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The territory of present day Armenia is a geographic contact zone between the Near East and the northern Caucasus. Armenian Middle and Upper Paleolithic records are both few and patchy as a result of the historical paucity of systematic archaeological research in the country. Consequently, it is currently difficult to correlate the Armenian Middle and Upper Paleolithic records with those from other neighboring regions. We present new archaeological and chronometric data (luminescence, U-Th, and C-14) from our ongoing research at Hovk I Cave in northeast Armenia. We discuss in particular two activity phases in Hovk 1 Cave for which we have outline chronometric data: (1) an early Middle Paleolithic occupational phase, dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to 104 +/- 9.8 ka BPOSL; and (2) a Paleolithic occupational phase characterized by microlithic flakes dated by AMS 14C to 39,109 1,324 calibrated years BPHulu. The two phases are separated by a hiatus in hominin occupation corresponding to MIS 4 and an episode in early MIS 3. These chronometric data, taken together with the preliminary paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Hovk 1 Cave and environment, suggest that these activity phases represent short-lived and seasonal use of the cave presumably by small groups of hunters during episodes of mild climate. Neither too] manufacture nor butchery appears to have taken place within the cave, and consequently, the archaeological record included, for the most part, finished tools and blanks. We address the chronology and techno-typological aspects of Hovk 1 lithics in relation to: (1) the Paleolithic records of Armenia, and (2) the broader interregional context of early Middle Paleolithic hominin occupation and the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in the Caucasus. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dental Enamel Hypoplasia has long been used as a common nonspecific stress indicator in teeth from archaeological samples. Most researchers report relatively minor linear and pitted hypoplastic defects on tooth crown surfaces. In this work we report a high prevalence and early age of onset of extensive enamel defects in deciduous and permanent molars in the subadults from the post-medieval cemetery of Broadgate, east central London. Analysis of the dentition of all 45 subadults from the cemetery, using both macroscopic and microscopic methods, reveals disturbed cusp patterns and pitted, abnormal and arrested enamel formation. Forty-one individuals from this group (93.2%) showed some evidence of enamel hypoplasia, 28 of them showing moderate or extensive lesions of molars, deciduous or permanent (63.6% of the sample). Scanning Electron Microscope images reveal many molars with grossly deformed cuspal architecture, multiple extra cusps and large areas of exposed Tomes' process pits, where the ameloblasts have abruptly ceased matrix production, well before normal completion. This indented, rough and poorly mineralized surface facilitates both bacterial adhesion and tooth wear, and when such teeth erupt fully into the mouth they are likely to wear and decay rapidly. We suggest that this complex combination of pitted and plane-form lesions, combined with disruption of cusp pattern and the formation of multiple small cusps, should henceforth be identified as "Cuspal Enamel Hypoplasia."

On the basis of analysis of ancient DNA from early European farmers, Haak et al . (Reports, 11 November 2005, p. 1016) argued for the Paleolithic ancestry of modern Europeans. We stress that the study is more limited in scope than the authors claim, in part because not all of the skeletal samples date to the time of the Neolithic transition in a given area of Europe.

