The colonization of Cyprus

Agro-pastoralist colonization of Cyprus in the 10th millennium BP: initial assessments.

A startling variety of new evidence from Cyprus demonstrates that the introduction of the Neolithic occurred in the 10th millennium BP, over a millennium earlier than often assumed in studies of Mediterranean island colonizations (e.g. Stanley Price 1977; Cherry 1990). On the basis of evidence summarized below, we propose that the introduction of agro-pastoralism was by migration rather than a result of adaptations by indigenous foragers. The process does not fit the wave of advance model used to account for the spread of farming in Europe (Ammerman & Cavalli-Sforza 1984), nor its modification, jump dispersal (Van Andel & Runnels 1995), but is the outcome of regional environmental change. All dates in this paper are uncalibrated BP

I know that this is a fascinating article but I have a screaming headache and will read it tomorrow. these are the sites that show imported and therefore domesticated cattle in Cyprus at about 10,500 BP, along with goats and sheep.

Along the same lines is this pdf, The Earliest Prehistory of Cyprus, which has other information on the sites. Again, one for tomorrow.

The lactase-persistence-associated allele in early Neolithic Europeans

The lactase-persistence-associated allele in early Neolithic Europeans

Lactase persistence (LP), the dominant Mendelian trait conferring the ability to digest the milk sugar lactose in adults, has risen to high frequency in central and northern Europeans in the last 20,000 years. This trait is likely to have conferred a selective advantage in individuals who consume appreciable amounts of unfermented milk. Some have argued for the “culture-historical hypothesis,” whereby LP alleles were rare until the advent of dairying early in the Neolithic but then rose rapidly in frequency under natural selection. Others favor the “reverse cause hypothesis,” whereby dairying was adopted in populations with preadaptive high LP allele frequencies. Analysis based on the conservation of lactase gene haplotypes indicates a recent origin and high selection coefficients for LP, although it has not been possible to say whether early Neolithic European populations were lactase persistent at appreciable frequencies. We developed a stepwise strategy for obtaining reliable nuclear ancient DNA from ancient skeletons, based on (i) the selection of skeletons from archaeological sites that showed excellent biomolecular preservation, (ii) obtaining highly reproducible human mitochondrial DNA sequences, and (iii) reliable short tandem repeat (STR) genotypes from the same specimens. By applying this experimental strategy, we have obtained high-confidence LP-associated genotypes from eight Neolithic and one Mesolithic human remains, using a range of strict criteria for ancient DNA work. We did not observe the allele most commonly associated with LP in Europeans, thus providing evidence for the culture-historical hypothesis, and indicating that LP was rare in early European farmers.

Just an archived item- I’ve posted a news  item on this before but it’s nice to have the paper. The lactose tolerance seems to only about 8,000 years old, and has occured independantly in several different pastoralist groups around the world. I guess retention of a juvenille trait is an easy mutation for the genome to make. Last time I looked it was worked out on a computer simulation to have spread with the  Linearbandkeramik culture

Just what skin colour were Europeans before the SLC24A5 mutation?

I keep seeing the SLC24A5 mutation referred to as ‘the mutation that turned Europeans from black to white’ on various sites, which is incorrect. It only accounts for about one third of the difference between European and Africans, in essence changing Europeans from Asian tan to pasty pink. To understand the range of skin colour range you get across the world, I’m digging out the old Von Luschan scale as a visual aid. These were originally made of opaque glass which was held up to the underarm skin to compare the colour. It wasn’t an exact measurement, but it did give a reasonable guide to the skin tone of the population.

Europeans are typically lighter than 15, and lighter than 12 in Northern Europe. Africans, with absolutely no non-African admixture can be as light as 20, or as dark as the scale gets at 36.

The San are about as light as Africans get without some Eurasian ancestry (seen above), and that’s slightly darker than North East Africans, Arabs and Pakistanis (see skin colour map). The ‘pale skin’ mutation only makes a difference of about six on the Von Luschan scale; one third of the difference between African and European, the specific difference between Asians and Europeans. 

