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The application of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) on Pleistocene sites in Europe and northern Asia has resulted in the discovery of important new hominin fossils and has expanded the range of identified fauna. However, no systematic, large-scale application of ZooMS on Palaeolithic sites in East Asia has been attempted thus far. Here, we analyse 866 morphologically non-diagnostic bones from Jinsitai Cave in northeast China and Yumidong Cave in South China, from archaeological horizons dating to 150–10 ka BP. Bones from both sites revealed a high degree of collagen preservation and potentially time-related deamidation patterns, despite being located in very distinct environmental settings. At Jinsitai, we identified 31 camel bones, five of which were radiocarbon dated to 37–20 ka BP. All dated specimens correspond to colder periods of Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 2. We regard the presence of camels at Jinsitai as evidence of wild camels being a megafauna taxon targeted, most likely by early modern humans, during their expansion across northeast Asia. This large-scale application of ZooMS in China highlights the potential of the method for furthering our knowledge of the palaeoanthropological and zooarchaeological records of East Asia. 1. Introduction 2. Material and methods (a) Studied sites (b) Materials (c) Sampling and data generating (d) Data processing 3. Results and discussion (a) Deamidation (b) ZooMS taxonomic results and comparison with zooarchaeological data (c) Camels in Jinsitai Cave 4. Conclusion

In this paper, we use preliminary archaeological data spanning the Iron Age through Medieval periods (ca. 800 BCE to 1200 CE) in the Juuku Valley in Kyrgyzstan on the south side of Lake Issyk-Kul to model land use across vertical mountain zones. We have (1) established a radiometric chronology; (2) conducted test excavations of an Iron Age settlement at 2100 m asl and a Turkic period burial at 1934 m asl; (3) undertaken preliminary archaeobotanical research; and (4) performed pedestrian surveys. Archaeobotanical remains of wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), broomcorn millet (Panicum milaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), and legumes were recovered in very small quantities from both sites. We compare these preliminary archaeobotanical results with previously published data from Talgar Iron Age settlements on the north side of the Tian Shan Mountain range in Kazakhstan. A small assemblage of faunal remains found at the Turkic period kurgan and from a profile at the upland Iron Age settlement demonstrates the practice of herding sheep/goats, cattle, and horses in the Juuku Valley. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that pastoral transhumance and agropastoralism were interchangeable economic strategies used by peoples in the Iron Age through Medieval periods in mountain-river valleys between 600 m to 2100 m asl. These economic strategies combined the pasturing of sheep, goats, cattle, and horses with the cultivation of cereals in a system that was adapted to different vegetational zones along a vertical gradient. This paper is based on preliminary research using survey data and test excavations and initiates a long-term research study of four millennia of settlements that appear to have ranged from pastoral transhumance and combined mountain agriculture. 1. Introduction 1.1. Theoretical Perspectives 1.2. Our Model 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Study Areas 2.1.1. The Talgar Alluvial Fan 2.1.2. The Juuku Valley 2.2. Chronological Framework for the Juuku Valley 2.3. Test Excavations and Kurgan Excavations 2.3.1. Lower Juuku Kurgan 1 2.3.2. Block Excavations at Eastern Juuku Settlement 1 2.3.3. Profiles 4 and 6 2.4. Radiometric Dating 2.5. Archaeobotanical Sampling 3. Results 3.1. The Radiometric Sequence for Juuku Valley 3.1.1. Kurgan Excavation 3.1.2. Excavations at EJS1 3.1.3. Archaeobotanical Results 4. Discussion 5. Conclusions

This essay provides an overview of recent histories of medicine and global health from a socialist perspective, and maps out possible new directions of research. It focuses on key themes in the history of medicine in Eastern Europe, its global connections and Latin American, East Asian and African contexts. Through a discussion of international professional and diplomatic networks, health systems, medical technologies and aid and technical assistance, the essay argues that integrating missing actors, ideas and practices is crucial for a complete understanding of global health history. Peer Reviewed

AbstractExtinct lineages of Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of the plague, have been identified in several individuals from Eurasia between 5000 and 2500 years before present (BP). One of these, termed the ‘LNBA lineage’ (Late Neolithic and Bronze Age), has been suggested to have spread into Europe with human groups expanding from the Eurasian steppe. Here, we show that the LNBA plague was spread to Europe’s northwestern periphery by sequencing three Yersinia pestis genomes from Britain, all dating to ~4000 cal BP. Two individuals were from an unusual mass burial context in Charterhouse Warren, Somerset, and one individual was from a single burial under a ring cairn monument in Levens, Cumbria. To our knowledge, this represents the earliest evidence of LNBA plague in Britain documented to date. All three British Yersinia pestis genomes belong to a sublineage previously observed in Bronze Age individuals from Central Europe that had lost the putative virulence factor yapC. This sublineage is later found in Eastern Asia ~3200 cal BP. While the severity of the disease is currently unclear, the wide geographic distribution within a few centuries suggests substantial transmissibility.

AbstractThis study set out to examine the role of different adversities experienced at different life course stages on cognitive aging (i.e., level and change). Data from the longitudinal study: Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with the selection of participants over 60 years were used (N = 2662, Mdnage = 68, SDage = 5.39) in a Structural Equation Modeling. In early life, the experience of hunger predicted lower delayed recall (β = − 0.10, p < 0.001) and verbal fluency (β = − 0.06, p = 0.001) performance in older age, whereas financial hardship predicted lower verbal fluency (β = − 0.06, p = 0.005) performance and steeper decline in delayed recall (β = − 0.11, p < 0.001). In early adulthood, financial hardship and stress predicted better delayed recall (financial hardship: β = 0.08, p = 0.001; stress: β = 0.07, p = 0.003) and verbal fluency performance (financial hardship: β = 0.08, p = 0.001; stress β = 0.10, p < 0.001), but no adversities were associated with a change in cognitive performance. In middle adulthood, no adversities were associated with the level of cognitive performance, but financial hardship predicted lower decline in delayed recall (β = 0.07, p = 0.048). This study highlights the importance of disentangling the period effect from the specific effect of the adversity experienced in the association between adversity and cognition in older age. Moreover, differential results for delayed recall and verbal fluency measures suggest that it is also important to consider the cognitive outcome domains examined.

AbstractArtefacts made from stones, bones and teeth are fundamental to our understanding of human subsistence strategies, behaviour and culture in the Pleistocene. Although these resources are plentiful, it is impossible to associate artefacts to specific human individuals1 who can be morphologically or genetically characterized, unless they are found within burials, which are rare in this time period. Thus, our ability to discern the societal roles of Pleistocene individuals based on their biological sex or genetic ancestry is limited2–5. Here we report the development of a non-destructive method for the gradual release of DNA trapped in ancient bone and tooth artefacts. Application of the method to an Upper Palaeolithic deer tooth pendant from Denisova Cave, Russia, resulted in the recovery of ancient human and deer mitochondrial genomes, which allowed us to estimate the age of the pendant at approximately 19,000–25,000 years. Nuclear DNA analysis identifies the presumed maker or wearer of the pendant as a female individual with strong genetic affinities to a group of Ancient North Eurasian individuals who lived around the same time but were previously found only further east in Siberia. Our work redefines how cultural and genetic records can be linked in prehistoric archaeology.