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This paper argues that strategies for environmental exploitation developed by the Teutonic Order in the eastern Baltic, following the crusades, were fundamental to the development and sustainability of its domains. It draws on a suite of environmental archaeology and written data gathered within the framework of the "Ecology of Crusading" project.

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone., Lammas (Ovis aries) on alates hilispronksiajast olnud üks enimkasvatatud kariloomi Eestis. Tänapäeval moodustab lambakasvatus Eestis väikese, kuid järjest olulisema osa põllumajandusest. Tuginedes zooarheoloogilisele leiuainesele ja geneetilisele andmestikule, on väitekirja eesmärk uurida lambakasvatust ning lammaste emaliinide ajalugu Eestis ja laiemalt Läänemere kultuuriruumis keskmisest pronksiajast (u 1200 eKr) tänapäevani. Töö zooarheoloogiline pool keskendub hilisrauaajale ja keskajale Viljandis ja Karksis ning loomsete saaduste tarbimisharjumustele ajas ja ruumis. Geneetiline osa analüüsib emaliini pidi pärandatavat mitokondriaalset DNA-d vanades lambaleidudes ja ka tänapäevastes Kihnu maalammastes. Uurimusest selgub, et lambakasvatus ja lammaste tarvitamine toiduks on Eestis olnud pronksiajast peale üsna järjepidev. Siiski ilmnevad mõned murranguajad, millele tuleb seletust otsida laiemal ajaloolisel taustal. Need muudatused seostuvad kahe perioodiga. Esiteks üleminek muinasajalt keskajale koos 13. sajandi alguse ristisõdadega. Geneetilises andmestikus väljendub see lambapopulatsiooni suurenemises, mis on toimunud kohaliku talumajanduse ja olemasolevate loomade baasil, ning mis võib olla tingitud sellest, et keskajal kasvas koos rahvaarvuga ka kariloomade hulk. Teine murrang ilmneb seoses suure tõuaretusega 19. sajandil, mil eeskätt Lääne-Euroopast sisse toodud tõugudega hakati kohalike lammaste liha- ja villatootlikkust parandama. Hoolimata sellest on algupärased põliste tunnustega maalambad, eeskätt Kihnu maalammas, säilinud tänapäevani, kuigi mõnevõrra väiksema geneetilise mitmekesisusega., Sheep (Ovis aries) has been one of the most exploited domestic animal in Estonia since the Late Bronze Age. Today, sheep husbandry forms a small, but important part in Estonian agriculture. By using zooarchaeological and genetic data, the aim of the dissertation is to study sheep husbandry and the development of maternal lineages in Estonia and more widely, in the Baltic Sea region, from the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1200 BC) until the present-day. The zooarchaeological part of the thesis focuses on animal consumption in Late Iron Age and medieval Viljandi and Karksi, and tackles the changes in proportion and exploitation of faunal resources over time. The genetic part of the research aims to analyse the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA both in the ancient populations and modern Kihnu native sheep. The results of the study indicate that, starting from the Bronze Age, sheep husbandry and utilisation in Estonia has been rather persistent. Nonetheless, changes occurred, which could mainly be related to two distinct periods. Firstly, the transition from prehistory to the Middle Ages, including the 13th century Crusades. Genetically it is expressed in population expansion, possibly linked to the overall increase in human population and the demand for meat supplies. Moreover, the growth of the populations seems to have relied on local herds, while the effect of imported animals was probably insignificant. Secondly, changes came along with the beginning of the large-scale breeding in the 19th century, aimed to improve the local production of mutton and wool. With slightly decreased genetic diversity, the local sheep, including the Kihnu native sheep, have been preserved up to the present.

Native animal breeds constitute an invaluable pool of genetic resources in a changing environment. Discovering native breeds and safeguarding their genetic diversity through specific conservation programs is therefore of high importance. Endogenous retroviruses have proved to be a reliable genetic marker for studying the demographic history of sheep (Ovis aries). Previous research has revealed two migratory episodes of domesticated sheep from the Middle East to Europe. The first episode included predominantly ‘primitive populations’, while the second and most recent is hypothesised to have included sheep with markedly improved wool production. To examine whether the recently discovered Kihnu native sheep in Estonia have historically been part of the first migratory episode and to what extent they have preserved primitive genetic characters, we analysed retroviral insertions in 80 modern Kihnu sheep and 83 ancient sheep from the Bronze Age to Modern Period (850 BCE–1950 CE). We identified that the Kihnu sheep have preserved ‘primitive’, ‘Nordic’, and other ‘ancient’ retrotypes that were present both in archaeological and modern samples, confirming their shared ancestry and suggesting that contemporary Kihnu native sheep originate from the first migratory episode. However, over the course of history, there has been a gradual decrease in the frequency of primitive retrotypes. Furthermore, Kihnu sheep possessed several ‘novel’ retrotypes that were absent in archaeological individuals, but were shared with improvement breeds, suggesting recent crossing within the last two centuries. To preserve these ancient lineages, our results are being applied in the conservation program of the Kihnu Native Sheep Society.

