Nemanja Marković, Oliver Stevanović, Nikola Krstić, Darko Marinković, Perica Špehar, Bruce Rothschild
{"title":"Animal diseases in the southern part of the Carpathian Basin during the medieval period","authors":"Nemanja Marković, Oliver Stevanović, Nikola Krstić, Darko Marinković, Perica Špehar, Bruce Rothschild","doi":"10.1002/oa.3322","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.3322","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study aims to shed light on animal management influences on the development of pathological changes observed on animal remains from the medieval site of Crkveno Brdo. Animal remains with abnormalities were discovered during archaeological excavations of the medieval settlement at the site of Crkveno Brdo in 2019. The site is situated near Senta in the northern region of modern-day Serbia. The part of the settlement dated from the 11th to the 15th centuries was excavated. The percentage represented by various mammalian species documents that the most important economic species were cattle and horses, followed by sheep, goats, and pigs. Fishing and hunting were marginal in the settlement subsistence. The analyzed assemblage of bones with lesions consists of 39 specimens with 40 abnormalities. All of the remains exhibiting abnormalities were subjected to macroscopic and stereomicroscope analysis. The specimens with the most prominent changes also underwent x-ray imaging and histopathological analysis. Almost all lesions were found in domestic animals. The most prevalent lesions in cattle, sheep, goat, and pig were dental and oral pathology, followed by articular abnormalities. In horses, 77% of pathological changes were articular abnormalities, and 11% dental and oral pathology, followed by traumatic lesions and inherited disorders (5.5% each). Congenital morphological variation is represented by a single specimen of horse lumbar vertebra. Pathological alterations were also noted in dogs, as was a severe healed tibiofibular fracture in a frog. Pathological alterations were related to external factors and specifically to patterns of animal management. Dental pathologies in cattle, sheep/goats, and pigs were primary attributed to malnutrition quality; articular abnormalities in horses, similar to aging and environmental factors, most likely work related.</p>","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142435462","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social inequality and body mass differences in two post-Medieval Dutch populations","authors":"Yuran Niu, Sarah Schrader","doi":"10.1002/oa.3320","DOIUrl":"10.1002/oa.3320","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Adult body mass is largely related to nutrition levels, which can be affected by external stressors, such as diet, environment, and disease. High-status and low-status groups likely had very different nutrition and stress experiences, which might result in differences in population's body mass. Since inequality between social statuses prevailed in Europe in the post-Medieval period, did these differences result in body mass variations between high-status and low-status populations in the Netherlands? In order to answer this question, this research compared body size of two post-Medieval urban skeletal collections with different social statuses from the Eusebius cemetery of two cemeteries of the 17th–19th centuries: the Arnhem and the Broerenkerk church of Zwolle, the Netherlands. Social statuses of the two collections are estimated based on the burial locations, grave goods, and historical records. Body mass was estimated using both femoral head diameter method and stature/bi-iliac breadth method. Results have shown no statistically significant differences in body mass between the two samples. Therefore, this research suggests that inequality in post-Medieval Dutch society did not result in observable population body mass differences in the skeletal collections of different social status groups. It cannot, however, prove that social inequality in populations did not impact body size or health more broadly.</p>","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/oa.3320","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141367692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eva Chocholova, Patricia Smith, Emmanuel Eisenberg, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Eva Drozdova
