Publications by authors named "Amkreutz L"
Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry on an unprecedented 719 archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic European contexts, predominantly dating from 3500 BCE to the eighteenth century CE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFModern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Lactase persistence (LP) evolved as a significant genetic trait in European, African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian populations over the last 10,000 years, largely influenced by milk consumption patterns.
- Despite evidence of widespread milk use in Europe since the Neolithic period, the relationship between prehistoric milk consumption and LP allele frequency is complex and suggests that other factors, such as environmental stressors, may have played a role in driving LP selection.
- The findings indicate that LP's rise in frequency may be better understood in the context of population dynamics and challenges faced by societies, rather than solely through the lens of milk exploitation.
Present-day people from England and Wales have more ancestry derived from early European farmers (EEF) than did people of the Early Bronze Age. To understand this, here we generated genome-wide data from 793 individuals, increasing data from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age in Britain by 12-fold, and western and central Europe by 3.5-fold.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between ~10,500 and ~400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between ~20,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the virus present in European and South American hunter-gatherers during the early Holocene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report the discovery of a 50,000-y-old birch tar-hafted flint tool found off the present-day coastline of The Netherlands. The production of adhesives and multicomponent tools is considered complex technology and has a prominent place in discussions about the evolution of human behavior. This find provides evidence on the technological capabilities of Neandertals and illuminates the currently debated conditions under which these technologies could be maintained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Abnormal cervical cytology in patients with endometrial cancer (EC) has been associated with poor outcome. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether cervical cytology could contribute to an improved preoperative identification of high-grade EC (serous, clear cell, carcinosarcoma, high-grade endometrioid EC) in final histology.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed in five hospitals in the Netherlands.
Objectives: The aim of this systematic review is to determine the incidence of lymph-node metastasis in clinical stage I and II sex cord stromal tumours and germ cell tumours of the ovary.
Methods: Relevant articles were identified from MEDLINE and EMBASE and supplemented with citations from the reference lists of the primary studies. Eligibility was determined by two authors.
Objective: Imaging of the lungs is part of the routine diagnostic workup of patients with endometrial cancer. The present study aimed to determine the incidence of lung metastases in patients with endometrial cancer and to evaluate the clinical relevance of preoperative chest imaging in this population.
Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed in four regional and one university hospital in the southeastern part of the Netherlands.