Category Archives: WORLD

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

17th-Century Toddler May Have Died from Lack of Sunlight

17th-Century Toddler May Have Died from Lack of Sunlight

17th-Century Toddler May Have Died from Lack of Sunlight

Scientists used a ‘virtual autopsy’ to examine the mummy of a child found in an aristocratic family crypt, revealing him most probably as Reichard Wilhelm (1625-1626). Despite his wealthy background, the child experienced extreme nutritional deficiency and tragically early death from pneumonia.

A team of scientists based in Germany have examined a 17th-century child mummy, using cutting-edge science alongside historical records to shed new light on Renaissance childhood.

The child was found in an aristocratic Austrian family crypt, where the conditions allowed for natural mummification, preserving soft tissue that contained critical information about his life and death.

Curiously, this was the only unidentified body in the crypt, buried in an unmarked wooden coffin instead of the elaborate metal coffins reserved for the other members of the family buried there.

The team, led by Dr Andreas Nerlich of the Academic Clinic Munich-Bogenhausen, carried out a virtual autopsy and radiocarbon testing, and examined family records and key material clues from the burial, to try to understand who the child was and what his short life looked like.

“This is only one case,” said Nerlich, lead author of the paper published today in Frontiers in Medicine, “but as we know that the early infant death rates generally were very high at that time, our observations may have considerable impact in the over-all life reconstruction of infants even in higher social classes.”

Well fed, but not well nourished

The virtual autopsy was carried out through CT scanning. Nerlich and his team measured bone lengths and looked at tooth eruption and the formation of long bones to determine that the child was approximately a year old when he died.

The soft tissue showed that the child was a boy and overweight for his age, so his parents were able to feed him well – but the bones told a different story.

The child’s ribs had become malformed in the pattern called a rachitic rosary, which is usually seen in severe rickets or scurvy. Although he received enough food to put on weight, he was still malnourished. While the typical bowing of the bones seen in rickets was absent, this may have been because he did not walk or crawl.

Since the virtual autopsy revealed that he had inflammation of the lungs characteristic of pneumonia, and children with rickets are more vulnerable to pneumonia, this nutritional deficiency may even have contributed to his early death.

“The combination of obesity along with a severe vitamin-deficiency can only be explained by a generally ‘good’ nutritional status along with an almost complete lack of sunlight exposure,” said Nerlich. “We have to reconsider the living conditions of high aristocratic infants of previous populations.”

The son of a powerful count

However, although Nerlich and his team had established a probable cause of death, the question of the child’s identity remained. The deformation of his skull suggested that his simple wooden coffin wasn’t quite large enough for the child. However, a specialist examination of his clothing showed that he had been buried in a long, hooded coat made of expensive silk.

He was also buried in a crypt exclusively reserved for the powerful Counts of Starhemberg, who buried their title-holders — mostly first-born sons — and their wives there. This meant that the child was most likely the first-born son of a Count of Starhemberg.

Radiocarbon dating of a skin sample suggested he was buried between 1550-1635 CE, while historical records of the crypt’s management indicated that his burial probably took place after the crypt’s renovation around 1600 CE. He was the only infant buried in the crypt.

“We have no data on the fate of other infants of the family,” Nerlich said, regarding the unique burial. “According to our data, the infant was most probably [the count’s] first-born son after the erection of the family crypt, so special care may have been applied.”

This meant that there was only one likely candidate for the little boy in the silk coat: Reichard Wilhelm, whose grieving family buried him alongside his grandfather and namesake Reichard von Starhemberg.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

UK’s oldest human DNA obtained, revealing two distinct Palaeolithic populations

UK’s oldest human DNA obtained, revealing two distinct Palaeolithic populations

UK’s oldest human DNA obtained, revealing two distinct Palaeolithic populations

Published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the new study by UCL Institute of Archaeology, the Natural History Museum and the Francis Crick Institute researchers reveals for the first time that the recolonisation of Britain consisted of at least two groups with distinct origins and cultures.

The study team explored DNA evidence from an individual from Gough’s Cave, Somerset, and an individual from Kendrick’s Cave, North Wales, who both lived more than 13,500 years ago. Very few skeletons of this age exist in Britain, with around a dozen found across six sites in total. The study, which involved radiocarbon dating and analysis as well as DNA extraction and sequencing, shows that it is possible to obtain useful genetic information from some of the oldest human skeletal material in the country.

The authors say that these genome sequences now represent the earliest chapter of the genetic history of Britain, but ancient DNA and proteins promise to take us back even further into human history.

