Sidon on the breadth of the wild sea: Movement and diet on the Mediterranean coast in the Middle Bronze Age.

Objectives: Excavations at Sidon (Lebanon) have revealed dual identities during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1600 BCE): a maritime port and center for local distribution, as well as a settlement with a heavy subsistence dependence on the extensive inland hinterlands. We aim to investigate residential mobility at Sidon using isotopic analyses of 112 individuals from 83 burials (20 females, 26 males, and 37 subadults).

Weapon injuries in the crusader mass graves from a 13th century attack on the port city of Sidon (Lebanon).

Archaeological excavations close to St Louis' castle in Sidon, Lebanon have revealed two mass grave deposits containing partially articulated and disarticulated human skeletal remains. A minimum of 25 male individuals have been recovered, with no females or young children. Radiocarbon dating of the human remains, a crusader coin, and the design of Frankish belt buckles strongly indicate they belong to a single event in the mid-13th century CE.

Who were the Hyksos? Challenging traditional narratives using strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) analysis of human remains from ancient Egypt.

A foreign dynasty, known as the Hyksos, ruled parts of Egypt between c. 1638-1530 BCE. Their origins are thought to be rooted in the Near East, which is supported by architectural features and grave accoutrements of Tell el-Dabca.

Reconstructing breastfeeding and weaning practices in the Bronze Age Near East using stable nitrogen isotopes.

Objectives: Breastfeeding and childhood diet have significant impact on morbidity and mortality within a population, and in the ancient Near East, it is possible to compare bioarchaeological reconstruction of breastfeeding and weaning practices with the scant textual evidence.

Materials And Methods: Nitrogen stable isotopes (δ N) are analyzed here for dietary reconstruction in skeletal collections from five Bronze Age (ca. 2,800-1,200 BCE) sites in modern Lebanon and Syria.

A Transient Pulse of Genetic Admixture from the Crusaders in the Near East Identified from Ancient Genome Sequences.

During the medieval period, hundreds of thousands of Europeans migrated to the Near East to take part in the Crusades, and many of them settled in the newly established Christian states along the Eastern Mediterranean coast. Here, we present a genetic snapshot of these events and their aftermath by sequencing the whole genomes of 13 individuals who lived in what is today known as Lebanon between the 3 and 13 centuries CE. These include nine individuals from the "Crusaders' pit" in Sidon, a mass burial in South Lebanon identified from the archaeology as the grave of Crusaders killed during a battle in the 13 century CE.

Stable isotopic evidence for land use patterns in the Middle Euphrates Valley, Syria.

Objectives: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ C and δ N) were used to reconstruct the history of subsistence strategies in the middle Euphrates valley, NE Syria, in six temporal subsets dating from the Early Bronze Age (c. 2300 BCE) to the Modern period (19th/20th century CE). The study aims to demonstrate that changes in political and social organization over time, for which the archaeological record suggests different goals of land use and modes of production, register through dietary patterns that are reflected in isotopic data.

Continuity and Admixture in the Last Five Millennia of Levantine History from Ancient Canaanite and Present-Day Lebanese Genome Sequences.

The Canaanites inhabited the Levant region during the Bronze Age and established a culture that became influential in the Near East and beyond. However, the Canaanites, unlike most other ancient Near Easterners of this period, left few surviving textual records and thus their origin and relationship to ancient and present-day populations remain unclear. In this study, we sequenced five whole genomes from ∼3,700-year-old individuals from the city of Sidon, a major Canaanite city-state on the Eastern Mediterranean coast.

Effects of heat on cut mark characteristics.

Cut marks on bones provide crucial information about tools used and their mode of application, both in archaeological and forensic contexts. Despite a substantial amount of research on cut mark analysis and the influence of fire on bones (shrinkage, fracture pattern, recrystallisation), there is still a lack of knowledge in cut mark analysis on burnt remains. This study provides information about heat alteration of cut marks and whether consistent features can be observed that allow direct interpretation of the implemented tools used.

Longitudinal and contemporaneous manganese exposure in apartheid-era South Africa: Implications for the past and future.

Manganese is a potent environmental toxin, with significant effects on human health. Manganese exposure is of particular concern in South Africa where in the last decade, lead in gasoline has been replaced by methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT). We investigated recent historical levels of manganese exposure in urban Gauteng, South Africa prior to the introduction of MMT in order to generate heretofore non-existent longitudinal public health data on manganese exposure in urban South Africans.

Age at death estimation from bone histology in Malaysian males.

Estimation of age from microscopic examination of human bone utilizes bone remodeling. This allows 2 regression equation to be determined in a specific population based on the variation in osteon turnover in different populations. The aim of this study was to provide age estimation for Malaysian males.

Lead exposure in adult males in urban Transvaal Province, South Africa during the apartheid era.

Human exposure to lead is a substantial public health hazard worldwide and is particularly problematic in the Republic of South Africa given the country's late cessation of leaded petrol. Lead exposure is associated with a number of serious health issues and diseases including developmental and cognitive deficiency, hypertension and heart disease. Understanding the distribution of lifetime lead burden within a given population is critical for reducing exposure rates.

Tooth cementum annulation for estimation of age-at-death in thermally altered remains.

Assessment of tooth cementum annulations (TCA) is acknowledged for its potential as a more accurate method for estimating age-at-death than conventional macroscopic methods typically employed. Thermal alteration of remains in a forensic context is not uncommon; however, the use of TCA in heat-treated remains has hitherto received no quantitative assessment of accuracy. This study applies TCA to a sample of modern teeth of known demographics after experimental heat treatment at 600, 800 and 1000°C.

Stable isotope analysis as an indicator of diet and status in La Tène Bohemia.

Unlike traditional methods of examining past diet, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone collagen (delta13C, delta15N) can be used to examine diet at the level of the individual and make interpretations based on differences observed between individuals and groups. This method, which reflects the overall protein intake of the last 10-30 years of an individual's lifetime, can be used to examine trophic level, the relative contribution of marine foods, and also the relative contribution of plant foods following the C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways. Interim data from two La Tène inhumation cemeteries in Bohemia (Kutná Hora and Radovesice II) and four Hallstatt tumulus burials from northern Austria (Stadlau, Gosinfürth bei Amstetten, Slemschek and Rohrendorf) suggest that during the La Tène in Bohemia, overall diet was based on animal protein and plant foods following the C3 photosynthetic pathway with at least some input of plant foods following the C4 photosynthetic pathway (millet).

Auricular surface aging: worse than expected? A test of the revised method on a documented historic skeletal assemblage.

This study presents results and recommendations arising from a blind test of the revised age estimation method for the auricular surface as proposed by Buckberry and Chamberlain ([2002] Am. J. Phys.

The distal humerus--a blind test of Rogers' sexing technique using a documented skeletal collection.

Continuous monitoring of existing methods of skeletal diagnosis allows improving the reliability of personal identification in forensic and archaeological contexts. This study reports on a blind test re-evaluating the sexing technique proposed by Rogers (8) involving the distal humerus. A total of 351 humeri (184 male, 167 female specimens) from the documented skeletal assemblage of St.