{"title":"Diachronic changes in dental health of Bronze Age rural populations from Nahal Refaim, Israel","authors":"Eva Chocholova, Patricia Smith, Emmanuel Eisenberg, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Eva Drozdova","doi":"10.1002/oa.3319","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.3319","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We present the results of a study of dental pathology (specifically dental wear, caries, dental calculus, and enamel hypoplasia) carried out on 1108 teeth and empty alveoli of Bronze Age human populations that inhabited the rural settlement of Nahal Refaim, on the outskirts of the city of Jerusalem. The remains derive from a tomb complex that spans three phases of the period; Intermediate Bronze Age and the Middle Bronze Age I and Middle Bronze Age II village that replaced them (ca. 2500–1550 BC).</p><p>Dental pathology can reflect diet and therefore offers a unique insight into the lifeways of past populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which the dental health of this rural population was influenced by the far-reaching socioeconomic changes associated with the regional shift to urbanism by the Middle Bronze Age II. Although constrained by small sample sizes, we found that the pattern of dental pathology varied in a nonlinear fashion over time and discuss the factors that may have attributed to this variation.</p>","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/oa.3319","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142435879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Violence, conflagrations and the destruction of Bronze Age cities in the ancient Near East","authors":"Piers D. Mitchell, Robin Bendrey","doi":"10.1002/oa.3318","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.3318","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The siege and conquest of ancient cities was a popular topic for epic tales and ballads during the Bronze Age and Iron Age. The story of the fall of Troy to the Achaeans (Mycenaeans) is described in Homer's poem the Iliad, composed in the 8th century BCE (Homer, <span>2011</span>). While the details found in the Iliad were mythological, attacks against such cities were very real and likely acted as a plausible framework for the story. When the site of Hisarlik (the most plausible site of Troy) in Turkey was excavated, destruction layers with ash were identified dating to around 1300, 1180, and 1050 BCE (Mac Sweeney, <span>2018</span>, p. 32). Jericho was a late Bronze Age city in Canaan whose destruction by the Israelites was described in the biblical Book of Joshua (Joshua 6: 1–27). However, the destruction layer noted at excavation (dating to around 1400 BCE) does not match the date indicated by historical descriptions of the event (to around 1230 BCE), leading to debates as to the degree to which ancient narratives reflect true events (Kennedy, <span>2023</span>). Jerusalem was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah in the Iron Age. In the 6th century BCE, it was a vasal kingdom of the Assyrians. When Judah failed to pay their agreed tribute, the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II invaded in 598–597 BCE and conquered Jerusalem. When they continued to refuse tribute, he returned in 587–586 BCE and sacked the city (Lipschits, <span>2021</span>; Matthews, <span>2018</span>).</p><p>Examples such as these are well known to many today, but countless other ancient cities were never the focus of an epic story that has been handed down through the centuries, and so the surrounding events have been forgotten. Indeed, we remain unsure of the ancient name of many of the excavated early towns and cities in the Near East, so it is quite a challenge to compare information found in ancient written texts with excavation finds at any one particular site.</p><p>In their recently published article in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Cheryl Anderson presents her study of the human remains recovered from the excavations at Kaman-Kalehöyük in Turkey (Anderson, <span>2024</span>). This ancient town was found to have a destruction layer of ash dating to the mid-18th century BCE. The date falls within what is known as the Assyrian Trading Colonies period or Old Assyrian period (Palmisano, <span>2018</span>). The skeletons of 73 men, women and children were found scattered across the excavated site, distinct from any town burial grounds. All were from areas of the town that show evidence for destruction and burning, and 80% showed charring on their bones. Two individuals have good evidence for sharp force trauma to the skeleton, compatible with bladed weapons. This does suggest that the destruction was due to a violent episode and not just a natural disaster such as an out-of-control town fire or earthquake. However, if the individuals died from weapon inj","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/oa.3318","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141425135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Examining evidence for violence at the end of the Assyrian trading colonies period at Kaman-Kalehöyük","authors":"Cheryl P. Anderson","doi":"10.1002/oa.3317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.3317","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The end of the Assyrian Trading Colonies Period (ATCP) in Anatolia represents a time of significant change in the region. Historical and archaeological evidence suggests that considerable conflict and turmoil were associated with the end of the ATCP, but thus far little evidence from human skeletal remains has been available to support this hypothesis. One of the largest human skeletal samples dating to the end of the ATCP has been excavated