The mutation has made virtually no difference to the average skin tone of any population except Northern Europe, although it will have increased the range a of skin colours a little in places like North Africa and South West Asia. As you can see from the map, native North Americans who are completely lacking in the SLC24A5 mutation for pale skin had a skin tone in the same latitudes as Europe of 15 to 17, the same as Southern Spain and Turkey.

Just to see what these skin tones look like in real life, a representative of Northern Europe, Southern Europe and lower Egypt. The mutation to the SLC24A5 gene would make roughly the difference in skin tone between the very pale lady and the tanned Spanish lady in the middle, with the lady on the end probably being as dark as Southern Europeans ever got. It’s frequency is effectively zero in East Asia and was zero in native Americans prior any mixing with Europeans. Some examples of definitely non-mutated SLC24A5 carrying people below.

Notably not black skinned, and lacking ‘light’ SLC24A5.

And as was kindly brought to my attention by one blog reader, a painting showing the Guanches – native north Africans who were isolated on the Canary islands from about 3,000 years ago and were probably lacking in the ‘light-skin’ gene. The Guanches are were described as tall, tanned and often blond – quite notably not as black. As you can see from this contemporary painting they are shown exactly the same as the Spaniards in skin tone (the Guanche is the  lowest figure.) They show what native north Africans looked like without any admixture from any other source dating back to the BC era. This means minus Roman, European and sub Saharan ancestry

 

Search for founder mitochondrial lineages in Holocene human remains in Patagonia

Search for founder mitochondrial lineages in Holocene human remains in Patagonia.
M. Moraga1, E. Aspillaga2, F. Mena3. 1Programa de Genética Humana, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile.
2Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile. 3Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino.

The archeological register of Patagonia is extremely interesting; it has the oldest record of human occupation in America (Monte Verde, 14,500 BP). It also has many Holocene sites that contain human bones as old as 8,800 years BP. Due to the favorable environmental conditions (cold and dry), the conservation of human remains is good enough to allow obtaining mitochondrial DNA, and in exceptional cases, nuclear DNA. We extracted and amplified mitochondrial DNA sequences of samples from northern, central and southern Patagonia distributed in a temporal range from 8,800 to 400 years AP. The majority of the samples studied belonged to haplogroups C and D; in one proto- Kaweskar we found haplotype C (16318G), previously described in a historical Aonikenk. Haplotype D4h3 (16241G and 16342C), which is found in present Patagonian populations and was recently described in a skeleton of 10,300 years BP in Alaska was also found, reinforcing the hypothesis of a connection between the populations of Patagonia and the hunter-gatherers of the beginning of the Holocene. In northern Patagonia we also detected the presence of haplogroup B in two individuals from the early Holocene. This haplogroup had not been found in present-day populations south of 43 degrees south latitude. Finally, in the most recent samples (400 years BP) we found haplotype D (16187T), very common in current populations of southern Chile, suggesting a possible population movement between them.

More from todays pdf.

Basques in an Indo-European sea: a perspective from tooth crown morphology.

Basques in an Indo-European sea: a perspective from tooth crown morphology.
G.R. Scott1, K.A. Hopkinson1, C. de la Rua2, A. Anta2. 1Department of Anthropology, University of  Nevada Reno, 2 Departamento de Genética, Antropología Física y Fisiología Animal, Universidad del Pais Vasco.

Basques represent one of the few non-Indo-European populations in Europe. Ruhlen proposed a distant  linguistic relationship between Basque and the Caucasian, Sino- Tibetan, and Na-Dene language families.  Dentally, the first
language family is distinctly European while populations of the latter two exhibit Sinodonty. Some authors suggest Basques are the descendents of Upper Paleolithic peoples of Western Europe. Genetically, they have a high frequency of the Rh allele (r) and a low frequency of blood group B. Such differences set the Basques apart from their neighbors, but they still group with Europeans in world genetic analyses, suggesting a common origin but one with some time depth.

