COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MITOCHONDRIAL AND NUCLEAR DNA PRESERVATION IN HISTORICAL DNA EXTRACTS*

‘Historical’ DNA obtained from specimens preserved in natural history collections has proven useful for addressing a wide variety of questions, such as the spread of domesticated species or changes in genetic diversity. With the development of high‐throughput sequencing techniques, there is an increasing focus on acquiring genetic information encoded by single‐copy nuclear DNA from historical DNA extracts. The development of efficient techniques to determine the level of nuclear DNA preservation in candidate specimens is necessary to maximize the data obtained from these analyses. Although current evidence suggests that a sample's mitochondrial DNA preservation predicts its nuclear DNA preservation, we show that the relationships between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA preservation are complex.     

Ancient DNA reveals a major genetic change during the transition from hunting economy to reindeer husbandry in northern Scandinavia

The timing and origin of reindeer domestication has been highly debated. Recent molecular analyses show several mitochondrial lineages of domestic reindeer across Eurasia suggesting different origins of Fennoscandian and Siberian domestic reindeer. In order to investigate the origin of domestic Fennoscandian reindeer, we sequenced a mitochondrial control region fragment of 68 ancient reindeer remains from archaeological sites in Finnmark, the major county for extant reindeer husbandry in Norway, spanning from ca. BC 3400 to AD 1800. The majority of the Stone and Iron Age reindeer assemblages in Finnmark are from settlements in the eastern part of the county, in the Varangerfjord area. The reindeer remains from these settlements show affiliation to the large and complex Beringian haplotype cluster, found in extant reindeer from the Kola Peninsula to north-eastern Russia. A distinct haplotype shift is observed in the late medieval period, when the typical haplotype signatures of extant domestic Fennoscandian reindeer appeared in coastal regions of both eastern and western Finnmark. These haplotypes were not found among the Stone and Iron Age wild reindeer samples of Finnmark, suggesting that this population was not ancestral to extant domestic reindeer of Fennoscandia.     

Do temporal size differences influence species identification of archaeological albatross remains when using modern reference samples?

Zooarchaeological remains have been identified to species, using identification criteria based on specific morphological variations among modern specimens. However, temporal size changes in bones, due to micro-evolution and/or phenotypic plasticity, could distort identification of archaeological remains according to these criteria. We developed species identification criteria for North Pacific albatrosses (Short-tailed, Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses) using both mensural- and DNA-based analysis and actually identified many archaeological remains from a site using these criteria. Our mensural-based criteria could accurately discriminate the modern Short-tailed Albatross from modern Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses and indicated that the archaeological remains included both Short-tailed and Laysan or Black-footed Albatrosses. DNA-based criteria, however, suggested that all remains were Short-tailed Albatross. The most plausible explanation for this inconsistency would be misidentification using mensural-based analysis, due to temporal size changes in bones or existence of birds from extinct population(s) or breeding region(s) with mensurally different bones from recent birds. This is the first study that suggests temporal size changes in bones may distort the species identification of archaeological remains according to modern size variations. Further studies are required to judge if this pattern is unusual or not.     

薄荷醇/石膏复合体系用于考古发掘现场临时固型提取的可行性研究

复杂而且脆弱的文物或化石的提取和搬迁是考古或化石发掘现场最常见的技术难题。采用石膏对这些文物或化石进行现场固型再提取是常用的应急性保护手段之一,对此类文物或化石的提取和搬迁具有重要作用。但石膏含有可溶盐,应用时需引入水,并大量放热,对文物或化石有潜在危害,而且石膏难以完全去除。 近年来,薄荷醇、环十二烷等可挥发性临时固型材料受到了极大关注,被越来越多地应用在发掘现场。其最大的优点就是固型材料可以通过升华轻易被去除,无残留,不会影响后续的考古研究和保护工作。但是有机物小分子固化后强度偏低,不适合较大较重文物或化石的固型提取。 针对考古发掘现场复杂脆弱而且较大、重的文物或化石的提取和搬迁需求,提出了新型临时固型材料薄荷醇和石膏复合应用的现场固型提取技术体系。本工作研究了石膏和有机小分子薄荷醇的相容性和匹配性,实验室研究结果显示薄荷醇除了在样品表面实现有效固型,还能快速在模拟样品表面形成一层致密的疏水隔离层,有效地阻止石膏加固过程中水和可溶盐的进入;而且实验数据显示石膏放热不影响薄荷醇疏水隔离层的功能。实验结果显示薄荷醇和石膏二者性能互补,有望满足发掘现场对大、重文物或化石的固型提取需求。 以新疆哈密翼龙化石的现场发掘提取为例,采用薄荷醇/石膏复合材料体系现场固型并提取一块约20 kg重的化石样品,结果证实石膏和薄荷醇复合使用技术可以很好地固型并提取较大较重的样品,同时避免了水和可溶盐对化石的破坏,而由于薄荷醇隔离层的存在,石膏的去除也非常彻底,整体固型提取效果良好。     

