A severe case of bilateral humerus varus deformity from the Middle Bronze age necropolis of Olmo di Nogara, Northeast Italy. The contribution of biomechanical analysis to paleopathological study.

Objective: To gain insights on possible impairment of a Middle Bronze Age individual with bilateral humerus varus buried with a sword in Northeastern Italy.

Materials: A skeleton of a 40-50-year-old male from Olmo di Nogara (Italy) compared to other males from the same necropolis and to Neolithic and Iron Age samples from Italy.

Methods: Macroscopic/X-rays analysis for pathological diagnosis and cross-sectional geometric analysis.

An assessment of puberty status in adolescents from the European Upper Paleolithic.

Childhood and adolescence are two life-history stages that are either unique to humans, or significantly expanded in the human life course relative to other primates. While recent studies have deepened our knowledge of childhood in the Upper Paleolithic, adolescence in this period remains understudied. Here, we use bioarchaeological maturational markers to estimate puberty status of 13 Upper Paleolithic adolescents from sites in Russia, Czechia, and Italy to 1) evaluate the feasibility of the application of bioarchaeological puberty assessment methods to Upper Paleolithic (Homo sapiens) skeletal individuals, 2) estimate the timing and tempo of puberty in Upper Paleolithic adolescents compared to other archaeological populations analyzed using the same method, and 3) characterize adolescence in the Upper Paleolithic by contextualizing the results of this puberty assessment with data on individual and population-level health, morbidity and burial practices.

Human remains from Arma di Nasino (Liguria) provide novel insights into the paleoecology of early Holocene foragers in northwestern Italy.

We report the discovery and analysis of new Mesolithic human remains-dated to ca. 10,200-9000 cal. BP-from Arma di Nasino in Liguria, northwestern Italy, an area rich in Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic attestations, but for which little information on Early Holocene occupation was available.

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers.

Modern 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.

Multi-proxy analysis suggests Late Pleistocene affinities of human skeletal remains attributed to Balzi Rossi.

In two publications from 1967 and 1971, M. Masali described human skeletal remains presumed to have been found in the Balzi Rossi caves (Ventimiglia, Italy), based on a signed note dated to 1908. Since then, the remains - dubbed "Conio's Finds" and preserved at the University of Torino - had not been further studied.

Tracking the transition to agriculture in Southern Europe through ancient DNA analysis of dental calculus.

Archaeological dental calculus, or mineralized plaque, is a key tool to track the evolution of oral microbiota across time in response to processes that impacted our culture and biology, such as the rise of farming during the Neolithic. However, the extent to which the human oral flora changed from prehistory until present has remained elusive due to the scarcity of data on the microbiomes of prehistoric humans. Here, we present our reconstruction of oral microbiomes via shotgun metagenomics of dental calculus in 44 ancient foragers and farmers from two regions playing a pivotal role in the spread of farming across Europe-the Balkans and the Italian Peninsula.

Complex mortuary dynamics in the Upper Paleolithic of the decorated Grotte de Cussac, France.

The Mid-Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian) karstic Grotte de Cussac (France) contains two areas of human remains in the context of abundant (and spectacular) parietal engravings. The first area (loci 1 and 2) includes the skeleton of a young adult male in a bear nest, rearranged by postdecomposition inundation, and the variably fragmentary remains of at least two individuals distributed across two bear nests, sorted anatomically and with most of the elements constrained to one side of one nest. The second area (locus 3) retains remains of two adults and an adolescent, in upper hollows and variably distributed down the slope, largely segregated into upper versus lower body groups.

Morphological variability of Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic skulls from Sicily.

Scenarios for the dispersal of Homo sapiens in Southern Europe and in the Mediterranean basin have been uncertain, given the scarceness of osteological samples and the simplicity of the proposed archaeologically-based settlement hypotheses. According to available data, the first anatomically modern humans entered Sicily during the Late Pleistocene, coming from the Italian peninsula. A presumably small Late Epigravettian population colonised coastal sites.

Insights on patterns of developmental disturbances from the analysis of linear enamel hypoplasia in a Neolithic sample from Liguria (northwestern Italy).

Objective: To assess developmental disturbances through the analysis of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) frequency and to infer environmental stress and life history within Neolithic communities from Liguria (Italy).

Materials: 43 unworn/minimally worn permanent anterior teeth of 13 individuals recovered from nearby caves and dated to c. 4800-4400 cal.

New insights on Final Epigravettian funerary behavior at Arene Candide Cave (Western Liguria, Italy).