Little is known of Basque tooth morphology and size. To partially remedy this situation, observations were made on 29 crown traits in modern Basque and Spanish samples. We did not find any noteworthy differences in crown trait frequencies between Basques and either Spaniards or Europeans in general. Basques exhibit no incisor winging and low frequencies of shoveling, double shoveling, 3-cusped upper second molars, cusp 5, and cusp 7. Compared to Europeans, they exhibit fewer cusp forms of Carabelli’s trait and a higher frequency of deflecting wrinkle. The frequencies of four-cusped lower molars mirror almost exactly the frequencies of European populations. In a world-wide analysis, Basques cluster with Europeans although they separate at a higher level in the dendrogram. This does not, however, preclude a linkage between Basques and
Upper Paleolithic groups who also exhibit the dental pattern that sets Europeans apart from other world populations.

From today’s pdf. Not my specialist area, but Maju will probably like it.
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Recognizing population displacements and replacements in prehistory: A view from North Africa

Recognizing population displacements and replacements in prehistory: A view from North Africa

C.M. Stojanowski. Center for Bioarchaeological Research, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University.

Bioanthropologists use skeletal data to reconstruct the historical global distribution of humans. One of the more critical and contentious issues is the inference that a complete population replacement has occurred which has importance for our understanding of human biological variation as well as issues of cultural patrimony. Despite the ubiquity of such analyses, problems exist with current methods because the degree of phenotypic change through time is dependent on demographic parameters, processes of selection, and changes in subsistence orientation which reflect the malleability of cranial form. How different do two populations need to be for continuity to be rejected? In this paper the population history of northwestern African and central Saharan populations is discussed from the Late Pleistocene through Early Holocene. Craniometric data are used from nine chrono-spatial samples to address the relationship between temporally sequential populations in North Africa where long term changes in aridity prevented human occupation for several distinct intervals. R matrix analysis resolves several perceived population discontinuities based on analyses of lithic assemblages. Population structure indicates a replacement of indigenous Aterian (early modern human) populations by makers of the Iberomaurusian industry ca 18kybp. Population continuity is suggested between the Iberomaurusian and Capsian horizons, and the analysis suggests the expansion of Late Pleistocene populations from the Maghreb into the Sahara as climate improved during the Holocene. Finally, a second population replacement is inferred during the Middle Holocene in the central Sahara coincident with the advent of pastoralism.

The result of a little blog raiding at Dienekes. There’s a pdf from the AAPA full of interesting abstracts here, which I’m working my way through. This one caught my eye-being about North Africa. I t mentions the replacement of the Aterians by the IM industry, and the central Saharan population replacement in the Holocene. Unfortunately it doesn’t say who replaced who; the incoming neolithic mediterannoids replacing the Mechtoid Saharans possibly, although it could be another group, as the groups aren’t specified, but being familiar with the desciptions of Neolithic Saharans by various authors that would be my guess.

It also notes the North African (Mechtoid again) expansion into the Sahara which would have been about 12,000 years ago when the Sahara went through a wet phase. A DNA study on the bones of the Mechtoid population from Taforalt have shown them to be mainly of Eurasian mitochondrial types, and they are very similar to to bones  found as far South as Mali. However, it’s quite likely a good proportion of their Y chromosomes were East African and North East African in origin, as some of the populations show up as intermediate to Eurasian and sub Saharan groups of the same era (although not Taforalt).

One Hundred Years of Archaeology in Niger (pdf)

One Hundred Years of Archaeology in Niger

This paper considers, under rough chronological headings, work undertaken in Niger in the past century. Sites relevant to the Pleistocene occupation of the Sahara, to the adoption of elements of a “Neolithic package,” to the (perhaps misleadingly late) occupation of the Sahel, to alleged metalworking 3000 years ago, and to social complexity, are described and discussed. These data carry a relevance far beyond their immediate area, and the most fruitful application of the archaeology of Niger is to be found in theoretical rethinking.