Inter-population variability in long-bone and pelvic-bone growth during the Early Medieval period is examined. The materials comprise four archaeological populations: two Slavonic (Gars–Thunau, Zwentendorf, Austria, 10th-century ad), one Avar (Zwolfaxing, Austria, 8th-century ad), and one Anglo-Saxon (Raunds, England, 10th-century ad). Bone measurements are analyzed against dental age estimates in order to assess inter-population differences in growth rates for long-bone and os coxae bone dimensions. Growth curves of the upper and lower extremities of additional archaeological populations and a modern North-American population are also assessed. The expectation was that the greatest differences in growth patterns would be found between the Anglo-Saxon and the Austrian samples, due to their distinct genetic and biocultural background. Minimal differences were expected between the two Slavonic populations, as these were approximately contemporaneous, recovered from geographically close locations, and shared relatively similar archaeological contexts. Growth curves were estimated for each bone dimension by fitting least-squares fourth-order polynomials (which allowed testing of population differences by analysis of covariance), and iteratively estimating Gompertz growth curves. The results showed differences between bones in the extent of inter-population variability, with diaphyseal long-bone growth showing equivalent patterns across the four populations, but significant differences between populations in the growth patterns of distal diaphyseal dimensions of the femur and humerus and the dimensions of the ilium. Varying growth patterns are therefore associated with inter-population differences in absolute dimensions in relation to age as well as variations in growth velocities. Inter-population variability in growth curves in the case of femoral and humeral dimensions were most pronounced during infancy (0–2 years). The most consistent differences in bone growth and related dimensions are between Zwolfaxing and the other samples. No significant differences in growth were detected between the Anglo-Saxon and the Austrian populations. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 17: 470–488, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The region of western Georgia (Imereti) has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic (MP/UP). Knowledge of the MP and UP in this region, however, stems mostly from a small number of recent excavations at the sites of Ortvale Klde, Dzudzuana, Bondi, and Kotias Klde. These provide an absolute chronology for the Late MP and MP-UP transition, but only a partial perspective on the nature and timing of UP occupations, and limited data on how human groups in this region responded to the harsh climatic oscillations between 37,000-11,500 years before present. Here we report new UP archaeological sequences from fieldwork in Satsurblia cavein the same region. A series of living surfaces with combustion features, faunal remains, stone and bone tools, and ornaments provide new information about human occupations in this region (a) prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) at 25.5-24.4 ka cal. BP and (b) after the LGM at 17.9-16.2 ka cal. BP. The latter provides new evidence in the southern Caucasus for human occupation immediately after the LGM. The results of the campaigns in Satsurblia and Dzudzuana suggest that at present the most plausible scenario is one of a hiatus in the occupation of this region during the LGM (between 24.4-17.9 ka cal. BP). Analysis of the living surfaces at Satsurblia offers information about human activities such as the production and utilisation of lithics and bone tools, butchering, cooking and consumption of meat and wild cereals, the utilisation of fibers, and the use of certain woods. Microfaunal and palynological analyses point to fluctuations in the climate with consequent shifts in vegetation and the faunal spectrum not only before and after the LGM, but also during the two millennia following the end of the LGM.

The transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural lifestyle marks a global turning point in human prehistory. We now know that this transition not only varied in its timing and magnitude across regions but also in its demographic, social, economic and symbolic characteristics. It is also evident from archaeological studies that the tempo, duration and intensity of the transition were not uniform and that in “core regions”, such as the Levant, the transition was a lengthy and complex process which took over two millennia to complete (Bar-Yosef and Meadow 1995; Kuijt and Goring-Morris 2002). A central question which comes to mind is whether it is possible to detect and define any universal characteristics which are shared by all societies which adopted agriculture. This volume (edited by J-P Bocquet-Appel and O. Bar-Yosef), is set to examine such a universal process: the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT). The NDT involved an abrupt and drastic increase in the proportions of subadults aged between 5 and 19 years and an increase in fertility attributed to the narrowing of birth spacing following the transition to a sedentary lifestyle. The volume contains 19 contributions from leading researchers in the field of physical anthropology (paleodemography, paleopathology), and archaeology (including archaeozoology and evolutionary archaeology). The main strength of this volume is its clear focus on the NDT and related processes. The readers should be aware that the volume’s starting assumption is that the NDT was indeed a pivotal universal process. Consequently, much less emphasis is placed on addressing alternative models and critical assessment of the models’ underlying presuppositions. However, many chapters center on the study of nondemographic aspects and by doing so provide readers with very useful perspectives on some of the role of social and cultural change in shaping Neolithic societies. The volume is divided into four parts. Part 1 focuses on the demographic and economic aspects of the NDT (eight chapters). Part II focuses on settlement patterns and village practices (three chapters). Part III addresses changes in community size and social organization (four chapters). Part IV focuses on population growth and health (three chapters). Readers who are not familiar with the NDT should begin with reading Boquest –Appel’s article (2002) and chapter 3 (this volume). The allocation of chapters according to these topical headings is somewhat confusing especially since the contributions predominantly differ in their overall approach: demographic, archaeological and anthropological. However, the Neolithic transition was a complex multifaceted process and consequently it is inevitable that many of the contributions fit into more than one of these categories. Four of the contributions in the first section focus on the demographic dimensions of the NDT in several world regions: East and Southeast Asia (Bellwood and Oxenham), the Levant (Guerrero et al.), the North American Southwest (Kohler & Glaude), and Mesoamerica (Lesure). The chapters by Ozdogan, Vigne, (Section I), Goring-Morris, and Kuijt (Section II) are of great interest to scholars who wish to gain more insight about the social, economic and architectural developments associated with the transition to agriculture in the Levant and Anatolia. The importance of these contributions is in providing readers not with general reviews but rather with in-depth syntheses on the complex diachronic processes underlying the transition in these regions. Section III contains two contributions which address the demographic aspects of the NDT on the basis of archaeologically derived parameters such as settlement size and Hum Ecol DOI 10.1007/s10745-009-9246-1

The Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons of England contains approximately 3,500 specimens of human and comparative anatomy and pathology collected by the surgeon, John Hunter (1728–1793). A significant part of the collection comprises pathological specimens. These include specimens removed during surgery or as incidental findings from anonymous bodies being dissected during anatomical teaching. However, the majority comes from the bodies of patients on which Hunter performed post-mortem examinations. These include patients at St George's Hospital, where Hunter worked as a surgeon from 1768 until his death. A surprising number also come from the bodies of private patients. These were presumably removed with consent, at autopsies that would have taken place in the patient's own home and often with the patient's family or friends present.

