines to lower elevations. The dated foredune succession was used to reconstruct the coastal palaeogeography of the island. Palaeogeographical reconstructions show that during two phases of Late Mesolithic habitation, at ca. 7.2 cal. ka BP and 6.2 cal. ka BP, seal hunters settled the coastal zone of Ruhnu Island. Based on tool material and pottery type they could have originated from Saaremaa Island, which according to palaeoreconstruction of the Gulf of Riga, was located approximately 70 km northwest of Ruhnu Island during the Late Mesolithic. Later signs of human occupation, radiocarbon dated to ca. 4.7 cal. ka BP, were from the centre of the island, hundreds of metres away from the shore at about 8 m above its contemporary sea level. This Late Neolithic habitation shows a clearly different pattern than earlier coastal settlement, and suggests a shift in subsistence strategy towards agriculture and animal husbandry.
|
|
| 4. |
- Nirgi, Triine, et al.
(författare)
-
Holocene relative shore-level changes and Stone Age palaeogeography of the Pärnu Bay area, eastern Baltic Sea
- 2020
-
Ingår i: The Holocene. - : SAGE Publications. - 0959-6836 .- 1477-0911. ; 30:1, s. 37-52
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The shore displacement and palaeogeography of the Pärnu Bay area, eastern Baltic Sea, during the Stone Age, were reconstructed using sedimentological and archaeological proxies and GIS-based landscape modelling. We discovered and studied buried palaeochannel sediments on the coastal lowland and in the shallow offshore of the Pärnu Bay and interpreted these data together with previously published shore displacement evidence. The reconstructed relative shore-level (RSL) curve is based on 78 radiocarbon dates from sediment sequences and archaeological sites in the Pärnu Bay area and reported here using the HOLSEA sea-level database format. The new RSL curve displays regressive water levels at -5.5 and -4 m a.s.l. before the Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea transgressions, respectively. According to the curve, the total water-level rise during the Ancylus Lake transgression (10.7-10.2 cal. ka BP) was around 18 m, with the average rate of rise about 35 mm per annum, while during the Litorina Sea transgression (8.5-7.3 cal. ka BP), the water level rose around 14 m, with average rate of 12 mm per annum. During the short period around 7.8-7.6 cal. ka BP, the RSL rose in Pärnu, but probably also in Samsø (Denmark), Blekinge (Sweden) and Narva-Luga (NE Estonia-NW Russia), faster than the concurrent eustatic sea level calculated from the far-field sites. The palaeogeographic reconstructions show the settlement patterns of the coastal landscape since the Mesolithic and provide new perspective for looking Mesolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer settlement sites on the banks of the submerged ca. 9000 years old river channel in the bottom of the present-day Pärnu Bay.
|
|
| 5. |
- Rasmussen, Simon, et al.
(författare)
-
Early Divergent Strains of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia 5,000 Years Ago
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Cell. - : Elsevier. - 0092-8674. ; 163:3, s. 571-582
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The bacteria Yersinia pestis is the etiological agent of plague and has caused human pandemics with millions of deaths in historic times. How and when it originated remains contentious. Here, we report the oldest direct evidence of Yersinia pestis identified by ancient DNA in human teeth from Asia and Europe dating from 2,800 to 5,000 years ago. By sequencing the genomes, we find that these ancient plague strains are basal to all known Yersinia pestis. We find the origins of the Yersinia pestis lineage to be at least two times older than previous estimates. We also identify a temporal sequence ofgenetic changes that lead to increased virulenceand the emergence of the bubonic plague. Our results show that plague infection was endemic in the human populations of Eurasia at least 3,000 years before any historical recordings of pandemics.
|
|
| 6. |
- Rosentau, Alar, et al.