Fig. 5. Archaeological sites of Niger. Key to sites (in alphabetical order): 24. Aderantarat; 6. Adrar Bous; 39. Afnuk; 45. Afunfun; 36. Aghroum Balkorene; 18. Amakon; 26. Anisaman; 32. Areschima; 26. Asaqaru; 28. Assode; 15. Awalawalt; 26. Azelik; 5. Azrou; 55. Bani Bangou; 33. Bilma; 50. Birnin Garafa; 58. Bura; 25. Chin Tafidet; 26. ChinWasadan; 43. ChinWasararan; 34. Dogonboulo; 43. EfeyWaschran; 43. Ekne wan Ataram; 29. Ekouloulef; 1. Emi Lulu; 34. Fachi; 26. Fagochia; 52. Gabu; 63. Gorou Banda; 8. Greboun; 26. Guelele; 18. Ibine; 56. Ikarafane; 17. Ikawaten; 19. In Aridal; 53. In Tachoulen; 39. In Taylalen; 24. In Teduq; 21. In Tekebrin; 25. In Tuduf; 38. InWaggeur; 11. Iwelen; 14. Izouzadene; 47. Janjari; 48. ?Jola; 51. ?Karagu Gamdwa; 61. Kareygoru; 53. Kareygusu; 55. Kase Gorou; 63. Kirkissoy; 59. Kolo; 49. Kufan Kanawa; 50. Likaderi; 16. Madaou´ ela; 13. Mammanet; 40. Marandet; 23. Mentes; 10. Merguigara; 44. Mio; 27. Orofan; 40. Orub; 3. Rocher Toubeau; 62. Rosi; 63. Saguia; 9. Seguedine; 39. Shimumenin; 55. Soumatt; 35. Tadeliza; 38. Taferjit; 31. Tagalagal; 20. Takene Bawat; 22. Tamaya Mellet; 60. Tapague; 46. Tarada; 30. Tasagouacheret; 12. Tassos; 42. Tegef n’Agar; 8. Temet; 37. Termit Egaro; 36. Tezamak; 15. Tibarakatine; 56. Tiguezefen; 54. Tiloa Nord; 53. Tin Farad; 15. Tinguermawen; 4. TinKeradet; 7. Tin Ouaffadene; 59. Tondikwarey; 2. Toummo; 54. Tuizegoru; 27. Tuluk; 41. Tyeral; 56. Wedi Bangou; 57. Yatakala; 52. Yasaan.

Reading through the paper, it suggests that the North African Aterian people penetrated as far south as Niger:

Niger sites such as Seguedine and Adrar Bous represented both the southernmost and the latest expansion of Aterian toolmakers from the Mediterranean shores, stopped by large marshy expanses in the Lake Chad area perhaps as late as 8000 years ago (see also D´eb´enath, 1992). Tillet (1989) attributed an age of some 20,000 to 30,000 years to the Aterian of Niger, as did Clark (1973a) at the time of the original excavations of Adrar Bous.

Which might explain the R1 and trace U6 in West Africa. Although it’s hard to tell just who the Aterian really relates to. The backmigration from Asia seems to have a date of about 35k or older in North Africa now, but in places the Aterian overlaps it and seems to go before it- although the ancient North African population prior to the backmigration doesn’t seem to have left any traceable DNA anywhere. This second quote also seems to suggest a second later population moving from North Africa southwards: I’ve seen similarities between the Holocene Libyan Sahara and Niger noted in more than publication. Ounan points are typically Mahgrebian, and are seen in the desert as far West as Egypt, and into Mali (the Mechtoid populations range) and it vanishes about 7,000 BP, with the arrival of the Capsian neolithic tradition.

It is not clear, either, whether the Aterian toolmakers were the last Paleolithic occupants of Niger.  Examining two surface exposures at Adrar Bous and a deflating terrace feature at Greboun, Clark (1976) identified an Epipaleolithic industry characterized by specialized forms of retouched blades and bladelets (including the [often asymmetrically] tanged Ounan point) and by the absence of microlithic pieces. Clark (1973a, 1976) proposes, principally on the basis of the occurrence of Ounan points, that the Adrar Bous and Greboun assemblages represent the tail end of a general phenomenon of diffusion of northern blade industries throughout the Sahara, beginning some time after 12,000 years ago; the (undated) Adrar Bous and Greboun evidence is thought to be some 8000 years old.

