| 1. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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The importance of freshwater fish in Early Holocene subsistence : Exemplified with the human colonization of the island of Gotland in the Baltic basin
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X .- 2352-4103. ; 13, s. 625-634
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we explore the subsistence economy of the Mesolithic pioneers on the island of Gotland in the Baltic basin, in order to evaluate the importance of freshwater fish to the Early Holocene human population. By analysing faunal remains, the distribution of 14C dates and the location of the settlement sites, we argue that earlier assumptions concerning the importance of marine mammals to the early human populations should be reconsidered. We suggest that the pioneering settlers of Gotland relied on fish to a significant extent. Radiocarbon dates taken from human bones are skewed by a freshwater reservoir effect, which can be used as an indirect indication of the significance of freshwater fish. The numerous, overgrowing lakes on the island, with their extensive biomass production and large amounts of freshwater fish, provided an important subsistence base. Even if the faunal assemblages that have survived are dominated by seal bones, the hunting season for seals was limited and the hunters mostly targeted young seals. Thus, the importance of seal have previously been overestimated and it appears that the human use of marine resources on Gotland was more limited and related to raw material needs rather than dietary necessity or specialization. Although presented as a case study; the results highlight the need to identify a freshwater fish diet among ancient foragers on a larger scale, as implications thereof can fundamentally change how foraging societies are perceived.
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| 2. |
- Lindström, Tobias, 1992-
(författare)
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Människor, djur och varelser i miniatyr : Flerartliga förbindelser i den gropkeramiska kulturen
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis attempts to understand the relationships between humans and animals in the Middle Neolithic (c. 3300-2300 BC) Pitted Ware culture (PWC) in Eastern Sweden and the Baltic islands of Gotland and Åland. This is accomplished through an examination of the zoomorphic and anthropomorphic clay figurines that have been found on many PWC sites in the study area, and to a lesser extent also the use and deposition of animal bones. The archaeological material is approached using a theoretical framework that draws upon hunter-gatherer relational ontologies and new materialisms.Comparisons between the anthropomorphic figurines and the zoomorphic figurines reveal clear morphological differences that are not attributable to the bodily differences between humans and animals. Instead, it is argued that they indicate contrasts in human-animal and human-human interactions respectively, and that they also had bearing on the engagements and relationships between humans and figurines. The chronological and geographical distribution of figurines further suggest that the anthropomorphic figurines represent a younger, more localized development in the PWC figurine tradition commencing around 2900 BC. This could possibly also be understood against the backdrop of a general ‘anthropomorphization’ in Europe during the 3rd millennium BC and the wider societal changes in northern Europe. In contrast to the figurines, which are uncommon in burials and deposits, animal bones have obviously been selectively deposited at many PWC sites. Unmodified animal bones found in certain features, deposits and burials reveal interesting patterns, where bones from the limbs and heads are overrepresented. The parts chosen can be described as those that relate to the perception and movements of the various animals deposited. The treatment of the animal bones might be understood as a way of dealing with a persistent animal awareness that resided in the bones and needed to be controlled.Zoomorphic figurines and animal bones thus seem to have had complementary uses at the PWC sites and configured human-animal relations in different ways. The figurines might have been involved in influencing prospective prey animals, while the deposition of animal bones was a means of handling animals that had been successfully killed.
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| 3. |
- Storå, Jan, 1963-
(författare)
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Reading bones : Stone Age hunters and seals in the Baltic
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is a study of hunters and seals in the Stone Age in the Baltic. The ambition has been to develop and utilize methods for osteological analyses of archaeological seal bones. The main aims of the zooarchaeological analyses have been to study seal hunting strategies and the formation processes of the faunal remains. The faunal history of the harp seal in the Baltic has also been investigated.Skeletal material from 603 modern seals in the collections of the Swedish Museum of Natural History has been studied. The archaeological source material consists of faunal re-mains recovered from 24 Stone Age sites dating to approximately 3300-1800 cal BC. Osteological analyses have been performed on seal remains primarily from Pitted Ware culture sites on Åland and Gotland, but other contemporary sites in the Baltic area have also been examined. Geographically, the analyses are limited to the southern areas of the Baltic.The results show that the Baltic species of seals, and also the harp seal, share a similar sequence of epiphyseal fusion. There is a general connection between the skeletal development and life history stages in all species of seals. Epiphyseal fusion data can be utilized in zooarchaeolo-gical studies. The analyses have also shown that osteo-metric studies can reveal valuable infor-mation on the seasonality of hunting patterns. Criteria for the morphological identification of bones from harp seal and ringed seal have been developed.The results of the zooarchaeological studies have confirmed the importance of the harp seal in the subsistence economy on the studied sites. Ringed seal was a common prey animal on the studied sites while grey seals occur sporadically. Stone Age hunting strategies were strongly related to behavioural patterns of the seals. The hunting cannot be characterized as a mass hunting strategy. It is argued that the harp seal formed a permanent breeding population in the Baltic Sea. The hunting pressure on the Baltic harp seal population was extensive and the human impact on the breeding potential may have been significant.On the Stone Age sites the seals were not handled according to biological properties like species or age. Instead, the bones from all seals have been deposited together. Certain body parts seem to be handled differently than others. Especially the skulls of the seals seem to have been handled according to specific rules. A reinterpetation of the Ålandic clay idols is offered. These are seen as representations of seals rather than humans.
