Starch granules,dental calculus and new perspectives on ancient diet

Recent work in various parts of the world has suggested the possibility of ancient starch granules surviving and adhering to archaeological artefacts. Often this information is used to infer aspects of diet. One additional source for recovery of archaeological starch granules is dental calculus. The presence of plant food debris in dental calculus is well known but has not been not widely investigated using archaeological material. The extraction of starch granules from dental calculus represents a direct link to the consumption of starchy food by humans or animals. Using dental calculus also sidesteps many other questions still inherent in using starch granules to reconstruct aspects of ancient diet, such as the effects of diagenesis on their morphology; as the starches are trapped inside a concreted matrix they are less likely to alter over time. We used amylase digestion by a starch-specific enzyme to confirm the material as starch.     

Approaches to Prehistoric Diet Breadth, Demography, and Prey Ranking Systems in Time and Space

Zooarchaeological data on small game use hold much potential for identifying and dating Paleolithic demographic pulses in time and space, such as those associated with modern human origins and the evolution of food-producing economies. Although small animals were important to human diets throughout the Middle, Upper, and Epi-Paleolithic periods in the Mediterranean Basin, the types of small prey emphasized by foragers shifted dramatically over the last 200,000 years. Slow-growing, slow-moving tortoises, and marine mollusks dominate the Middle Paleolithic record of small game exploitation. Later, agile, fast-maturing animals became increasingly important in human diets, first birds in the early Upper Paleolithic, and soon thereafter hares and rabbits. While the findings of this study are consistent with the main premise of Flannery's Broad Spectrum Revolution (BSR) hypothesis (Flannery, K. V. (1969). In Ucko, P. J., and Dimbleby, G. W. (eds.), The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago, pp. 73–100), it is now clear that human diet breadth began to expand much earlier than the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. Ranking small prey in terms of work of capture (in the absence of special harvesting tools) proves far more effective in this investigation of human diet breadth than taxonomy-based diversity analyses published previously. Our analyses expose a major shift in human predator–prey dynamics involving small game animals by 50–40 KYA in the Mediterranean Basin, with earliest population growth pulses occurring in the Levant. In a separate application to the Natufian period (13–10 KYA), just prior to the rise of Neolithic societies in the Levant, great intensification is apparent from small game use. This effect is most pronounced at the onset of this short culture period, and is followed by an episode of local depopulation during the Younger Dryas, without further changes in the nature of Natufian hunting adaptations. An essential feature of the diachronic and synchronic approaches outlined here is controlling the potentially conflating effects of spatial (biogeographic) and temporal variation in the faunal data sets.     

关于牛河梁第二地点一号冢墓葬出土玉器的解读——东北古夷玉巫教探析

牛河梁第二地点一号冢分为东西两区,共26墓,其出土玉器分别代表牛河梁猪灵、鸮灵、云灵崇拜的原生玉巫教与黄帝"云纪"、少皞"鸟纪"等众多玉巫教的各支派系的联合体,并未形成统一的、集权的顶级发展阶段的巫教。同时,牛河梁又是东北古夷玉巫教的圣地。     

Cluster analysis of the coprolites from antelope house: Implications for anasazi diet and cuisine

This paper reports on a cluster analysis of 155 coprolites from Antelope House, a prehistoric Anasazi site in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona. The analysis revealed three primary clusters; whole kernel maize, milled maize, and nonmaize, which we believe to represent seasonal- and preference-related cuisine. Protein residue analysis on a subsample of the specimens added depth to the analysis.     

The Life History of an Enslaved African: Multiple Isotope Evidence for Forced Childhood Migration from Africa to the Caribbean and Associated Dietary Change

Archaeological excavations of an enslaved African domestic area at the Spring Bay Flat plantation on the island of Saba, Dutch Caribbean, uncovered a small concentration of artefacts (shell, metal nails, animal bones and five human teeth) overlaid with a lock hinge, interpreted as a lockbox and its contents. Dental anthropological and multi‐isotope (strontium, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen) analyses of the teeth revealed that they belonged to a single individual who originated from Africa and survived a period of pronounced nutritional stress as a juvenile. The results provide rare insights into the life history of an individual who probably experienced enslavement, (forced) migration from Africa and adaptation to plantation life in the colonial‐era Caribbean.     