The researchers found that the DNA from the individual from Gough’s Cave, who died about 15,000 years ago, indicates that her ancestors were part of an initial migration into northwest Europe around 16,000 years ago. However, the individual from Kendrick’s Cave is from a later period, around 13,500 years ago, with his ancestry from a western hunter-gatherer group. This group’s ancestral origins are thought to be from the near East, migrating to Britain around 14,000 years ago.

Study co-author Dr Mateja Hajdinjak (Francis Crick Institute) said: “Finding the two ancestries so close in time in Britain, only a millennium or so apart, is adding to the emerging picture of Palaeolithic Europe, which is one of a changing and dynamic population.”

The authors note that these migrations occurred after the last ice age when approximately two-thirds of Britain was covered by glaciers. As the climate warmed and the glaciers melted, drastic ecological and environmental changes took place and humans began to move back into northern Europe.

Study co-author Dr Sophy Charlton, who undertook the study whilst at the Natural History Museum, said: “The period we were interested in, from 20-10,000 years ago, is part of the Palaeolithic – the Old Stone Age. This is an important time period for the environment in Britain, as there would have been significant climate warming, increases in the amount of forest, and changes in the type of animals available to hunt.”

As well as genetically, the two groups were found to be culturally distinct, with differences in what they ate and how they buried their dead.

Study co-author Dr Rhiannon Stevens (UCL Institute of Archaeology) said: “Chemical analyses of the bones showed that the individuals from Kendrick’s Cave ate a lot of marine and freshwater foods, including large marine mammals.

“Humans at Gough’s Cave, however, showed no evidence of eating marine and freshwater foods, and primarily ate terrestrial herbivores such as red deer, bovids (such as wild cattle called aurochs) and horses.”

The researchers discovered that the mortuary practices of the two groups also differed. Although there were animal bones found at Kendrick’s Cave, these included portable art items, such as a decorated horse jawbone. No animal bones were found that showed evidence of being eaten by humans, and the scientists say that this indicates the cave was used as a burial site by its occupiers.

In contrast, animal and human bones found in Gough’s Cave showed significant human modification, including human skulls modified into ‘skull-cups’, which the researchers believe to be evidence of ritualistic cannibalism. Individuals from this earlier population seem to be the same people who created the Magdalenian stone tools, a culture known also for iconic cave art and bone artefacts.

Gough’s Cave is also the site where Britain’s famous Cheddar Man was discovered in 1903, dated to 10,564-9,915 years BP. In this study, Cheddar Man was found to have a mixture of ancestries, mostly (85%) western hunter-gatherers and some (15%) of the older type from the initial migration.

Co-author Dr Selina Brace (Natural History Museum) said: “We really wanted to find out more about who these early populations in Britain might have been.

“We knew from our previous work, including the study of Cheddar Man, that western hunter-gatherers were in Britain by around 10,500 years BP, but we didn’t know when they first arrived in Britain, and whether this was the only population that was present.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

1,700-Year-Old Roman Villa Complex Identified By Archaeologists Using Google Earth Images in England

1,700-Year-Old Roman Villa Complex Identified By Archaeologists Using Google Earth Images in England

Using Google Earth images, archaeologists identified a Roman villa complex—complete with a bathhouse and central heating system—in Kent, England last month.

1,700-Year-Old Roman Villa Complex Identified By Archaeologists Using Google Earth Images in England
Excavation of the Roman villa complex in Kent, England, 2022.

Crop markings captured by Google outlined the linear features of the site.

The wall foundations of the main villa, in addition to a pillar from the partially intact hypocaust, or Roman central heating system, were excavated by the Kent Archaeological Society with volunteers from the local community.

The hypocaust system would have been used to circulate heat through the walls and floors of an adjacent bathhouse.

“There are many villas spread across Kent, but the fact there’s a hypocaust system remaining is rare.

Operating a hypocaust was expensive, requiring a constant supply of fuels – firewood – and a workforce to operate it,” site director Richard Taylor told local publication KentOnline.

The presence of this kind of system suggests that the inhabitants would have been high-status farmers, as a hypocaust is typically limited to wealthy villas and public villas.

Additionally uncovered were several artefacts such as an amphora-shaped belt adornment dating to ca. 375 C.E., a small Roman-British key, two 4th-century C.E. coins, pottery, and wall plaster from the main villa.

After dating these objects, the team estimates that the villa dates to the 3rd or 4th century C.E.; these Roman-British farmers, however, would not have been the first residents in the area.

The nearby site Coldrum Long Barrow dates to roughly 3900 B.C.E., indicating that the land was likely being farmed for thousands of years prior to the villa’s construction.