Which would probably be the ‘mechtoid’ populations of the Sahara. This paper also has some details on the appearance of domesticated cattle and metallurgy in Niger.

Y-chromosomal evidence of the cultural diffusion of agriculture in southeast Europe

Y-chromosomal evidence of the cultural diffusion of agriculture in southeast Europe

The debate concerning the mechanisms underlying the prehistoric spread of farming to Southeast Europe is framed around the opposing roles of population movement and cultural diffusion. To investigate the possible involvement of local people during the transition of agriculture in the Balkans, we analysed patterns of Y-chromosome diversity in 1206 subjects from 17 population samples, mainly from Southeast Europe. Evidence from three Y-chromosome lineages, I-M423, E-V13 and J-M241, make it possible to distinguish between Holocene Mesolithic forager and subsequent Neolithic range expansions from the eastern Sahara and the Near East, respectively. In particular, whereas the Balkan microsatellite variation associated to J-M241 correlates with the Neolithic period, those related to E-V13 and I-M423 Balkan Y chromosomes are consistent with a late Mesolithic time frame. In addition, the low frequency and variance associated to I-M423 and E-V13 in Anatolia and the Middle East, support an European Mesolithic origin of these two clades. Thus, these Balkan Mesolithic foragers with their own autochthonous genetic signatures, were destined to become the earliest to adopt farming, when it was subsequently  introduced by a cadre ofmigrating farmers from the Near East. These initial local converted farmers became the principal agents spreading this economy using maritime leapfrog colonization strategies in the Adriatic and transmitting the Neolithic cultural package to other adjacent Mesolithic populations. The ensuing range expansions of E-V13 and I-M423 parallel in space and time the diffusion of Neolithic Impressed Ware, thereby supporting a case of cultural diffusion using genetic evidence.

  

Most relevant /interesting bits from my POV

Hg J is most common (B50%) in the Middle East and Anatolia,27,29,47 with a spread zone spanning from northwest Africa to India.12,55 It has been related to different Middle Eastern migrations.12,56 In addition to Hg J-M410, Hg G-P15 chromosomes, which are also common in Anatolia,29 have been implicated in the colonization and subsequent expansion of early farmers in Crete, the Aegean and Italy.38,46 – 48 Earlier studies have concluded that the J-M410 sub-clades, J-DYS445-6 and J-M67, are linked to the spread of farming in the Mediterranean Basin,38,47 with a likely origin in Anatolia.29 Interestingly, J-DYS445-6 and J-M92 (a sub-lineage of M67), both have expansion times between 7000 and 8000 years ago (Table 1), consistent with the dating of the arrival of the first farmers to the Balkans. The first detection of milk residue in ceramic pottery occurs in sites from northwest Anatolia 7000–8500 years ago,58 an age that approximates the Hg-expansion times.

And

On the other hand, the expansion times of Hg V13 (Table 3) are consistent with a late Mesolithic time frame. The Greek Mesolithic, although different in its material culture from the Natufian Mesolithic of the Levant, bears some resemblance to the Mesolithic of southern Anatolia. 60 This archaeological congruence between the Mesolithic of the Balkans and southern Anatolia may mirror the similar E-V13 expansion times observed for Konya, Franchthi Cave and Macedonian Greece, all approximately 9000 years ago. Moreover, E-V13 YSTR-related data from Bulgaria and Macedonia,28 both with a variances of 0.28, suggest an expansion time of approximately 10 000 years ago. It is likely that the origin of V13 occurred somewhere
within the zone of these sample collections. In addition, it is also worth noting that in the Anatolian region of supposed Einkorn wheat origin , only one V13 chromosome out of 43 is found (PA Underhill, unpublished data). Therefore, as no evidence at present supports the association of E-V13 Hg with the attested origin of farming in southeast Anatolia, the possibility of farming adoption by Balkan E-V13- associated people is plausible.