Last meals inferred from the possible gut contents of a mummy: A case study from Astana Cemetery,Xinjiang, China*

The gut contents of ancient humans have been proven to be the most direct evidence for palaeodietary study. In the Xinjiang region of north-west China, large numbers of mummies are well preserved owing to the extremely dry environment to be found there. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) combined with multi-archaeobotanical methods, including macrofossil examination, starch grain analysis, phytolith analysis and bran fragments analysis, were applied to investigate the possible gut contents (c.1300 bp by ¹⁴C dating) of a person unearthed at tomb 75TAM601 in Astana Cemetery, which were the public graveyards of the ancient Gaochang people (residents of Turpan, dating from about the third to the ninth centuries ce ), in Turpan, Xinjiang. The result of the FTIR analysis showed that the matrix of the possible gut contents consisted of protein and starch and was characterized as undigested food residue. The white mineral fragments of this sample were from the decomposition products of the skeleton. The microfossil analysis demonstrated that Setaria italica, Panicum miliaceum and Triticum aestivum were the main cereal resources for the last meals eaten by the deceased. Moreover, direct macrofossil evidence also advocates for the importance of the three aforementioned cereal crops and fruits of Cucumis melo and Vitis vinifera in the person's diet.     

An insect fauna from a modern cesspit and its comparison with probable cesspit assemblages from archaeological sites

The insects recovered by sampling a present day disused cesspit located in south Shropshire are compared with similar assemblages from two sites in 16th century Worcester, and, as controls, with faunas from a modern compost heap and garden soil. A simple experiment is described designed to test whether stored product pest species could have arrived in archaeological deposits considered to be the sites of cesspits after having been eaten with the foodstuffs they were infesting.     

Seasonality of birth and diet of pigs from stable isotope analyses of tooth enamel (δO, δC): a modern reference data set from Corsica,France

Since domestication during the mid 11th millennium BP in the Near East and the 8th millennium BP in China, the pig has played an important role in human diet and economy. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of stable oxygen and carbon isotopes sequential analyses of pig tooth enamel to investigate pig seasonality of birth and diet, as these are important parameters for the reconstruction of pig herding strategies in ancient societies.     

Selenium in skeletal remains

Contents of selenium (Se) were determined in human skeletal remains of prehistoric populations by in situ trapping of Se hydride by ET AAS (atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomisation). Dr Korunová worked out a method of determination of Se in preparation. The method of determination of Se was verified by means of radioactive indicator ⁷⁵Se incorporated in the tissues of laboratory animals. Detection limit of the method was 23 pg Se. Se is another element suitable for dietary reconstruction in past populations as it relates to the consumption of meat in a similar way to zinc. Through the analysis of Se, we were able to distinguish between Eneolithic archaeological cultures (Corded Ware ceramic, Bell Beaker culture) and Bronze Age cultures (Protounětice, Starounětice, Unětice cultures). Significant differences were found in the levels of Se in the bones of individuals derived from the Bell Beaker and Uneětice Cultures, to the 95% confidence interval. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Incisor microwear textures of five bioarcheological groups

Dental microwear texture analysis has proven to be a valuable tool for inferring aspects of subsistence behaviour in human groups and diet in other mammals. Studies have to date been limited to molar teeth. Here we report on the first microwear texture analysis of incisors. Five bioarcheological groups were included in this analysis: Aleuts from various islands in the Bering Sea (n = 24), Arikara from the Mobridge site in South Dakota (n = 18), ethnic Chinese cannery workers from Kodiak Island (n = 16), a Late Woodland Bluff sample from Jersey County, Illinois (n = 18) and Puye Pueblo from Pajarito Plateau in New Mexico (n = 18). First, point clouds with 0.18 µm lateral spacing and 0.005 µm vertical resolution were obtained from maxillary central incisor labial surfaces using a white‐light confocal profiler. Four adjoining fields were sampled for a total area of 276 µm × 204 µm for each specimen. Surface data were then imported into scale‐sensitive fractal analysis software for texture characterisation. Results indicate significant variation among groups in anisotropy, fill volume and heterogeneity. These differences are likely related to differences in diet, degrees and types of non‐dietary incisor use, as well as exposure to abrasives. This study also suggests that texture variables most useful for characterising and comparing incisor microwear may differ from those most useful for distinguishing molar microwear patterns. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.