“This suggests a continuity of settlement in the area that goes back c.5000 years, which is not surprising given its idyllic location and agricultural potential,” Taylor continued. “The villa is like just one episode in a much greater time frame.”

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Maya Stela Discovered at Uxmal

Maya Stela Discovered at Uxmal

Maya Stela Discovered at Uxmal
The stela was found in Uxmal, a Maya city founded around A.D. 700.

In the archaeological site of Uxmal in the Yucatán peninsula, a Maya stela depicting a god and a goddess has been discovered by a technical team headed by the archaeologist José Huchim Herrera. The monument could represent the duality between life and death.

The director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History INAH, Diego Prieto, announced during AMLO’s Thursday press conference the finding of the Maya stela, which he said “is a commemorative dual stela because it is carved on both sides.”

The north-facing side of the monument features the figure of a goddess with big eyes, a bare chest, and barbels at the corner of the mouth, Prieto said.

The imagery likely represents death, as such depictions were common in the Puuc and Chenes cultural regions in the southern Yucatán peninsula.

The woman depicted is also holding a quetzal bird in her left hand and wears a pectoral decoration with three rows of pearls, bracelets with pearl details and a long skirt.

An INAH graphic highlighting features found on the north-facing side of the stela.

On the south-facing side, Prieto continued, the stela shows the image of a god with a wide-brimmed headdress adorned with feathers and an owl’s head, as well as bracelets, loincloth, and leg bandages.

The man wears a cape and holds a cane in his left hand and a bundle of some kind in his right hand.

The stela was discovered as part of the Program for the Improvement of Archeological Sites (Promeza), which undertakes archaeological projects along the route of the Maya Train.

The director of INAH said that “the importance of the discovery lies in the fact that it was found ‘in situ,’” meaning in the same place the Maya left it: the sunken patio of the ancient city of Uxmal.

Located 62 kilometers south of Mérida, the city of Uxmal is part of the Puuc Route (a collection of five ancient Maya sites in Yucatán) and was founded in A.D. 700.

Uxmal was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

GREENLAND, WORLD

Early Greenlanders Enjoyed a Varied Diet

Early Greenlanders Enjoyed a Varied Diet

Early Greenlanders Enjoyed a Varied Diet
Nuuk, Greenland.

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Denmark and Greenland, working with another colleague from Australia, has found that early humans living in Greenland ate a much more varied diet than previously believed. The study is published in Nature Human Behavior.

Scientists studying the history of Greenland have often wondered how early humans could have survived in such a cold climate. Prior research has shown that there have been four major migrations to Greenland: The Saqqaq, the Dorset, the Norse and the Thule—only the Thule became permanent residents.

The first group, the Saqqaq people, arrived approximately 4,500 years ago and remained in Greenland until a strong cooling period drove them away after 1,700 years.

Prior research efforts have suggested they ate fish, seals and perhaps even some types of whales, despite their limited toolset.

In this new effort, the researchers took a closer look at the diet of the Saqqaq and the diets of the other groups that followed them—their work involved conducting a DNA analysis of bone fragments collected from “kitchen middens,” a term used in Greenland to describe mounds of bones left behind by humans as they were discarded after meals.

In studying approximately 2,500 bone shards, the researchers found they were able to identify 42 species of creatures eaten by early humans, many of which came as a surprise.

The team found, for example, DNA from an extinct species of reindeer—one that was much smaller than those that live in Greenland today. They also found evidence of multiple types of whales: fin, sperm, narwhal and bowhead.

Bowheads were the most prevalent, which, the researchers note, makes sense because they are relatively easy to kill. In all, the researchers found evidence of 20 mammal species, nine kinds of fish (including a surprising number that was quite small, suggesting the use of nets) and 13 types of birds.

The DNA evidence reveals not just the types of creatures that were captured and eaten by early people, the researchers note, but also sheds light on the technical know-how of those who succeeded in hunting them.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

An 11,100-year-old trap proves people lived in Alaska 1,000 years earlier than believed

An 11,100-year-old trap proves people lived in Alaska 1,000 years earlier than believed

An 11,100-year-old trap proves people lived in Alaska 1,000 years earlier than believed
The weir was found as part of a project organized by the Sealaska Heritage Institute and SUNFISH Inc. to explore submerged caves in southeastern Alaska “to seek evidence of early human occupation.” A SUNFISH autonomous underwater vehicle was used in the project. Photo Jill Heinerth, Stone Aerospace

Remains of an elaborate stone fish trap have been discovered on the seafloor off Southeast Alaska, and scientists say it proves Indigenous people occupied the region 1,000 years earlier than previously believed.

