scholarly journals Ancient Rome: A genetic crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 366 (6466) ◽  
pp. 708-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret L. Antonio ◽  
Ziyue Gao ◽  
Hannah M. Moots ◽  
Michaela Lucci ◽  
Francesca Candilio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Ancient Rome ◽  
Genetic Composition ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Genetic Contributions

Ancient Rome was the capital of an empire of ~70 million inhabitants, but little is known about the genetics of ancient Romans. Here we present 127 genomes from 29 archaeological sites in and around Rome, spanning the past 12,000 years. We observe two major prehistoric ancestry transitions: one with the introduction of farming and another prior to the Iron Age. By the founding of Rome, the genetic composition of the region approximated that of modern Mediterranean populations. During the Imperial period, Rome’s population received net immigration from the Near East, followed by an increase in genetic contributions from Europe. These ancestry shifts mirrored the geopolitical affiliations of Rome and were accompanied by marked interindividual diversity, reflecting gene flow from across the Mediterranean, Europe, and North Africa.

Frameworks for Europe’s Past

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Douglas Price
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Growth And Change ◽  
Early Human ◽  
Prehistoric Time

This book is about the prehistoric archaeology of Europe—the lives and deaths of peoples and cultures—about how we became human; the rise of hunters; the birth and growth of society; the emergence of art; the beginnings of agriculture, villages, towns and cities, wars and conquest, peace and trade—the plans and ideas, achievements and failures, of our ancestors across hundreds of thousands of years. It is a story of humanity on planet Earth. It’s also about the study of the past—how archaeologists have dug into the ground, uncovered the remaining traces of these ancient peoples, and begun to make sense of that past through painstaking detective work. This book is about prehistoric societies from the Stone Age into the Iron Age. The story of European prehistory is one of spectacular growth and change. It begins more than a million years ago with the first inhabitants. The endpoint of this journey through the continent’s past is marked by the emergence of the literate societies of classical Greece and Rome. Because of a long history of archaeological research and the richness of the prehistoric remains, we know more about the past of Europe than almost anywhere else. The prehistory of Europe is, in fact, one model of the evolution of society, from small groups of early human ancestors to bands of huntergatherers, through the arrival of the first farmers to the emergence of hierarchical societies and powerful states in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The chapters of our story are the major ages of prehistoric time (Stone, Bronze, and Iron). The content involves the places, events, and changes of those ages from ancient to more recent times. The focus of the chapters is on exceptional archaeological sites that provide the background for much of this story. Before we can begin, however, it is essential to review the larger context in which these developments took place. This chapter is concerned with the time and space setting of the archaeology of Europe.

Geoarchaeological evidence of multiple climatic and anthropic triggers driving the breakdown of the Terramare civilization (Bronze Age, Northern Italy)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Zerboni ◽  
Anna Maria Mercuri ◽  
Assunta Florenzano ◽  
Eleonora Clò ◽  
Giovanni Zanchetta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Po River ◽  
Commercial Exchange ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Dramatic Shift

<p><span>The Terramare civilization included hundreds of </span><span>banked and moated villages, located in the alluvial plain of the Po River of northern Italy, and developed between the Middle and the Recent Bronze Ages (XVI-XII cent. BC). This civilization lasted for over 500 years, collapsing at around 1150 years BC, in a period marked by a great societal disruptionin the Mediterranean area. The timing and modalities of the collapse of the Terramare Bronze Age culture are widely debated, and a combined geoarchaeological and palaeoclimatic investigation – the SUCCESSO-TERRA Project –is shading new light on this enigma. The Terramare economy was based upon cereal farming, herding, and metallurgy; settlements were also sustained by a well-developed system for the management of water and abundant wood resources. They also established a wide network of commercial exchange between continental Europe and the Mediterranean region.The SUCCESSO-TERRA Project investigated two main Bronze Age sites in Northern Italy:(i) the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio, and (ii) the San Michele di Valestra site, which is a coeval settlement outside the Terramare territory, but in the adjoining Apennine range. Human occupation at San Michele di Valestra persisted after the Terramare crisis and the site was settled with continuity throughout the whole Bronze Ages, up to the Iron Age. The combined geoarchaeological, palaeoclimatic, and archaeobotanical investigation on different archaeological sites and on independent archives for climatic proxies (offsite cores and speleothems) highlights the existence of both climatic and anthropic critical factors triggering a dramatic shift of the landuse of the Terramare civilization. The overexploitation of natural resources became excessive in the late period of the Terramare trajectory, when also a climatic change occurred. A fresh speleothem record for the same region suggests the occurrence of a short-lived period of climatic instability followed by a marked peak of aridity. The<span> </span>unfavourable concomitance between human overgrazing and climatic-triggered environmental pressure, amplified the on-going societal crisis, likely leading to the breakdown of the Terramare civilization in the turn of a generation.</span></p>