Leprosy has classically been considered a disease of evolutionarily recent times, with an epidemiology related to relatively high-density living. In their Report “On the origin of leprosy” (13 May 2005, p. [1040][1]), M. Monot et al. propose a scenario in which leprosy was spread around the

The origins of early farming and its spread to Europe have been the subject of major interest for some time. The main controversy today is over the nature of the Neolithic transition in Europe: the extent to which the spread was, for the most part, indigenous and animated by imitation (cultural diffusion) or else was driven by an influx of dispersing populations (demic diffusion). We analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of the transition using radiocarbon dates from 735 early Neolithic sites in Europe, the Near East, and Anatolia. We compute great-circle and shortest-path distances from each site to 35 possible agricultural centers of origin—ten are based on early sites in the Middle East and 25 are hypothetical locations set at 5° latitude/longitude intervals. We perform a linear fit of distance versus age (and vice versa) for each center. For certain centers, high correlation coefficients (R > 0.8) are obtained. This implies that a steady rate or speed is a good overall approximation for this historical development. The average rate of the Neolithic spread over Europe is 0.6–1.3 km/y (95% confidence interval). This is consistent with the prediction of demic diffusion (0.6–1.1 km/y). An interpolative map of correlation coefficients, obtained by using shortest-path distances, shows that the origins of agriculture were most likely to have occurred in the northern Levantine/Mesopotamian area., An analysis of radiocarbon dates from early Neolithic sites reveals that agriculture in Europe most likely originated in the northern Levant and Mesopotamia and spread by population growth and migration, rather than by cultural diffusion.

This article examines the potential contribution of archaeological human skeletal material, in particular craniometric data, to interpretations of the nature of the transition to farming in Europe. The material is discussed particularly in relation to recent debates about demographic variables and processes and modern genetic frequency patterns. It is suggested that biological morphometrics enables the comparison of ancient populations on a regional basis. Analysis of the material suggests that there was considerable morphological heterogeneity among the earliest farmers of the Levant belonging to the PrePottery Neolithic but that similar variability is generally not seen among the earliest mainland agriculturalists of southeastern Europe. We propose that this may be explained by the existence of a genetic bottleneck among Anatolian populations and that it supports models of the largely exogenous origin of many early Neolithic populations in this region. Regional comparisons further demonstrate a biologic...

The agricultural transition profoundly changed human societies. We sequenced and analysed the first genome (1.39x) of an early Neolithic woman from Ganj Dareh, in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, a site with early evidence for an economy based on goat herding, ca. 10,000 BP. We show that Western Iran was inhabited by a population genetically most similar to hunter-gatherers from the Caucasus, but distinct from the Neolithic Anatolian people who later brought food production into Europe. The inhabitants of Ganj Dareh made little direct genetic contribution to modern European populations, suggesting those of the Central Zagros were somewhat isolated from other populations of the Fertile Crescent. Runs of homozygosity are of a similar length to those from Neolithic farmers, and shorter than those of Caucasus and Western Hunter-Gatherers, suggesting that the inhabitants of Ganj Dareh did not undergo the large population bottleneck suffered by their northern neighbours. While some degree of cultural diffusion between Anatolia, Western Iran and other neighbouring regions is possible, the genetic dissimilarity between early Anatolian farmers and the inhabitants of Ganj Dareh supports a model in which Neolithic societies in these areas were distinct.

SummaryRegulatory changes are broadly accepted as key drivers of phenotypic divergence. However, identifying regulatory changes that underlie human-specific traits has proven very challenging. Here, we use 63 DNA methylation maps of ancient and present-day humans, as well as of six chimpanzees, to detect differentially methylated regions that emerged in modern humans after the split from Neanderthals and Denisovans. We show that genes affecting the face and vocal tract went through particularly extensive methylation changes. Specifically, we identify widespread hypermethylation in a network of face- and voice-affecting genes (SOX9, ACAN, COL2A1, NFIX and XYLT1). We propose that these repression patterns appeared after the split from Neanderthals and Denisovans, and that they might have played a key role in shaping the modern human face and vocal tract.