scholarly journals Evidence for Early European Neolithic Dog Dispersal: New Data on South-Eastern European subfossil dogs from Prehistory and Antiquity Ages

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Marinov ◽  
Iskra Yankova ◽  
Boyko Neov ◽  
Maria Petrova ◽  
Nikolai Spassov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Loop Region ◽  
Clade C ◽  
D Loop ◽  
First Time

AbstractObjectivesThe history of dog domestication is still under debate, but doubtlessly, it is a process of an ancient partnership between dogs (Canis familiaris) and humans. Although data on ancient DNA dog diversity are scarce, it is clear that several regional dog populations had been formed in Eurasia up to the Holocene. During the Neolithic Revolution and the transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer societies, followed by civilization changes in the Antiquity period, the dog population structure also changed. This process was due to replacement with newly formed dog breeds.MethodsIn this study we have presented for the first time mitochondrial data about South-Eastern Europe (the Balkans) ancient dog remains from the Early Neolithic (8 000 years BP) to the Late Antiquity ages (up to 3th century AD). A total of 25 samples were analyzed using the mitochondrial D-loop region (HVR1).ResultsThe results have shown the presence of A (70%) and B (25%) clades throughout the whole investigated period. In order to clarify the position of our results within the ancient dog population in Eneolithic Eurasia, we performed phylogenetic analysis with the available genetic data sets. This data revealed a similarity of the Bulgarian dogs’ structure to that of ancient Italian dogs (A, B, and C clades), which suggests a new prehistoric and historic Mediterranean dog population. A clear border can be seen between South-European genetic dog structure, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, Central-West (clade C), East (clade D) and North Europe (clades A and C). This corresponds to genetic data for European humans during the same period without admixture between dog populations.ConclusionsOur data have shown for the first time the presence of clade B in ancient Eurasia. This is not unexpected as the B haplogroup is widely distributed in extant Balkan dogs and wolves. The presence of this clade both in dogs and in wolves on the Balkans may be explained with hybridization events before the Neolithic period. The spreading of this clade across Europe together with the A clade is related to the possible dissemination of newly formed dog breeds from Ancient Greece, Thrace and the Roman Empire.

scholarly journals Evidence for Early European Neolithic Dog Dispersal: New Data on Southeastern European Subfossil Dogs from the Prehistoric and Antiquity Ages

Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iskra Yankova ◽  
Miroslav Marinov ◽  
Boyko Neov ◽  
Maria Petrova ◽  
Nikolai Spassov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Loop Region ◽  
Clade C ◽  
D Loop

The history of dog domestication is still under debate, but it is doubtless the process of an ancient partnership between dogs (Canis familiaris) and humans. Although data on ancient DNA for dog diversity are still incomplete, it is clear that several regional dog populations had formed in Eurasia up to the Holocene. During the Neolithic Revolution and the transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer societies, followed by civilization changes in the Antiquity period, the dog population structure also changed. This process was due to replacement with newly formed dog populations. In this study, we present for the first time mitochondrial data of ancient dog remains from the Early Neolithic (8000 years before present (BP)) to Late Antiquity (up to 3th century AD) from southeastern Europe (the Balkans). A total of 16 samples were analyzed, using the mitochondrial D-loop region (HVR1). The results show the presence of A (70%) and B (25%) clades throughout the Early and Late Neolithic Period. In order to clarify the position of our results within the ancient dog population in Eneolithic Eurasia, we performed phylogenetic analysis with the available genetic data sets. This data showed a similarity of the ancient Bulgarian dogs to Italian (A, B, and C clades) and Iberian (clades A and C) dogs’ populations. A clear border can be seen between southern European genetic dog structure, on the one hand, and on the other hand, central-western (clade C), eastern (clade D) and northern Europe (clades A and C). This corresponds to genetic data for European humans during the same period, without admixture between dog populations. Also, our data have shown the presence of clade B in ancient Eurasia. This is not unexpected, as the B haplogroup is widely distributed in extant Balkan dogs and wolves. The presence of this clade both in dogs and in wolves on the Balkans may be explained with hybridization events before the Neolithic period. The spreading of this clade across Europe, together with the A clade, is related to the possible dissemination of newly formed dog breeds from Ancient Greece, Thrace, and the Roman Empire.