scholarly journals Child burials in domestic contexts at an Iron Age hillfort: The Oppidum of Monte Bernorio (Villarén, Palencia)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Carnicero-Cáceres ◽  
Jesús F. Torres-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
European Origin ◽  
The North ◽  
Cantabrian Region ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Funerary Ritual ◽  
Archeological Site

The practice of child burials underneath house floors in the Late Prehistory has been considered a characteristic trait of the Iberian religion. However, this custom has also been documented in different archaeological sites both in the Mediterranean and Central Europe as well as Celtic areas of the Iberian Peninsula, so we can explain this funerary practice by an Indo-European origin. We report the archeotanatological and osteoarcheological study of 10 subadults found in the Iron Age site of Monte Bernorio oppidum, the first archeological site in the western and central Cantabrian region with this funerary rite documented. It is the confirmation of both, the survival of an ancient funerary ritual, widely extended in all Europe, and its presence in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. We also review all the archeological sites in the Iberian Peninsula with similar archeological contexts and analyse the rite from the bioarcheology of the care.

Comparison of the Eating and Cooking Habits of Northern Europe and the Mediterranean Countries in the Past, Present and Future

2001 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 141-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris Rumm-Kreuter
Keyword(s):  
Northern Europe ◽  
Animal Products ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Cereal Products ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Past ◽  
Strong Trend ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Mediterranean

It was already possible to demonstrate in the 50s that the Mediterranean countries have significantly less coronary heart disease than northern Europe and the USA and that this correlated closely with the diets of people in the Mediterranean region. Consequently, the traditional Mediterranean corresponds to the ideas of dietetics about a preventive diet with its high percentage of fruit, vegetables, cereal products legumes, olive oil and its slight share of animal products. However, an increase of the share of animal products can be detected in the diet of the Mediterranean populations with increasing wealth to the detriment of basic foodstuffs on a vegetable basis and their positive effects. This is reducing the preventive effect of the diet. The dietary situation is also becoming worse in northern Europe, which was already found to be unfavorable in the 60s. The reasons for this development can be found in the substantial socioeconomic changes throughout all of Europe over the past 40 years. A return or reversal to the Mediterranean way of eating would be desirable due to its positive effects. But the strong trend to convenience products and eating out is in opposition to this.

scholarly journals Climatic and cultural changes in the west Congo Basin forests over the past 5000 years

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1625) ◽  
pp. 20120304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Oslisly ◽  
Lee White ◽  
Ilham Bentaleb ◽  
Charly Favier ◽  
Michel Fontugne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Pennisetum Glaucum ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Congo Basin ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
The Past