Native animal breeds constitute an invaluable pool of genetic resources in a changing environment. Discovering native breeds and safeguarding their genetic diversity through specific conservation programs is therefore of high importance. Endogenous retroviruses have proved to be a reliable genetic marker for studying the demographic history of sheep (Ovis aries). Previous research has revealed two migratory episodes of domesticated sheep from the Middle East to Europe. The first episode included predominantly ‘primitive populations’, while the second and most recent is hypothesised to have included sheep with markedly improved wool production. To examine whether the recently discovered Kihnu native sheep in Estonia have historically been part of the first migratory episode and to what extent they have preserved primitive genetic characters, we analysed retroviral insertions in 80 modern Kihnu sheep and 83 ancient sheep from the Bronze Age to Modern Period (850 BCE–1950 CE). We identified that the Kihnu sheep have preserved ‘primitive’, ‘Nordic’, and other ‘ancient’ retrotypes that were present both in archaeological and modern samples, confirming their shared ancestry and suggesting that contemporary Kihnu native sheep originate from the first migratory episode. However, over the course of history, there has been a gradual decrease in the frequency of primitive retrotypes. Furthermore, Kihnu sheep possessed several ‘novel’ retrotypes that were absent in archaeological individuals, but were shared with improvement breeds, suggesting recent crossing within the last two centuries. To preserve these ancient lineages, our results are being applied in the conservation program of the Kihnu Native Sheep Society.

The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe, however, remains poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of European black rats, we generated a de novo genome assembly of the black rat, 67 ancient black rat mitogenomes and 36 ancient nuclear genomes from sites spanning the 1st-17th centuries CE in Europe and North Africa. Analyses of mitochondrial DNA confirm that black rats were introduced into the Mediterranean and Europe from Southwest Asia. Genomic analyses of the ancient rats reveal a population turnover in temperate Europe between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, coincident with an archaeologically attested decline in the black rat population. The near disappearance and re-emergence of black rats in Europe may have been the result of the breakdown of the Roman Empire, the First Plague Pandemic, and/or post-Roman climatic cooling., We thank the wet laboratory teams at MPI-SHH, the PalaeoBARN at the University of Oxford and the University of York. We thank David K. James and Lucia Hui of the Alameda County Vector Control Services District for procuring the rat used for the de novo genome. We are grateful to Sarah Nagel at Max Planck Institute for the Evolutionary Anthropology for the single-stranded library preparation, and Dovetail Genomics for the de novo genome assembly service. We thank Maria Spyrou for her suggestions and comments. We acknowledge Ewan Chipping and Helena England (University of York), Carl Phillips, Veronica Lindholm (Ålands Museum), Christine McDonnell and Nienke van Doorn (York Archaeological Trust), Emile Mittendorf (Gemeente Deventer), Inge Riemersma (Archaeological depot, Provincie Zuid-Holland), the Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism, Jan Frolík and Iva Herichová (Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague), Franz Humer and Eduard Pollhammer (Archaeological Park Carnuntum), Dorottya B. Nyékhelyi and László Daróczi-Szabó (Budapest History Museum), Institut National du Patrimoine (Tunisia), University of Barcelona, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Project HUM2006-03432/HIST), Spanish Ministry of Culture (program of archaeological excavations abroad 2009); Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for the Development (2009), Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), Vujadin Ivanisević, Nemanja Marković and Ivan Bugarski (Archaeological Institute 809 Belgrade), the Field Museum Chicago, the British National History Museum and the American Museum of Natural History for providing materials and support. G.L. and A.J. were supported by the ERC (grant ERC-2013-StG-337574-UNDEAD) and A.J. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council Doctoral Training Program. D.O. was supported by Wellcome (Small Grant in Humanities and Social Science 209817/Z) and the British Academy / Leverhulme Trust (Small Research Grant SG170938). E.R. was supported by Estonian Research Council grant No PRG29. R.K. was supported by the Czech Academy of Sciences institutional support (RVO:67985912). S.V.-L. was supported by the ERC (grant ERC-StG- 716298 ZooMWest). H.E. was funded by an ERC grant (206148) through the Sealinks Project. A.H.B was funded by the Leverhulme Trust (ECF-2017-315). The de novo genome assembly, population genomics study, and radiocarbon dating were funded by the Max Planck Society.