Invisible power,visible dispossession: The witchcraft of a subterranean pipeline

There has been a lack of attention to the role of la sorcellerie (witchcraft) and the occult in geographical work on extraction, power and resistance, despite the ways in which these epistemologies inform conceptions of power, wealth and violence. In two towns along the Chad–Cameroon Oil Pipeline, epistemologies of la sorcellerie frame understandings and critiques of the invisible actors and processes that effect the pipeline's uneven distributions of violence, wealth and risk. Far from expunging the experience(s) of extraction by erasing the pipeline's visible traces on the landscape, the oil consortium's infrastructural and discursive erasures serve to situate the pipeline within a knowledge system that associates invisible actors and materials with evil, wrongdoing, suspicion and distrust. This article addresses (i) how the production of dispersed extractive landscapes reinforce epistemologies of witchcraft by alienating the people who live within them from networks of power in ways that provoke a mistrust and jealousy that is absorbed within families and communities and (ii) the socio-political significance of this epistemological structuring of the pipeline as a logic of resistance against hydrocarbon capitalism.     

Public archaeology at Baynard-Zion: bringing life back to an antebellum cemetery

ABSTRACT

Heritage tourism is a driving economic force in much of the coastal southeastern United States, including on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, one of the most popular destinations for vacationers in the country. Working with local community members in developing a diverse and multipronged public archaeology program, we helped facilitate research and develop programing at the Baynard Mausoleum and Zion Chapel of Ease and Cemetery (Baynard-Zion). Built and used during the late eighteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries, Baynard-Zion includes some of the oldest marked graves on the island as well as its oldest standing architecture. Using a constellation of techniques, including geophysical surveys, genetic testing of human remains, and limited excavations, research conducted at Baynard-Zion provides an opportunity to enhance public perception and understanding of pivotal historic events and people on the island while also assisting in development plans that promote heritage tourism.     

旅游目的地品牌基因选择的三力模型构建

旅游目的地竞争已从资源竞争转向品牌竞争。针对当前旅游品牌实践没有价值命题、同质性强等问题，本研究在批判继承现有战略管理、旅游目的地品牌战略等相关理论的基础上，从目的地、客源地、竞争性目的地三个维度，构建了目的地代表力、客源地吸引力、竞争性目的地竞争力的旅游目的地品牌基因筛选的三力（RAC）模型。其中，代表力包括原生性、唯一性、真实性；吸引力包括价值性、自然环境和生活方式差异性、地方依恋性；竞争力包括稀缺性、不可模仿性、难以替代性。旅游目的地品牌基因筛选的三力（RAC）模型将为旅游目的地品牌基因筛选提供完整、详细、具有可操作性且可以广泛应用的定量分析工具，有助于解决当下目的地品牌营销缺乏理论依据问题，能够指导旅游目的地管理机构的品牌建设实践。     

Confirmation of the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex‐specific DNA in three archaeological specimens

This journal published the first reported identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB) DNA in ancient human remains but concerns were raised about the article two years after publication. These were based on methodology which, in the field of ancient DNA, was still developing. Here we present a re‐examination of the 1993 research conducted on three specimens which exhibited palaeopathologies indicative of tuberculosis. The specimens were: an ulna from pre‐European‐contact Borneo, a spine from Byzantine Turkey, and a lumbar‐sacral spine from 17th century Scotland. There was insufficient material to permit re‐examination of all of the original samples. The earlier results were confirmed in two independent laboratories using different methodologies. MTB DNA complex‐specific DNA amplicons were obtained, and sequenced in both laboratories, in a re‐analysis of samples which supported the earlier findings. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anthropological analysis of the osteological material from an ancient tomb (Early Bronze Age) from the middle Euphrates valley,Terqa (Syria)

Terqa, situated on the right bank of the Middle Euphrates, is known to have been a site already in the third and second millennium BC. Excavations which take place in this region aim to provide answers for numerous significant issues connected with the origins of human civilisation. In 2008 season we found a tomb dated 2650–2450 BC, consisting of two chambers with stone domes. The smaller chamber contained many luxury grave goods. The other one was bigger and contained human skeletons. The first skeleton belonged to a man, 45/50 years old. It is extremely heavy and large. On the right humerus, near the proximal edge, we found two cuts. The healed edges of the wound suggest that the man from Terqa survived after the wound was inflicted. Many muscular attachments were clearly marked on the bones and bone robustness was far above the average, which may suggest that the skeleton belonged to a warrior. These observations correspond to the fact that the bronze part of a belt together with bronze weapon‐blades was found on the right side of the hip. The second skeleton, which belonged to a female who was about 40/44 years old, was found in an anatomical position. The chamber also contained an almost complete skeleton of a sheep. The morphology of the forearm of the female suggested strenuous activity. From this skeleton was successfully isolated HVR1 fragment. The main mutation indicated that the analysed mtDNA belonged to haplogroup K. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.