Central Africa includes the world's second largest rainforest block. The ecology of the region remains poorly understood, as does its vegetation and archaeological history. However, over the past 20 years, multidisciplinary scientific programmes have enhanced knowledge of old human presence and palaeoenvironments in the forestry block of Central Africa. This first regional synthesis documents significant cultural changes over the past five millennia and describes how they are linked to climate. It is now well documented that climatic conditions in the African tropics underwent significant changes throughout this period and here we demonstrate that corresponding shifts in human demography have had a strong influence on the forests. The most influential event was the decline of the strong African monsoon in the Late Holocene, resulting in serious disturbance of the forest block around 3500 BP. During the same period, populations from the north settled in the forest zone; they mastered new technologies such as pottery and fabrication of polished stone tools, and seem to have practised agriculture. The opening up of forests from 2500 BP favoured the arrival of metallurgist populations that impacted the forest. During this long period (2500–1400 BP), a remarkable increase of archaeological sites is an indication of a demographic explosion of metallurgist populations. Paradoxically, we have found evidence of pearl millet ( Pennisetum glaucum ) cultivation in the forest around 2200 BP, implying a more arid context. While Early Iron Age sites (prior to 1400 BP) and recent pre-colonial sites (two to eight centuries BP) are abundant, the period between 1600 and 1000 BP is characterized by a sharp decrease in human settlements, with a population crash between 1300 and 1000 BP over a large part of Central Africa. It is only in the eleventh century that new populations of metallurgists settled into the forest block. In this paper, we analyse the spatial and temporal distribution of 328 archaeological sites that have been reliably radiocarbon dated. The results allow us to piece together changes in the relationships between human populations and the environments in which they lived. On this basis, we discuss interactions between humans, climate and vegetation during the past five millennia and the implications of the absence of people from the landscape over three centuries. We go on to discuss modern vegetation patterns and African forest conservation in the light of these events.

scholarly journals THE INVISIBLE MOATS OF THE MUN RIVER VALLEY, NE THAILAND: THE EXAMINATION OF WATER MANAGEMENT DEVICES AT MOUNDED SITES THROUGH GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR)

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Duke ◽  
Nigel J Chang ◽  
Ian Moffat ◽  
Wayne Morris
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Ground Penetrating Radar ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ground Penetrating ◽  
Non Destructive

<p>The Mun River valley is well known for its moat-bound mounded archaeological sites that are usually associated with Iron Age occupation (~500BC- AD500).  The investigation of these sites has provided a wealth of information on the changing social and environmental conditions during prehistory.  In recent years, research has identified a greater diversity of site morphologies in the region, many of which, importantly, do not appear to have moats surrounding them.  This paper seeks to investigate whether the apparently ‘non-moated’ mound site of Non Klang (Nong Hua Raet village) was actually moated in the past, and if such, now in-filled features can be investigated through non-destructive Ground Penetrating Radar methodology.  Additionally, while large external moats can be observed in the modern day topography at sites such as Ban Non Wat, excavation has demonstrated that further, invisible, water management features exist beneath the surface within the current mound boundary of the site.  These are probably Iron Age precursors to the later more extensive and still visible moats.  This paper seeks to answer several fundamental questions: What application can GPR have at mounded sites in Southeast Asia?  Do invisible moats exist?  How will this affect our understanding of the broader prehistoric landscape in the Upper Mun River Valley?  </p>

scholarly journals dogs of Roman Vindolanda, Part IV: Large sighthounds and guard and utility dogs

Archaeofauna ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 185-216
Author(s):  
DEB BENNETT ◽  
ROBERT M. TIMM
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Central Section ◽  
Dental Wear ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Western Asia

In this report we investigate the origin and nature of morphological diversity in domestic dogs utilizing a database of over 1,000 recent and ancient canid skulls and skeletons. Integrated skull–skeleton analysis reveals eight functional groups, giving a clear picture of the extent and kind of morphological diversity produced by dog breeders in Europe, North Africa, and western Asia beginning in the Neolithic and intensifying about 2,100 years ago during the late Iron Age and Roman Era. We report nearly complete associated remains of a large sighthound from Vindolanda, a Roman-era fort–village site in northern England. With this we compare skulls of other sighthounds, and contrast them with remains of guard dogs from Vindolanda and other archaeological sites. The shape of jaw rami, relative size of teeth and state of dental wear, and the size and proportions of postcranial elements are the best differentiators of large dog morphotypes, while most skull parameters are less useful. The central section of the basicranium in ancient sighthounds (parameter Px which measures juvenilization) is little different from wolves, whereas in some modern breeds it is noticeably longer. By contrast, many ancient guard dogs have Px shorter than in wolves and show moderate juvenilization. Gracile sighthounds appear in the archaeological record in the Neolithic, while the earliest robust guard dogs appear later, in Iron Age sites. Building on results of previous work (Bennett & Timm, 2018) we continue to find intriguing similarities between west Asian dog

scholarly journals Of Mice and Merchants: Connectedness and the Location of Economic Activity in the Iron Age