(författare)
-
Holocene relative shore level changes and Stone Age hunter-gatherers in Hiiumaa Island, eastern Baltic Sea
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Boreas. - : Wiley. - 0300-9483 .- 1502-3885. ; 49:4, s. 783-798
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Holocene relative shore level (RSL) changes and Stone Age palaeogeography of Hiiumaa Island are reconstructed using airborne LiDARelevation data, sedimentological and archaeological proxies as well asGIS-based landscape modelling. Altogether, 38RSLindex and limiting points are used in modelling and presented in the current paper. The highest raised shorelines of the Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea, mapped at the elevations of 47 and 26 m a.s.l., formed around 10.3 and 7.4 cal. kaBP, respectively. The reconstructedRSLcurve reveals a 20-m drainage of Ancylus Lake followed by a land-uplift-driven 3-m regression during the Initial Litorina Sea period.RSLrise during the Litorina Sea transgression remained below 4 m and its maximum was reached later than proposed previously, discarding therefore the idea of highly diachronous Litorina culmination in the eastern Baltic Sea. During the period 7.4-6.0 cal. kaBP,RSLfall was about 4.3 mm a(-1), and afterwards in average at about 1 mm(-1)less suggesting deceleration in isostatic rebound. suggesting deceleration in isostatic rebound. Palaeogeographical reconstructions show that during its earliest occupation at about 7.6 cal. kaBPless than 1% of the terrain of Hiiumaa was above the sea level and that wind-protectedSEexposed shores were the most preferred campsite locations of Late Mesolithic and Neolithic settlers. These campsites are located successively at lower elevations following the shoreline retreat and show repeated use of this coastal area between 7.6 and 4.6 cal. kaBP. Due to the spread of the Corded Ware culture around 4.8-4.0 cal. kaBPthe settlements of Hiiumaa Island and many other coastal areas of the eastern Baltic moved from the coast to more suitable places for agriculture and animal husbandry.
|
|
| 7. |
- Saag, Lehti, et al.
(författare)
-
The Arrival of Siberian Ancestry Connecting the Eastern Baltic to Uralic Speakers further East
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 29:10, s. 1701-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we compare the genetic ancestry of individuals from two as yet genetically unstudied cultural traditions in Estonia in the context of available modern and ancient datasets: 15 from the Late Bronze Age stone-cist graves (1200-400 BC) (EstBA) and 6 from the Pre-Roman Iron Age tarand cemeteries (800/500 BC-50 AD) (EstIA). We also included 5 Pre-Roman to Roman Iron Age Ingrian (500 BC450 AD) (IngIA) and 7 Middle Age Estonian (1200-1600 AD) (EstMA) individuals to build a dataset for studying the demographic history of the northern parts of the Eastern Baltic from the earliest layer of Mesolithic to modern times. Our findings are consistent with EstBA receiving gene flow from regions with strong Western hunter-gatherer (WHG) affinities and EstIA from populations related to modern Siberians. The latter inference is in accordance with Y chromosome (chrY) distributions in present day populations of the Eastern Baltic, as well as patterns of autosomal variation in the majority of the westernmost Uralic speakers [1-5]. This ancestry reached the coasts of the Baltic Sea no later than the mid-first millennium BC; i.e., in the same time window as the diversification of west Uralic (Finnic) languages [6]. Furthermore, phenotypic traits often associated with modern Northern Europeans, like light eyes, hair, and skin, as well as lactose tolerance, can be traced back to the Bronze Age in the Eastern Baltic.
|
|
| 8. |
- Tsugai, Alina, et al.
(författare)
-
Ground-penetrating Radar and Geological Study of the Kudrukula Stone Age Archaeological Site, Northeast Estonia
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Archaeological Prospection. - : Wiley. - 1075-2196 .- 1099-0763. ; 21:3, s. 225-234
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A combined ground-penetrating radar (GPR), drilling and diatom survey was carried out in order to characterize formation of the Kudrukula Stone Age Comb Ware archaeological site, northeast Estonia. A few decades ago a cultural layer was discovered, located within fine-grained sands of the right bank of the Kudrukula Stream an altitude of 1.25-1.60 m above sea level. The layer is 15-35 cm thick and composed of poorly sorted sand of intensive reddish colour with abundant arte- and ecofacts, human bones, burned hearthstones and charcoal pieces. Artefacts, in particular pottery, are well preserved and frequently present as large pieces. The Kudrukula site holds an exceptional position among other Stone Age coastal settlements in that it is not located directly on top of beach ridges, but is buried under similar to 3 m of sand. When the Kudrukula settlement existed the level of the Litorina Sea was similar to 6 m above present sea level, which is similar to 4.5 m above the present location of the cultural layer. The current research is used to describe the geological structure of the area to provide a perspective on the history of the cultural material, and reveals that the cultural material is not restricted to one layer/lens only because it is irregularly and widely distributed within the sands of Kudrukula. The GPR and diatom analyses show that the Kudrukula cultural material is redeposited, because it occurs within an ancient point-bar succession of a (Narva) river meander. Originally, the dwelling site had been located on top of the Narva-Joesuu sandy coastal ridges, which subsequently suffered erosion and the sand resedimented at the Kudrukula location. Good preservation of the cultural items shows that, after redeposition, they were buried fast, probably within a year. The present Kudrukula stream has cut into the floodplain of the ancient (Narva) river to expose the redeposited layer/lens.
|
|
