Unlabelled: The translocation of broomcorn millet () is an enticing subject of archaeological investigation. While the species was rapidly dispersed across Eurasia during prehistory, its adoption appears to have been inconsistent, with evidence for its sudden and gradual adoption, as well as its rejection, observed within and between contemporary communities and cultures. The translocation of may be better understood through the identification of its role and significance as a foodstuff among past populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
October 2023
To investigate changes in culinary practices associated with the arrival of farming, we analysed the organic residues of over 1,000 pottery vessels from hunter-gatherer-fisher and early agricultural sites across Northern Europe from the Lower Rhine Basin to the Northeastern Baltic. Here, pottery was widely used by hunter-gatherer-fishers prior to the introduction of domesticated animals and plants. Overall, there was surprising continuity in the way that hunter-gatherer-fishers and farmers used pottery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Ceramic objects account for over 90% of the cultural material recovered from archaeological sites in the Caribbean. However, little research has been conducted on molecular evidence for past food production from these same vessels. Forty ceramic sherds from Isla de Mona have been analysed by GC-MS and GC-C-IRMS in order to address questions surrounding foodways in the Greater Antilles prior to and post European arrival.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman history has been shaped by global dispersals of technologies, although understanding of what enabled these processes is limited. Here, we explore the behavioural mechanisms that led to the emergence of pottery among hunter-gatherer communities in Europe during the mid-Holocene. Through radiocarbon dating, we propose this dispersal occurred at a far faster rate than previously thought.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The emergence of pottery in Europe is associated with two distinct traditions: hunter-gatherers in the east of the continent during the early 6th millennium BC and early agricultural communities in the south-west in the late 7th millennium BC. Here we investigate the function of pottery from the site of Rakushechny Yar, located at the Southern fringe of Eastern Europe, in this putative contact zone between these two economic 'worlds'. To investigate, organic residue analysis was conducted on 120 samples from the Early Neolithic phase (ca.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To report COVID-19 illness pattern, symptom duration and time loss in UK elite athletes.
Methods: Observational, clinical and database review of athletes with symptomatic COVID-19 illness managed within the UK Sports Institutes. Athletes were classified as confirmed (positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR or antibody tests) or probable (consistent clinical features) COVID-19.
This paper presents novel insights into the archaeology of food in ancient South Asia by using lipid residue analysis to investigate what kinds of foodstuffs were used in ceramic vessels by populations of the Indus Civilisation in northwest India. It examines how vessels were used in urban and rural Indus settlements during the Mature Harappan period (.2600/2500-1900 BC), the relationship between vessels and the products within them, and identifies whether changes in vessel use occurred from the Mature Harappan to Late Harappan periods, particularly during climatic instability after 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter-gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivations for hunter-gatherer pottery use, here, we present the systematic analysis of the contents of 528 early vessels from the Baltic Sea region, mostly dating to the late 6th-5th millennium cal BC, using molecular and isotopic characterization techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith the arrival of the Early Neolithic Globular Amphora and Corded Ware cultures into the southeastern Baltic, ca. 2900/2800-2400 cal BC, a new type of economy was introduced, animal husbandry. However, the degree to which this transformed the subsistence economy is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe invention of pottery was a fundamental technological advancement with far-reaching economic and cultural consequences. Pottery containers first emerged in East Asia during the Late Pleistocene in a wide range of environmental settings, but became particularly prominent and much more widely dispersed after climatic warming at the start of the Holocene. Some archaeologists argue that this increasing usage was driven by environmental factors, as warmer climates would have generated a wider range of terrestrial plant and animal resources that required processing in pottery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnalysis of organic residues in pottery vessels has been successful in detecting a range of animal and plant products as indicators of food preparation and consumption in the past. However, the identification of plant remains, especially grain crops in pottery, has proved elusive. Extending the spectrum is highly desirable, not only to strengthen our understanding of the dispersal of crops from centres of domestication but also to determine modes of food processing, artefact function and the culinary significance of the crop.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe earliest pots in the world are from East Asia and date to the Late Pleistocene. However, ceramic vessels were only produced in large numbers during the warmer and more stable climatic conditions of the Holocene. It has long been assumed that the expansion of pottery was linked with increased sedentism and exploitation of new resources that became available with the ameliorated climate, but this hypothesis has never been tested.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntiplatelet therapy has become a cornerstone in the management of many vascular diseases. With growing antiplatelet options, attention has focused on their comparative effectiveness in specific patient populations. Perhaps one of the least defined factors influencing efficacy of these agents is body mass and obesity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPottery was a hunter-gatherer innovation that first emerged in East Asia between 20,000 and 12,000 calibrated years before present (cal bp), towards the end of the Late Pleistocene epoch, a period of time when humans were adjusting to changing climates and new environments. Ceramic container technologies were one of a range of late glacial adaptations that were pivotal to structuring subsequent cultural trajectories in different regions of the world, but the reasons for their emergence and widespread uptake are poorly understood. The first ceramic containers must have provided prehistoric hunter-gatherers with attractive new strategies for processing and consuming foodstuffs, but virtually nothing is known of how early pots were used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: The carbon isotopic characterisation of ruminant lipids associated with ceramic vessels has been crucial for elucidating the origins and changing nature of pastoral economies. δ(13)C values of fatty acids extracted from potsherds are commonly compared with those from the dairy and carcass fats of modern domesticated animals to determine vessel use. However, the processing of wild ruminant products in pottery, such as deer, is rarely considered despite the presence of several different species on many prehistoric sites.
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