Georgia before the Mongols

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Rapp Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Social Landscape ◽  
Southern Georgia ◽  
First Time ◽  
New Phase

Nestled in one of Eurasia’s most energetic crossroads, Georgia has a long and multifaceted history. The remains of Homo georgicus excavated at Dmanisi in southern Georgia belong to the oldest hominids yet discovered outside Africa. They have been reliably dated to 1.8 million years ago. Subsequent Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age sites are distributed throughout the region between the Black and Caspian Seas. But it is not until the early 1st millennium bce that the immediate ancestors of modern Georgians emerge in the historical record. Their attestation sharpens in the Achaemenid and early Hellenistic epochs. The peoples of Caucasia were thrust upon the Eurasian stage principally as a result of their associations with Iran. They were, at the same time, active members in the first Iranian Commonwealth, a massive cross-cultural enterprise stretching from Central Asia to the Balkans. Toward the end of the 4th century bce, the disruption triggered by Alexander’s conquest of Achaemenid Persia sparked the formation of a kingdom anchored in the eastern Georgian territory of Kʻartʻli (Iberia). Caucasia’s Iranian and especially Iranic (“Persianate”) cultures proved remarkably durable. The Irano-Caucasian nexus pushed into the medieval period, having endured the Christianization of the realms of Kʻartʻli, Armenia, and Caucasian Albania. As was the case elsewhere, Christianity’s long-term success hinged on its adaptation to the existing social pattern. Caucasia’s social landscape continued to be dominated by dynastic noble houses, but the hybrid Zoroastrianisms they had long favored were eclipsed by Christianity starting in the 4th century. Meanwhile, in western Georgia the polities based in Egrisi (cf. Greek Colchis) fell under the stronger influence of the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean. They too were brought into the Christian fold in late antiquity. The Kʻartʻvelian monarchy was abolished by the Sasanians circa 580 and remained in abeyance until 888. In the afterglow of the interregnum, the ascendant Bagratid dynasty—following the “Byzantinizing” path blazed by the Georgian Church—consciously reoriented kingship from an Iranian to a Byzantine basis as it politically integrated eastern and western Georgia for the first time. Nevertheless, at the height of the all-Georgian kingdom, many aspects of Iranic culture flourished, including epic literature. Mongol hegemony across much of the 13th century marks a crucial turning point in Georgian history. Under Īlkhānid rule, Caucasia’s access to the Eurasian ecumene expanded significantly, but the political fragmentation of Georgia intensified. In the new phase of imperialism ushered by Timur (Tamerlane), the Irano-Caucasian nexus blossomed one last time under the Safavids before the isthmus fell under Russian and then Soviet control.

scholarly journals Mitochondrial diversity of Bulgarian native dogs suggests dual phylogenetic origin

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Marinov ◽  
Denitsa Teofanova ◽  
Dimitar Gadjev ◽  
Georgi Radoslavov ◽  
Peter Hristov
Keyword(s):  
Hypervariable Region ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Loop Region ◽  
Hunting Dog ◽  
Clade C ◽  
D Loop ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
Phylogenetic Origin ◽  
Almost All

The dog has been the first domesticated animal to have a central role in human society from ancient times to present day. Although there have been numerous investigations of dog phylogeny and origin, genetic data of dogs in the region of the Balkan Peninsula (South-Eastern Europe) are still scarce. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to perform phylogenetic analysis of three native Bulgarian dog breeds. A total of 130 samples were analyzed at HVR1 (hypervariable region, D-loop region). The samples were taken from two hunting dog breeds (Bulgarian Hound Dog: Barak,n = 34; Bulgarian Scenthound Dog: Gonche,n = 45) as well as from a Bulgarian Shepherd Dog (n = 51). The first two breeds are reared in a flat region of the country (the Northern part of Bulgaria, the Danubian Plain), while the last breed is a typical representative of the mountainous part of the country. The results have shown the presence of almost all main clades—A, B, C and D—in the three dog breeds taken together, except clades E and F, as expected. With regard to haplogroups distribution, there are clear differences among investigated breeds. While hunting breeds exhibit a prevalence of clade C, the mountainous Shepherd dog shows presence of the D2 haplogroup but absence of the C clade. In conclusion, the present study has been the first to investigate the mitochondrial DNA diversity of native dog breeds in Bulgaria. The results have revealed a clear difference of haplogroups dissemination in native hunting and shepherd dogs, which suggests a dual independent phylogenetic origin, without hybridization events between these dogs.