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| 4. |
- Bergfeldt, Nora, et al.
(författare)
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Identification of microbial pathogens in Neolithic Scandinavian humans
- 2024
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : NATURE PORTFOLIO. - 2045-2322. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- With the Neolithic transition, human lifestyle shifted from hunting and gathering to farming. This change altered subsistence patterns, cultural expression, and population structures as shown by the archaeological/zooarchaeological record, as well as by stable isotope and ancient DNA data. Here, we used metagenomic data to analyse if the transitions also impacted the microbiome composition in 25 Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-gatherers and 13 Neolithic farmers from several Scandinavian Stone Age cultural contexts. Salmonella enterica, a bacterium that may have been the cause of death for the infected individuals, was found in two Neolithic samples from Battle Axe culture contexts. Several species of the bacterial genus Yersinia were found in Neolithic individuals from Funnel Beaker culture contexts as well as from later Neolithic context. Transmission of e.g. Y. enterocolitica may have been facilitated by the denser populations in agricultural contexts.
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| 5. |
- Bergström, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 607:7918, s. 313-320
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The grey wolf (Canis lupus) was the first species to give rise to a domestic population, and they remained widespread throughout the last Ice Age when many other large mammal species went extinct. Little is known, however, about the history and possible extinction of past wolf populations or when and where the wolf progenitors of the present-day dog lineage (Canis familiaris) lived. Here we analysed 72 ancient wolf genomes spanning the last 100,000 years from Europe, Siberia and North America. We found that wolf populations were highly connected throughout the Late Pleistocene, with levels of differentiation an order of magnitude lower than they are today. This population connectivity allowed us to detect natural selection across the time series, including rapid fixation of mutations in the gene IFT88 40,000–30,000 years ago. We show that dogs are overall more closely related to ancient wolves from eastern Eurasia than to those from western Eurasia, suggesting a domestication process in the east. However, we also found that dogs in the Near East and Africa derive up to half of their ancestry from a distinct population related to modern southwest Eurasian wolves, reflecting either an independent domestication process or admixture from local wolves. None of the analysed ancient wolf genomes is a direct match for either of these dog ancestries, meaning that the exact progenitor populations remain to be located.
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| 6. |
- Blank, Malou, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Interdisciplinary analyses of the remains from three gallery graves at Kinnekulle: tracing Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age societies in inland Southwestern Sweden
- 2023
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Ingår i: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. - : SPRINGER HEIDELBERG. - 1866-9557 .- 1866-9565. ; 15:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we investigate the Scandinavian Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Kinnekulle in southwestern Sweden. The above-mentioned periods in the study area are poorly understood and the archaeological record consists of a few stray finds and a concentration of 20 gallery graves. This study focuses on three of the gallery graves where commingled skeletons from successive burials were recovered. The human remains and the artefacts from the graves were used for discussing individual life stories as well as living societies with the aim of gaining new knowledge of the last part of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in southwestern Sweden. We focused on questions concerning health and trauma, mobility and exchange networks, and diet and subsistence of the people using the graves. Chronological, bioarchaeological, and biomolecular aspects of the burials were approached through the application of archaeological and osteological studies, as well as stable isotope, strontium isotope, radiocarbon, and mtDNA analyses. The study provides evidence for high mobility and diverse diets, as well as inhumations primarily dated to the transition between the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. We suggest that the mountain plateau of Kinnekulle was mainly reserved for the dead, while the people lived in agriculture-based groups in the surrounding lower lying regions.
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| 7. |
- Haas, Kurt, et al.