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone, Linnud on inimeste elus läbi aegade olulist rolli mänginud. Üks viis lindude tähtsuse mõistmiseks minevikus on uurida arheoloogilisi linnuluid zooarheoloogia meetoditega. Väitekirja esimene eesmärk oli välja selgitada, milliseid linde leidub Eesti zooarheoloogilises materjalis ja milline oli nende lindude olulisus inimeste jaoks. Selleks kaasasin uurimistöösse tänapäevase Viljandi linna alalt leitud linnuluud, mis pärinevad hilisviikingiajast varauusajani ehk vahemikust 10.–18. sajand. Saadud tulemusi võrdlesin Klaipėda ordulinnuselt Leedus leitud luudega. Kuna enamik leide olid toidujäätmed, siis selgus, et toidulauale jõudis erinevaid linnuliike. Suurem osa luid kuulus kodukanadele, hanedele ja partidele, kuid leidus ka näiteks sookurgede, luikede ja metsiste luid. Viimased liigid olid seotud kõrgemas staatuses inimeste toidulauaga. Lindudel oli ka oma sümboolne tähendus, sest neid pandi kaasa hauapanusena kalmetesse või valmistati nende luudest ripatseid. Lisaks kasutati osa linde ka kukevõitlusel ja jahipidamisel. Töö teine eesmärk oli uurida, millal jõudsid kõige levinumad kodulinnud ehk kodukana ja -hani Eesti alale. Varaseim kodukana luu pärineb Rebala Lastekangrute I kalmest ning on rohkem kui kaks tuhat aastat vana. Alates ajast umbes tuhat aastat tagasi leidub kanaluid Eesti muististes juba rohkelt. Esimeste koduhanede otsimine osutus aga märksa keerulisemaks ülesandeks, kuna metsikud ja kodustatud vormid on omavahel väga sarnased. Siiski on võimalik, et hanesid hakati Eesti alal kasvatama juba rauaajal. Kalkunid jõudsid Eestisse kirjalike allikate põhjal 16. sajandil, kuid senised arheoloogilised leiud on hilisemad. See, millal kodupardid, -tuvid ja paabulinnud Eesti alale jõudsid, jääb edasiseks uurimisülesandeks., Birds have been an important part of peoples’ lives through time. One way to understand the meaning of birds in the past is to study archaeological bird bones with zooarchaeological methods. The first aim of this dissertation was to discuss the diversity of birds in Estonian zooarchaeological material and their importance in past societies. For that purpose, bird bones from modern-day Viljandi, dated to 10th–18th centuries, were included in the study. The results were compared to the material from Klaipėda Castle, Lithuania. Most of the analysed bones were food waste and belonged mostly to chicken, goose and duck. Other species, for example the Eurasian crane, swan and western capercaillie were also present. The latter were related to the inhabitants of higher status. Additionally, birds held a symbolic meaning, as they were accompanied in burials and their bones were made into pendants. Some birds were also used for cockfighting and hawking. The second aim of the study was to clarify when were the main domestic birds – chicken and goose – brought to the area of present-day Estonia. The earliest evidence of chicken was found from Rebala stone grave and is more than two thousand years old. Since the time around a thousand years ago, chicken remains in Estonian archaeological sites are already abundant. The earliest evidence of the domestic goose, on the other hand, proved to be a difficult task, because its wild and domestic forms are very similar. However, it is possible that geese were bred here already in the Iron Age. Turkeys were brought to the area of present-day Estonia during the 16th century as suggested by the written sources, but the zooarchaeological evidence come from later periods. The first appearance of domestic ducks, pigeons and peafowl is yet to be clarified in the future., https://doi.org/10.15157/diss/013, https://www.ester.ee/record=b5495156

https://www.ester.ee/record=b5492520