A Latin Pictorial Witness to Tatian’s Diatessaron

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Gulácsi
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Latin West ◽  
First Time ◽  
Arabic Christian ◽  
Christian Witness

Abstract This study explores the content correlation of two important and well-known early gospel harmonies for the first time – a visual harmony and a textual harmony – that originated within the Roman Empire in the Latin west and the Syriac east some 400 years apart during Late Antiquity. Based on in-depth comparative analyses summarized in tables and diagrams, it identifies four distinctly diatessaronic patterns in the painting that do not accord with any one of the canonical gospels, nor any other possible combination of them, but follow instead the unique construction of the Diatessaron as documented by its Arabic Christian witness. In light of contemporaneous Latin and Syriac evidence about the liturgical rites of pedilavium and eucharist during the Holy Week, this study also contextualizes the choice of the focal vignettes in the painting.

Nicopolis ad Istrum: Backward and Balkan?

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. WHITTOW
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of

The story of Nicopolis ad Istrum and its citizens exemplifies much that is common to the urban history of the whole Roman Empire. This chapter reviews the history of Nicopolis and its transition into the small fortified site of the fifth to seventh centuries and compares it with the evidence from the Near East and Asia Minor. It argues that Nicopolis may not have experienced a cataclysm as has been suggested, and that, as in the fifth and sixth century west, where landowning elites showed a striking ability to adapt and survive, there was an important element of continuity on the lower Danube, which in turn may account for the distinctive ‘Roman’ element in the early medieval Bulgar state. It also suggests that the term ‘transition to Late Antiquity’ should be applied to what happened at Nicopolis in the third century: what happened there in the fifth was the transition to the middle ages. This chapter also describes late antique urbanism in the Balkans by focusing on the Justiniana Prima site.

The first data on the lichen flora of Dagestan beech forests

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 215-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Ismailov ◽  
G. P. Urbanavichus
Keyword(s):  
Lichen Species ◽  
The South ◽  
Beech Forests ◽  
Saprotrophic Fungi ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Caucasus Mountains ◽  
First Time ◽  
Lichen Flora

49 lichen species and 2 species of non-lichenized saprotrophic fungi are recorded for the first time in beech forests of the south-eastern part of piedmont Dagestan. Among them, 34 species and 9 genera are new to Dagestan Republic, and 2 species, Diplotomma pharcidium (Ach.) M. Choisy and Rinodina albana (A. Massal.) A. Massal., are new to Caucasus Mountains.

Wątek składania ofiar w dekoracji budowli sakralnych Dura Europos

Vox Patrum ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 393-402
Author(s):  
Ilona Skupińska-Løvset
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Xxth Century ◽  
Desert Sand ◽  
Military Camp ◽  
The Military

Dura Europos, or as proposed today Europos Dura, was a fortified settlement on the border between the Roman Empire and the East. The archeological dis­coveries reflected the character of the settlement – the fortified agglomeration grouped at the military camp. After its fall Europos Dura was covered by desert sand only to be discovered in the XXth century. Archaeological research has dis­closed documentation of its multicultural character. This paper points to the fact of coexistence of various religions in late antiquity Europos Dura. Paintings and sculptures discovered in situ indicate that scene of offering was a favorite subject in the sacral art of Europos Dura, independent of religion. The ceremony of in­cense burning constitutes the dominant form of offering regarding visualizations of this important ceremony.

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