Book review

Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies

vol. III, no. 2., ed. Robert Pinner and Walter B. Denny. Published by the Islamic Department of Sotheby’ s and OCTS, Ltd., London (n.d., 1990?). 262 pages, with 12 colour plates and many black and white illus. and diagrams; soft‐bound with colour cover.

Textile Conservation and Research

by Mechtilde Fleury‐Lemburg. Bern, Switzerland: Abegg Stiftung. 1988, 532 pp.

An Introduction to Kurdish Rugs and Other Weavings

William Eagleton. New York, Interlink Books. 1988. 144 pp., 124 full‐page color plates.

Kordi: Lives, Rugs, Flatweaves of the Kurds in Khorasan

Wilfried Stanzer, Vienna, Adil Besim. 1988. 220 pp., 78 full‐page color plates, 48 color figures in text.

Carpets in the Baluch Tradition

by Siawosch Azadi. English trans. by Maria Schlatter and Robert Pinner. Klinkhardt and Biermann, Munich, 1986.

Armenian Rugs: Fabric of a Culture. An Exhibition at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies

August 17‐October 29, 1988. Co‐sponsored by the Armenian Rug Society. Ed. Pamela B. Nelson. 40 pp; colour and black and white photographs, maps and “selected bibliography”. Philadelphia: Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1988.

Women's Costume of the Near and Middle East

by Jennifer Scarce, London and Sydney: Unwin Hyman Publishers, 1987. pp. 192     

Ancient DNA in human bones from Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Greece and Crete

Attempts were made to detect ancient DNA (aDNA) in samples of 88 human skeletons from eight Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Greece and Crete. Ancient DNA was absent in specimens from Nea Nikomedia, Lerna, Karaviádena (Zakro), Antron Grave Circle A and Mycenae Grave Circle A. For each of three skeletons from Antron Grave Circle B that were sampled, polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) gave products for nuclear but not mitochondrial DNA, but amplicon yield was low and inconsistent with replicate PCRs failing to give reproducible results. With specimens from Mycenae Grave Circle B, evidence for mitochondrial aDNA was obtained for four of the 22 skeletons that were studied, and at Kouphovouno evidence for mitochondrial and/or nuclear aDNA was obtained with eight of the 20 skeletons that were examined. We conclude that, although aDNA might be present in some Eastern Mediterranean skeletons from later centuries of the Bronze Age, it is not commonly found in material from this period and is likely to be absent from older material.     

Ancient DNA typing shows that a Bronze Age mummy is a composite of different skeletons

Excavations at Cladh Hallan, a Bronze Age-Iron Age settlement on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland, revealed the skeletons of two adults, a sub-adult and a child buried beneath the foundations of three roundhouses. Osteological and isotopic evidence has shown that the male adult skeleton is a composite made up of parts of at least three different individuals. To test the hypothesis that the female skeleton was also a composite we examined ancient DNA from four of its components: the skull, mandible, right humerus and right femur. Seven polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) were attempted, these covering positions 15,996–16,420, 16–132 and 232–368 of the mitochondrial DNA hypervariable I and II regions. Three PCRs were successful for each sample and a total of 55 sequences were obtained from the cloned products. After exclusion of possible contaminating sequences, the remaining 34 were compared. It was concluded that the mandible, humerus and femur come from different individuals. Insufficient data were obtained to draw conclusions regarding the origin of the skull. The presence of two composite skeletons at Cladh Hallan indicates that the merging of identities may have been a deliberate act, perhaps designed to amalgamate different ancestries into a single lineage.     

Genetic analysis of wheat landraces enables the location of the first agricultural sites in Italy to be identified

We typed five microsatellite loci in 52 landraces of Italian emmer wheat to determine if genetic analysis of cereals can provide information relevant to the spread of agriculture. Each of the five loci was polymorphic with 43 allele combinations identified in the 52 landraces. The allele combinations fell into two groups. Group 1 comprised 27 genotypes found in 42 landraces and Group 2 comprised 15 genotypes found in 10 landraces. The landraces with Group 1 genotypes showed a strong correlation between geographical and genetic distances (r = 0.601, p < 0.001) but those with Group 2 genotypes did not (r = 0.116, p = 0.244). We inferred that the Group 1 landraces might therefore retain a phylogeographical structure that reflects ancient events. We present a phylogeographical model for the spread of agriculture that enables the point of origin of crop cultivation to be predicted by comparison between the genetic and geographical distances between landraces. We applied this model to the Group 1 landraces by positioning 131 hypothetical points of origin around the coastline and northern border of Italy. The highest correlation coefficients between genetic and geographical distances were seen for hypothetical points of origin located on the coast of northern Puglia. We repeated the analysis with 1040 hypothetical points of origin located within the Italian peninsula. Again, the highest correlation coefficients were located in northern Puglia. These predicted points of origin correspond with the location of the earliest agricultural sites in Italy. The results show that plant genetics can be used to study the spread of agriculture.     

The Haunted Style

I propose to define nicknames as a unique folklore genre and to compare it with other mini-genres of folklore. The nickname genre combines known folklore techniques, and conveys its messages by varied poetic means, using play and creation. Nicknames constitute a perfected and ciphered system of signs of the society in which they are created. This practice acts as a two-fold mechanism, which encourages the integration of individuals into the life of the group to which they belong, while encouraging the group as a whole to maintain its norms under changing conditions. I suggest that a group which creates such a system of nicknames for itself, highlights the unity of its members and the will to maintain its traditions, uniqueness and identity. My case study is the former Jewish community of Tetuan, the capital of northern Morocco, from the beginning of the twentieth century until the present time.     

Sex identification of ancient DNA samples using a microfluidic device

A microfluidic device has been developed for the sex identification of ancient DNA samples and works by manipulating liquids within an environment of micrometer dimensions. In this work a range of microfluidic DNA extraction methods were evaluated for their compatibility with ancient DNA samples, and the use of streptavidin-coated super paramagnetic particles to isolate biotin-labeled abasic sites within damaged DNA was shown to be the most reproducible. Polymerase chain reaction-based DNA amplification was possible on the microfluidic device when less than 50 pg of template DNA was added. As a proof-of-principle, powdered bone samples were analysed using the integrated methodology developed. Following conventional capillary gel electrophoresis, two out of the three samples produced positive amplification results and were successfully identified as female. These sex identifications were corroborated by independent Amelogenin, anthropological and Y chromosome analysis. The work reported here is the first step in the development of a complete miniaturized microfluidic system that would enable on-site ancient DNA analysis.     

Production Skill and Paleoindian Workgroup Organization in the Medicine Creek Drainage,Southwestern Nebraska

Extremely skillful stoneworking is widely cited as an important characteristic of the Paleoindian period in North America. This paper considers differences in finished and unfinished projectile points and bifaces from two Paleoindian sites in the Medicine Creek drainage of southwestern Nebraska with this in mind, arguing that these differences reflect significant differences in the overall level of skill of the stoneworkers who used these sites. Recognizing variability in Paleoindian flintknapping skill has implications for the organization of landuse in the Medicine Creek region and for our understanding of the archaeology of the Paleoindian period in general.