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan David Bakker ◽  
Stephan Maurer ◽  
Jörn-Steffen Pischke ◽  
Ferdinand Rauch
Keyword(s):  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Open Water ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
World Level

We study the causal relationship between geographic connectedness and development using one of the earliest massive trade expansions: the first systematic crossing of open seas in the Mediterranean during the time of the Phoenicians. We construct a geography based measure of connectedness along the shores of the sea. We relate connectedness to economic activity, which we measure using the presence of archaeological sites. We find an association between better connected locations and archaeological sites during the Iron Age, at a time when sailors began to cross open water routinely on a big scale. We corroborate these findings at world level.

scholarly journals The invisible moats of the Mun River Valley, NE Thailand: The examination of water management devices at mounded sites through ground penetrating radar (GPR)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Duke ◽  
Nigel Chang ◽  
Ian Moffat ◽  
Wayne Morris
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Ground Penetrating Radar ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ground Penetrating ◽  
Non Destructive

The Mun River valley is well known for its moat-bound mounded archaeological sites that are usually associated with Iron Age occupation (~500BC- AD500). The investigation of these sites has provided a wealth of information on the changing social and environmental conditions during late prehistory. In recent years, research has identified a greater diversity of site morphologies in the region, many of which, importantly, do not appear to have moats surrounding them. This paper seeks to investigate whether the apparently ‘non-moated’ mound site of Non Klang (Nong Hua Raet village) was actually moated in the past, and if such, now in-filled, features can be investigated using non-destructive Ground-penetrating radar. Additionally, while large external moats can be observed in the modern day topography at sites such as Ban Non Wat, excavation has demonstrated that further, invisible, water management features exist beneath the surface within the current mound boundary of the site. These are probably Iron Age precursors to the later more extensive and still visible moats. This paper seeks to answer several fundamental questions: What application can GPR have at mounded sites in Southeast Asia? Do invisible moats exist? How will this affect our understanding of the broader prehistoric landscape in the Upper Mun River Valley?

Current research and recent radiocarbon dates from Northern Africa

1980 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela E. Close
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Northern Africa ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
The West ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Late Palaeolithic

The effect of recent radiocarbon dates from North Africa has largely been to extend the principal phases of prehistory back in time. The Middle Palaeolithic now seems to be essentially beyond the range of the radiocarbon technique, at least in the Eastern part of North Africa, although it may persist later in the West, and, throughout North Africa (with the sole exception of Cyrenaican Libya), there remains a disturbing hiatus between the Middle Palaeolithic and the subsequent Late Palaeolithic bladelet industries. The latter now seem to appear at about 20,000 B.c. over most of non-Saharan, North Africa, and may eventually be found to be earlier. Some of the earliest such occurrences may well be associated with domestication of plants (in Egypt) and of animals (in Algeria). If so, this will necessitate serious reconsideration of our concepts of the ‘Neolithic’. In any case, a true Neolithic appears in parts of the Southern Sahara as early as the eighth millennium B.C., and is widespread in the area by the seventh millennium. Curiously, the beginnings of the Neolithic are much later in the neighbouring and more luxuriant areas (the Nile Valley, the Mediterranean littoral and the Maghreb) than they are in the desert. Less research has been done on the final prehistoric and early historic periods, but, in the North, the invention of the Libyan alphabet and, in the South, the later Iron Age of Chad both seem earlier than had been thought.

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