at Kaman-Kalehöyük in central Anatolia. A minimum of 73 individuals have been found in and around areas of the site that have signs of destruction and burning. These individuals appear to be associated with a battle that occurred in the town in the mid-18th century BCE. The results show that the victims of the battle included individuals of all age groups and both sexes. The degree of burning and fragmentation made the identification of perimortem trauma challenging; however, perimortem trauma was observed in at least two individuals. An additional five individuals had evidence of antemortem trauma that was likely the result of interpersonal violence prior to the attack on the town. The skeletal evidence for trauma further supports the idea that a battle occurred at the site. This battle may have also been a part of a regional pattern of violence corresponding with the end of the ATCP, as suggested by the textual and archaeological evidence.</p>","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141424835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sturgeons in materials from archaeological sites of Ukraine: A review","authors":"Tyt Volynskyi, Oleksandr Kovalchuk","doi":"10.1002/oa.3310","DOIUrl":"10.1002/oa.3310","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The article presents a critical review of all published data on findings of the skeletal elements of sturgeons (Acipenseridae) during archaeological excavations conducted in the territory of Ukraine. Sturgeon remains are present in materials from 41 archaeological sites, the age of which covers the stage from the Neolithic (4 kyr <span>bc</span>) up to the Modern Period (17th century <span>ad</span>). Five species (<i>Acipenser gueldenstaedtii</i>, <i>Acipenser nudiventris</i>, <i>Acipenser ruthenus</i>, <i>Acipenser stellatus</i>, and <i>Huso huso</i>) are recognized. Of them, the Russian sturgeon, the sterlet, and the stellate sturgeon are the most abundant, while beluga is somewhat less numerous, and the fringebarbel sturgeon is represented by the smallest number of remains. The presence of the latter species (and the absence of the European sturgeon <i>Acipenser sturio</i>) in the historical past of Ukraine is discussed. We also highlight the importance of original and published data accessibility in archaeozoological research and discuss the issues of species identification, body length, and weight reconstruction of sturgeons based on skeletal elements.</p>","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141106437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fan Zhang, Yi Chen, Zhongzhi Nie, Ruojing Zhang, Chen Duan, Di Wu, Yongqiang Wang, Chao Ning
{"title":"Complex genetic landscape revealed by a population in the eastern Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang between the 8th and 11th centuries CE","authors":"Fan Zhang, Yi Chen, Zhongzhi Nie, Ruojing Zhang, Chen Duan, Di Wu, Yongqiang Wang, Chao Ning","doi":"10.1002/oa.3300","DOIUrl":"10.1002/oa.3300","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The eastern Tianshan Mountain (ETS) region in Xinjiang, China, has played a crucial role as a major highway for large-scale human migrations and technological exchanges across Eurasia throughout history. Understanding the genetic makeup of past populations holds significant importance in comprehending human mobility in this region. Here, we report genome-wide ancient DNA for the two individuals whose origins remain uncertain, found at the Dahe ancient city site in the ETS region. Our results indicate that although both individuals display a higher genetic affinity to Asian populations, one individual shows some genetic sharing with South Asians, while the other shares more affinity with populations from Northeastern Asia. Radiocarbon dating shows that the two human remains were not deposited simultaneously. Overall, the combined genetic, physical anthropology and radiocarbon evidence strongly suggests that the ETS region, situated at the heart of the <i>Silk Road</i>, has been a crossroads of diverse populations coexisting between the 8th and 11th centuries. Additionally, the genetic ancestry sharing with the Bronze Age Tarim mummies suggested a long-term residual of indigenous ancestry in Xinjiang and showed that autochthonous deep Asian ancestry had left their genetic legacy into the historical populations of Xinjiang despite a spanning of over three millennia.