Known as a fish weir, the ancient trap dates back about 11,100 years, the Sealaska Heritage Institute reported in a news release. That makes it likely “the oldest stone fish weir ever found in the world … and it is the first one ever confirmed underwater in North America,” scientists said.

It was discovered over the summer as part of a project funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration to search seafloor caves for evidence of early human occupation, according to the release.

The trap sits about 170 feet below the surface of Shakan Bay, on the west side of Prince of Wales Island, officials told McClatchy News. It takes the shape of five to six “semi-circular structures” that are up to 6 feet wide. Time has worn the walls down to about 1 foot in height, the institute said. 

“Likely the rocks were piled much higher 11,100 years ago. … People would have maintained the weir seasonally by restacking rocks and adding more rocks and possibly wooden stakes,” the institute said.

Such traps were typically built close to shore, in spots that would have been covered at high tide. However, the change in seafloor levels has left the weir “over 2 km (1.2 miles) from the closest modern shoreline.” 

“It further substantiates the great antiquity of Native people in Southeast Alaska,” said anthropologist Rosita Worl of the Sealaska Heritage Institute. “It also demonstrates that Native people had acquired knowledge about salmon behaviour and migrations, then developed the technology to harvest a significant number of salmon.”

[Image: Image from a remotely operated vehicle of semi-circular stacked stones on the seafloor, part of a larger weir (fish trap) complex. Image courtesy of Dr. Kelly Monteleone, Our Submerged Past.]

Sonar evidence of a structure at the site was first recorded in 2010, but “funding constraints” prevented experts from confirming their theories until this year, the institute said. A robotic underwater craft was used to investigate the structure, piloted by archaeologist Kelly Monteleone at the University of Calgary.

She reports “the entire vessel was bouncing with excitement” when it was confirmed to be a weir in May. “It wasn’t just me that was convinced (in 2010), but the burden of proof was on me,” Menteleone told McClatchy News.

“Other archaeologists and locals were extremely supportive based on the sonar. But, as my dissertation advisor taught me, I had to be sure before it became an archaeological site, i.e. before we were ‘sure’ it was actually there. So for the last 12 years, this location has been a ‘potential’ weir.”

Examples of ancient fish weirs have been found around the world, and often employed the use of pile stones, reeds and/or wooden posts, experts say. They were often built as “low arced walls” across coastal gullies. “During high tide, the fish would swim over the stone walls, and as the tide ebbed, the fish would be trapped behind them, allowing fishers to catch them with nets, spears and other means,” the institute says. Other weirs have been found in Southeast Alaska, but the oldest dated to only around 5,740 years ago, the institute reports.

The age of the weir in Shakan Bay was established “based on sea level reconstruction,” officials said. The world believes it is the work of people who had been in the region long enough to develop sophisticated skills. “It would have taken time for our people to learn enough about the environment and fish behaviour to develop the technology to make the weir and to fish it successfully,” she said in the release.

NOAA Ocean Exploration was a primary financial backer of the project, and it reports the team will return to Southeast Alaska next summer to continue exploring submerged caves and rock shelters using a SUNFISH autonomous underwater vehicle.

EUROPE, WORLD

Black Death immunity came at a cost to modern-day health

Black Death immunity came at a cost to modern-day health

Black Death immunity came at a cost to modern-day health
Using DNA from the excavated remains of plague victims, including those buried in a London cemetery from 1348–1349, and from people who died earlier and later, researchers searched for evidence of how the Black Death pushed the immune system to evolve.

A genetic variant that appears to have boosted medieval Europeans’ ability to survive the Black Death centuries ago may contribute — albeit in a small way — to an inflammatory disease afflicting people today. 

Researchers used DNA collected from centuries-old remains to discern the fingerprints that the bubonic plague during the Black Death left on Europeans’ immune systems.

This devastating wave of disease tended to spare those who possessed a variant of a gene known as ERAP2, causing it to become more common, researchers report on October 19 in Nature. That variant is already known to scientists for slightly increasing the odds of developing Crohn’s disease, in which errant inflammation harms the digestive system.

The results show “how these studies on ancient DNA can help actually understand diseases even now,” says Mihai Netea, an infectious diseases specialist at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands, who was not involved with the study. “And the trade-off is also very clear.”

Caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, bubonic plague once killed 60 per cent of those infected (SN: 6/15/22). In the ancient world, it caused successive waves of misery, the most devastating of which was the Black Death, often dated from 1346 to 1350, an episode thought to have wiped out at least 25 million people — about a third or more of the European population. 