We gained new insights on Epigravettian funerary behavior at the Arene Candide cave through the osteological and spatial analysis of the burials and human bone accumulations found in the cave during past excavations. Archaeothanathological information on the human skeletal remains was recovered from diaries, field pictures and notes, and data from recent excavations was integrated. The secondary deposits have traditionally been interpreted as older burials that were disturbed to make space for new inhumations.

Smaller long bone cross-sectional size in people who died of tuberculosis: Insights on frailty factors from a 19th and early 20th century Finnish population.

There is little research on how individuals suffering from tuberculosis may differ from those not infected in terms of overall skeletal morphology. Tuberculosis was endemic in 19th and early 20th century Finland making documented skeletal collections of Finns ideal to study effects of the disease on bone. The present study compares long bone cross-sectional total area between individuals who died of tuberculosis and those with another recorded cause of death in a Finnish sample.

Social reorganization and biological change: An examination of stature variation among Iron Age Samnites from Abruzzo, central Italy.

Stature is a sensitive indicator of overall environmental quality experienced during growth and development, and can provide insights on a population's 'well-being'. This study investigated changes in estimated adult stature in a large (N=568) sample of Samnite Iron Age (800-27 BCE) people from central Italy, during a period of increasing sociopolitical complexity. Stature was analyzed diachronically, between sexes, and across social strata inferred using the 'Status Index' based on funerary treatment.

A 6500-year-old Middle Neolithic child from Pollera Cave (Liguria, Italy) with probable multifocal osteoarticular tuberculosis.

Clear skeletal evidence of prehistoric tuberculosis (TB) is rare, especially in children. We describe and differentially diagnose the pathological changes displayed by a five-year-old child, Pollera 21 (PO21) dated to the Middle Neolithic of Liguria (Italy), or 5740±30 BP (Beta-409341; 6635-6453cal BP, 2σ, OxCal 4.2).

Insights on the paleoepidemiology of ancient tuberculosis from the structural analysis of postcranial remains from the Ligurian Neolithic (northwestern Italy).

The aim of this research is to gain insights on the progression timeline of osteoarticular tuberculosis (TB) in people from the Neolithic period by using skeletal traits that are independent of the bony lesions. The body proportions and postcranial mechanical strength of bones from two individuals from Liguria in northwestern Italy (Arene Candide 5, adolescent, and Arma dell'Aquila 1, adult), were compared with the rest of the Ligurian Neolithic skeletal series (45 individuals). If TB led to wasting of the skeleton and lack of normal function that endured for years, as often happens today, a clear signature of postcranial gracility and disruption of development should be apparent.

A bioarchaeological approach to the reconstruction of changes in military organization among Iron Age Samnites (Vestini) From Abruzzo, Central Italy.

The Samnites were an Iron Age population that shifted from warlike mountain dwellers to the largest sociopolitical unit of central Italy, able to dispute with Rome the domination over the peninsula. Archaeological and historical evidence suggests that this major shift in the scale of conflict may have involved a reorganization of the military system, which changed from an elite militia to a conscript or standing army from the Orientalizing-Archaic (800-500 BC) to Hellenistic times (400-27 BC). We propose a bioarchaeological framework jointly analyzing skeletal properties and funerary treatment in male Samnites to investigate on this shift in military organization.

Mobility and subsistence economy: a diachronic comparison between two groups settled in the same geographical area (Liguria, Italy).

The purpose of this article is to investigate temporal shifts in skeletal robusticity to infer behavioral changes in two populations (Neolithic, NEOL and Medieval, MED) settled in the same geographic area but involved in different subsistence economies (pastoralism and coastal resources exploitation). This comparison allows us to test the hypothesis that occupational stress and mobility in the same environment produce predictable changes in the robusticity of both upper and lower limbs. Results show a lower degree of humeral robusticity and a similar degree of humeral asymmetry in the two sexes in the MED population.

Biomechanical approach to the reconstruction of activity patterns in Neolithic Western Liguria, Italy.

This paper investigates the changes in upper and lower limb robusticity and activity patterns that accompanied the transition to a Neolithic subsistence in western Liguria (Italy). Diaphyseal robusticity measures were obtained from cross-sectional geometric properties of the humerus and femur in a sample of 16 individuals (eight males and eight females) dated to about 6,000-5,500 BP. Comparisons with European Late Upper Paleolithics (LUP) indicate increased humeral robusticity in Neolithic Ligurian (NEOL) males, but not in females, with a significant reduction in right-left differences in both sexes.