</p>","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141103165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nonmetric population-specific sex estimation based on the skull using logistic regression for Flemish samples","authors":"Maggie Wongsantativanich, Isabelle De Groote","doi":"10.1002/oa.3308","DOIUrl":"10.1002/oa.3308","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There are very few sex estimation methods specifically designed for or tested on Belgian skulls. The currently used methods for European populations have been developed using North American collections where individuals are categorized as White and/or having European ancestry. These frequently show discordance between the pelvic sex and cranial sex estimations highlighting the need for population specific methods. To fill this gap in our knowledge, several sex estimation methods, using 15 qualitative skull features, were tested on two Flemish (northern Belgium) skeletal collections; one archaeological (15th–17th century) and one forensic (20th century). The features were tested by themselves as well as in different combinations using logistic regression. The glabella is considered the best lone feature with a minimal accuracy of 78.4% and a sex bias of −5.2%. Furthermore, four sex estimation equations were developed for the skull, the cranium, the mandible, and the frontal bone separately. The skull has an accuracy of 89.3% and a bias of 0.8%. For the cranium, this is 87.5% and −0.3%, respectively, for the mandible 85.1% and −0.1%, and for the frontal bone it is 80.4% and −4.6%. The various tests confirm that many skull features can be used for sex estimation and can generate high sex estimation accuracy.</p>","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/oa.3308","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141109805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Uwe Kierdorf, Dean Konjević, Siniša Radović, Miljenko Bujanić, Horst Kierdorf
{"title":"Analysis of enamel defects in a cave bear maxillary molar, with remarks on incremental markings in bear enamel","authors":"Uwe Kierdorf, Dean Konjević, Siniša Radović, Miljenko Bujanić, Horst Kierdorf","doi":"10.1002/oa.3309","DOIUrl":"10.1002/oa.3309","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The paper discusses the formation of an enamel defect in the crown of a cave bear (<i>Ursus spelaeus</i> sensu lato) left maxillary second molar (M<sup>2</sup>), based on macroscopic and microscopic analysis. The tooth belongs to a cranium recovered from the Cerovac caves in Croatia that exhibits a partially healed, depressed lesion in the left squama frontalis and a further lesion in the left maxilla associated with loss of the M<sup>1</sup>. Microscopic inspection demonstrated an accentuated incremental line in both enamel and dentin of the left M<sup>2</sup>. It is suggested that in the defect area the outer enamel had been posteruptively lost along the accentuated line in the enamel that constituted a zone of reduced mechanical resistance. Presence of enamel hypoplasia in both M<sup>2</sup> indicated that these developmental lesions reflect a systemic stress event during crown formation of the teeth. The underlying cause of this stress is assumed to have been a trauma to the skull that caused the lesion in the left squama frontalis. It is further suggested that a later trauma to the left maxilla had led to the loss of the left M<sup>1</sup> and the flaking-off of enamel along the accentuated incremental line in the left M<sup>2</sup>. The defect in the left M<sup>2</sup> is thus diagnosed as the result of a developmental lesion during crown formation, related to systemic stress due to a skull trauma, followed by posteruptive damage from a second traumatic impact. In addition to reconstructing the formation of the defect in the crown of the left M<sup>2</sup>, the paper, for the first time, describes daily and subdaily incremental markings in ursid enamel and provides preliminary information on enamel secretion rate in a cave bear molar.</p>","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/oa.3309","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141126246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Laura Llorente-Rodriguez, Arturo Morales-Muñiz, Eufrasia Roselló-Izquierdo
{"title":"Halal and Makruk: Muslim archaeological fish assemblages as cultural identifiers in the Iberian Middle Ages?","authors":"Laura Llorente-Rodriguez, Arturo Morales-Muñiz, Eufrasia Roselló-Izquierdo","doi":"10.1002/oa.3307","DOIUrl":"10.1002/oa.3307","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Muslim religion has strict rules to determine what kinds of foodstuffs, and under what circumstances, are deemed appropriate for consumption. Fishes are not an exception to this rule and features such as body shape or the presence and conspicuousness of scales dictate whether certain species are acceptable or rejected. In this paper, an overview of the Iberian ichthyoarchaeological record from Muslim sites is presented to ascertain whether differences with Christian sites existed in terms of these characters and to what extent these allow one to take fish assemblages as cultural proxies of archaeological deposits. In the case of coastal (production) sites, we also consider whether the peculiarities a given fish assemblage exhibit reflect instead certain environmental features such as the biotopes where a given local fishery operated.</p>","PeriodicalId":14179,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Osteoarchaeology","volume":"34 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/oa.3307","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140966747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}