By sparing individuals whose immune systems bear certain traits, pathogens such as Y. pestis have shaped the evolution of the human immune system. Studies are teasing out the ways the massive winnowing of the plague altered Europeans’ immune-related genetics. 

In this most recent study, population geneticist Luis Barreiro of the University of Chicago and colleagues collected samples containing DNA from the remains of 516 people in London and Denmark who died between 1000 and 1800, including those buried during the Black Death. The researchers examined stretches of DNA for immune-related genes and areas associated with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Researchers collected DNA samples from burial sites in London, including the East Smithfield plague pits (shown here), and in Denmark.

Within those regions, the researchers identified four locations on chromosomes where they saw strong evidence of genetic changes that appeared to have been driven by the Black Death. In follow-up work, one change stood out: an increase in the frequency of a variant of ERAP2.

When infected with Y. pestis, immune cells from people with this version of ERAP2 more effectively killed the bacteria than cells lacking the variant. Studies of modern populations have linked that same variant to Crohn’s disease.

While the researchers calculate that the ERAP2 variant improved the odds of surviving the Black Death by as much as 40 per cent, it only slightly increases the risk for Crohn’s disease.

For complex disorders like Crohn’s, “you require probably hundreds, sometimes thousands of genetic variants to actually increase your risk in a significant manner,” Barreiro says.

For some time now, researchers in the field have theorized that adaptations that helped our ancestors fortify their immune systems against infectious diseases can contribute to excessive, damaging immune activity.

Earlier studies of plague offer support for this idea. A genetic analysis seeking traces of historical disease in modern Europeans and a study of DNA from the remains of 16th-century German plague victims both turned up what appear to be protective changes against the plague that, like the ERAP2 variant, are linked with inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.  

Likewise, this latest discovery suggests that genetic changes that have amped up the human immune response in the past, empowering it to better fight off ancient infections, can come at a cost. “If you turn the heat too much, that leads to disease,” Barreiro says.

EUROPE, SWEDEN, WORLD

Wreckage of 17th-Century Swedish Warship Identified

Wreckage of 17th-Century Swedish Warship Identified

Wreckage of 17th-Century Swedish Warship Identified
A diver approaches Äpplet’s wreck. Hansson said: ‘With Äpplet, we can add another key piece of the puzzle in the development of Swedish shipbuilding.’

Swedish maritime archaeologists have discovered the long-lost sister ship of the 17th-century warship Vasa, which sank on its maiden voyage, the Swedish Museum of Wrecks has said.

Launched in 1629, Äpplet (the Apple) was built by the same shipbuilder as the famed 69-metre Vasa, which was carrying 64 cannons when it sank on its maiden voyage outside Beckholmen, in the capital, Stockholm.

“Our pulses raced when we saw how similar the wreck was to Vasa,” said Jim Hansson, a maritime archaeologist at the museum.

Hansson said the construction and the dimensions seemed “very familiar”, raising hopes it could be one of Vasa’s sister ships. While parts of the vessel’s sides had fallen off, the hull was preserved up to the lower gundeck, and the parts that had dropped showed gunports on two levels.

A diver approaches the wreck. While parts of the ship’s sides had fallen off, the hull was preserved up to the lower gundeck.

The huge shipwreck was discovered in December 2021 in a strait off the island of Vaxholm, just outside Stockholm, according to the museum. A more thorough survey was carried out in the spring of 2022, which revealed details that had previously been seen only on Vasa.

The museum said technical details as well as measurements and wood samples confirmed that it was indeed Äpplet.

In 2019, the museum reported the discovery of two other warships in the same area.

Archaeologists at the time believed that one of them could have been Äpplet, but further investigations showed that those vessels were in fact two medium-sized warships from 1648 named Apollo and Maria.

“With Äpplet, we can add another key piece of the puzzle in the development of Swedish shipbuilding,” Hansson said, adding that this enabled researchers to study the differences between Äpplet and Vasa.

Named after the house of Vasa, the royal dynasty at the time, Vasa was meant to serve as a symbol of Sweden’s military might but capsized after sailing just over 1,000 metres.

It was salvaged in 1961 and is on display at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, one of Sweden’s most popular tourist spots.

Three other ships were ordered from the same shipwright: Äpplet, Kronan (the Crown) and Scepter, and unlike their predecessor, they served in the Swedish navy and participated in naval battles.

The ships are believed to have been sunk on purpose after they were decommissioned, serving as underwater spike strips to snag enemy vessels.