I’d like to comment that a possibly V13 people migrated into Southern Greece from Anatolia in the Mesolithic into Francthi cave, although the expansion is a good deal early than the dates given (always treat Y chr dating with scepticism) at 13,500 BP. Although this still sees V13 in the Mesolithic, as observed, and within the range for Francthi cave given at 9.4 +/- 4.3 ky.

Konya-Turkeyc (10)                                             9.4 ± 2.9
Macedonian Greecec (8)                                     8.5 ± 4.5
Nea Nikomedeia (North Greece) (6)               8.6 ± 4.0
Seklo and Dimini (Central Greece)d                4.3 ± 1.8
Lerna and Franchthi Cave (S.Greece)             9.2 ± 4.3

Observing that the older numbers here seem to match the migrations, it would seem V13 entered Conya about 12,000 years ago. But my provisional dates on the domestication of lentils and vetch seem to predate this ( about 14,000 years min) so it seems v13 carriers didn’t bring agriculture into Turkey, and the paper comments that M78 isn’t common in Southern Turkey where the first domesticates come from.But attributing the northwards move of M78 to the Mesolithic isn’t correct, about 22k ago is the date for the Egyptian derived Kebaran to arrive in the Levant.

Compare this to the dates for the JM241..

Turkey               10.1 3.4
Albaniad           5.4±2.5
FYROM              2.4 1.2
Greece                2.9±1.2
Central Italy     5.8±1.4
Apulia                 9.6 3.4
Sicily                   10±5.4

Although it does have some suspiciously old dates for Sicily. But I’d agree with the paper that I-M243 shows a nice match to the spread of the Neolithic.

Mesolithic mortuary ritual at Franchthi Cave, Greece

Mesolithic mortuary ritual at Franchthi Cave, Greece

Franchthi is a oddly important site as it seems to document an expansion from Southern Anatolia in the Mesolithic into SE Greece. What isn’t mentioned below is that lentils, bitter vetch, almond and pistachio appear rather suddenly at 13,500 BP, not seen before that date, which strongly suggests (to me) that they are being grown there, not native prior to that point. Oats appear later, by about 500 years.

The Mesolithic inhabitants of the cave based their livelihood on a wide spectrum of resources, hunting red deer, pigs, and a range of smaller prey, fishing, and collecting nuts, land-snails, shellfish, fruits, legumes, and, for the first time, cereals. Hansen (1991: 119) reports ‘a dramatic increase in the quantity and variety’ of recovered plant remains at this time. An enormous leap in the number of seeds recovered from Franchthi – from 697 seeds representing 19 species at the end of the Upper Palaeolithic to almost 28,000 seeds from 27 species in the Lower Mesolithic – suggests not only a diverse subsistence base but also considerable activity during this phase of use of the cave

Having read through the papers I have, I know that a swap from a hunter gatherer lifestyle to a farming one results in a decrease in marine protein and an uptake in terestrial animals, as well as a large increase in the amount of vegetable matter consumed. The main subject of the papers is the cremations, and remarks on the cultural similarities to Grotta dell’ Uzzo in Italy, which is something I’ll have to look up.

World’s oldest booze from China.

This gets it’s own entry, as this isn’t exactly wine, although I expect the effect was the same if you drank it. It predates the middle Eastern wine by about a thousand years. Link It was found at the Neolithic Jaihu site on the Yellow river in the Henang province in China. The site is remarkable for its proto-writing and ancient bone flutes as well as it’s early forays into brewing alcohol. It also has very early rice cultivation at the site (millet was the norm before).

  

Jaihu site, Jaihu script (6kya), and the oldest playable musical instruments found, bone flutes (9kya).

A chemist from University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (McGovern; he’s written an interesting book on wine history) analysed potsherds from Jaihu and discovered they had been used to brew a wine like drink from honey, hawthorn or wild grape and rice. The pots dated to between 8,000 and 9,000 years old.

It would be interesting to know just where brewing originated, did it move West from a central Asian point of discovery or was it discovered in multiple locations?