(författare)
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Different preparation techniques – similar results? On the quality of thin-ground sections of archaeological bone
- 2015
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Ingår i: International journal of osteoarchaeology. - : Wiley. - 1047-482X .- 1099-1212. ; 25:6, s. 935-945
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Palaeohistology as a valuable diagnostic instrument is dependent on the production of high-quality thin-ground sections from dry bone. The objective of this study was to consider technical differences and assess the qualitative outcomes of five techniques for preparing thin-ground sections from dry archaeological bone. Established techniques with long follow-up times and excellently documented results were compared with simpler and cheaper time-saving techniques. Evaluations were made of the quality of thin sections obtained by one classical machine-based embedding technique, two revised versions of the same technique, one manual moulding technique based on Frost's rapid technique and one manual hybrid technique. Five osteological specimens of differing quality were prepared following the manuals for these five techniques and examined microscopically with respect to a list of standardised histological and diagenetic parameters. Alterations in the specimens attributable to preparation effects were recorded, and observations were scored with reference to three criteria: section quality, technical quality and staining. The results show that embedding techniques are to prefer. Superglue should not be used as a mounting or embedding medium. Manual grinding comes with several limitations, and machine cutting and grinding are preferred. Haematoxylin staining can be successfully applied to embedded specimens, giving more information on microscopic diagenetic processes. A stepwise manual for a revision of the classical embedding technique is presented. The time required for producing sections using classical embedding techniques is shortened from 6 weeks to 3.7 days by refining the preparation/polymerization processes involved with no loss of osteological data.
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| 8. |
- Kirdok, Emrah, et al.
(författare)
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Metagenomic analysis of Mesolithic chewed pitch reveals poor oral health among stone age individuals
- 2024
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prehistoric chewed pitch has proven to be a useful source of ancient DNA, both from humans and their microbiomes. Here we present the metagenomic analysis of three pieces of chewed pitch from Huseby Klev, Sweden, that were dated to 9,890-9,540 before present. The metagenomic profile exposes a Mesolithic oral microbiome that includes opportunistic oral pathogens. We compared the data with healthy and dysbiotic microbiome datasets and we identified increased abundance of periodontitis-associated microbes. In addition, trained machine learning models predicted dysbiosis with 70-80% probability. Moreover, we identified DNA sequences from eukaryotic species such as red fox, hazelnut, red deer and apple. Our results indicate a case of poor oral health during the Scandinavian Mesolithic, and show that pitch pieces have the potential to provide information on material use, diet and oral health.
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| 9. |
- Koptekin, Dilek, et al.
(författare)
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Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in human mobility patterns in Holocene Southwest Asia and the East Mediterranean
- 2023
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Cell Press. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 33:1, s. 41-57
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a spatiotemporal picture of human genetic diversity in Anatolia, Iran, Levant, South Caucasus, and the Aegean, a broad region that experienced the earliest Neolithic transition and the emergence of com-plex hierarchical societies. Combining 35 new ancient shotgun genomes with 382 ancient and 23 present-day published genomes, we found that genetic diversity within each region steadily increased through the Holo-cene. We further observed that the inferred sources of gene flow shifted in time. In the first half of the Holo-cene, Southwest Asian and the East Mediterranean populations homogenized among themselves. Starting with the Bronze Age, however, regional populations diverged from each other, most likely driven by gene flow from external sources, which we term "the expanding mobility model."Interestingly, this increase in in-ter-regional divergence can be captured by outgroup-f3-based genetic distances, but not by the commonly used FST statistic, due to the sensitivity of FST, but not outgroup-f3, to within-population diversity. Finally, we report a temporal trend of increasing male bias in admixture events through the Holocene.
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| 10. |
- Krzewińska, Maja, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Related in Death? Further Insights on the Curious Case of Bishop Peder Winstrup and His Grandchild's Burial
- 2024
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Ingår i: Heritage. - 2571-9408. ; 7:2, s. 576-584
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In 2021, we published the results of genomic analyses carried out on the famous bishop of Lund, Peder Winstrup, and the mummified remains of a 5–6-month-old fetus discovered in the same burial. We concluded that the two individuals were second-degree relatives and explored the genealogy of Peder Winstrup to further understand the possible relation between them. Through this analysis, we found that the boy was most probably Winstrup’s grandson and that the two were equally likely related either through Winstrup’s son, Peder, or his daughter, Anna Maria von Böhnen. To further resolve the specific kinship relation, we generated more genomic data from both Winstrup and the boy and implemented more recently published analytical tools in detailed Y chromosome- and X chromosome-based kinship analyses to distinguish between the competing hypotheses regarding maternal and paternal relatedness. We found that the individuals’ Y chromosome lineages belonged to different sub-lineages and that the X-chromosomal kinship coefficient calculated between the two individuals were elevated, suggesting a grandparent–grandchild relation through a female, i.e., Anna Maria von Böhnen. Finally, we also performed metagenomic analyses, which did not identify any pathogens that could be unambiguously associated with the fatalities.
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