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Limited excavations at Nangara-Komba Shelter along the northern margin of the Congo Basin have recovered evidence for intermittent and at times intensive human visits beginning approximately 5100 c...

Consuming the milk of other species is a unique adaptation of Homo sapiens, with implications for health, birth spacing and evolution. Key questions nonetheless remain regarding the origins of dairying and its relationship to the genetically-determined ability to drink milk into adulthood through lactase persistence (LP). As a major centre of LP diversity, Africa is of significant interest to the evolution of dairying. Here we report proteomic evidence for milk consumption in ancient Africa. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) we identify dairy proteins in human dental calculus from northeastern Africa, directly demonstrating milk consumption at least six millennia ago. Our findings indicate that pastoralist groups were drinking milk as soon as herding spread into eastern Africa, at a time when the genetic adaptation for milk digestion was absent or rare. Our study links LP status in specific ancient individuals with direct evidence for their consumption of dairy products., Nature Communications, 12 (1), ISSN:2041-1723

OBJECTIVES The aims of this research are to explore the diet, mobility, social organization, and environmental exploitation patterns of early Mediterranean farmers, particularly the role of marine and plant resources in these foodways. In addition, this work strives to document possible gendered patterns of behavior linked to the neolithization of this ecologically rich area. To achieve this, a set of multiproxy analyses (isotopic analyses, dental calculus, microremains analysis, ancient DNA) were performed on an exceptional deposit (n = 61) of human remains from the Les Breguieres site (France), dating to the transition of the sixth to the fifth millennium BCE. MATERIALS AND METHODS The samples used in this study were excavated from the Les Breguieres site (Mougins, Alpes-Maritimes, France), located along the southeastern Mediterranean coastline of France. Stable isotope analyses (C, N) on bone collagen (17 coxal bones, 35 craniofacial elements) were performed as a means to infer protein intake during tissue development. Sulfur isotope ratios were used as indicators of geographical and environmental points of origin. The study of ancient dental calculus helped document the consumption of plants. Strontium isotope analysis on tooth enamel (n = 56) was conducted to infer human provenance and territorial mobility. Finally, ancient DNA analysis was performed to study maternal versus paternal diversity within this Neolithic group (n = 30). RESULTS Stable isotope ratios for human bones range from -20.3 to -18.1‰ for C, from 8.9 to 11.1‰ for N and from 6.4 to 15‰ for S. Domestic animal data range from -22.0 to -20.2‰ for C, from 4.1 to 6.9‰ for N, and from 10.2 to 12.5‰ for S. Human enamel 87 Sr/86 Sr range from 0.7081 to 0.7102, slightly wider than the animal range (between 0.7087 and 0.7096). Starch and phytolith microremains were recovered as well as other types of remains (e.g., hairs, diatoms, fungal spores). Starch grains include Triticeae type and phytolith includes dicotyledons and monocot types as panicoid grasses. Mitochondrial DNA characterized eight different maternal lineages: H1, H3, HV (5.26%), J (10.53%), J1, K, T (5.2%), and U5 (10.53%) but no sample yielded reproducible Y chromosome SNPs, preventing paternal lineage characterization. DISCUSSION Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios indicate a consumption of protein by humans mainly focused on terrestrial animals and possible exploitation of marine resources for one male and one undetermined adult. Sulfur stable isotope ratios allowed distinguishing groups with different geographical origins, including two females possibly more exposed to the sea spray effect. While strontium isotope data do not indicate different origins for the individuals, mitochondrial lineage diversity from petrous bone DNA suggests the burial includes genetically differentiated groups or a group practicing patrilocality. Moreover, the diversity of plant microremains recorded in dental calculus provide the first evidence that the groups of Les Breguieres consumed a wide breadth of plant foods (as cereals and wild taxa) that required access to diverse environments. This transdisciplinary research paves the way for new perspectives and highlights the relevance for novel research of contexts (whether recently discovered or in museum collections) excavated near shorelines, due to the richness of the biodiversity and the wide range of edible resources available.

Journal of medical imaging 9(03), 031505 (2022). doi:10.1117/1.JMI.9.3.031505, Purpose: Dental calculus forms on teeth during the life of an individual and its investigation can yield information about diet, health status, and environmental pollution. Currently, the analytical techniques used to visualize the internal structure of human dental calculus and entrapped inclusions are limited and require destructive sampling, which cannot always be justified.Approach: We used propagation phase-contrast synchrotron radiation micro-computed tomography (PPC-SR-��CT) to non-destructively examine the internal organization of dental calculus, including its microstructure and entrapped inclusions, on both modern and archeological samples.Results: The virtual histological exploration of the samples shows that PPC-SR-��CT is a powerful approach to visualize the internal organization of dental calculus. We identified several important features, including previously undetected negative imprints of enamel and dentine growth markers (perikymata and periradicular bands, respectively), the non-contiguous structure of calculus layers with multiple voids, and entrapped plant remains.Conclusions: PPC-SR-��CT is an effective technique to explore dental calculus structural organization, and is especially powerful for enabling the identification of inclusions. The non-destructive nature of synchrotron tomography helps protect samples for future research. However, the irregular layers and frequent voids reveal a high heterogeneity and variability within calculus, with implications for research focusing on inclusions., Published by SPIE, [Bellingham, Wash.]

Significance The microbiome plays key roles in human health, but little is known about its evolution. We investigate the evolutionary history of the African hominid oral microbiome by analyzing dental biofilms of humans and Neanderthals spanning the past 100,000 years and comparing them with those of chimpanzees, gorillas, and howler monkeys. We identify 10 core bacterial genera that have been maintained within the human lineage and play key biofilm structural roles. However, many remain understudied and unnamed. We find major taxonomic and functional differences between the oral microbiomes of Homo and chimpanzees but a high degree of similarity between Neanderthals and modern humans, including an apparent Homo-specific acquisition of starch digestion capability in oral streptococci, suggesting microbial coadaptation with host diet., The oral microbiome plays key roles in human biology, health, and disease, but little is known about the global diversity, variation, or evolution of this microbial community. To better understand the evolution and changing ecology of the human oral microbiome, we analyzed 124 dental biofilm metagenomes from humans, including Neanderthals and Late Pleistocene to present-day modern humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas, as well as New World howler monkeys for comparison. We find that a core microbiome of primarily biofilm structural taxa has been maintained throughout African hominid evolution, and these microbial groups are also shared with howler monkeys, suggesting that they have been important oral members since before the catarrhine–platyrrhine split ca. 40 Mya. However, community structure and individual microbial phylogenies do not closely reflect host relationships, and the dental biofilms of Homo and chimpanzees are distinguished by major taxonomic and functional differences. Reconstructing oral metagenomes from up to 100 thousand years ago, we show that the microbial profiles of both Neanderthals and modern humans are highly similar, sharing functional adaptations in nutrient metabolism. These include an apparent Homo-specific acquisition of salivary amylase-binding capability by oral streptococci, suggesting microbial coadaptation with host diet. We additionally find evidence of shared genetic diversity in the oral bacteria of Neanderthal and Upper Paleolithic modern humans that is not observed in later modern human populations. Differences in the oral microbiomes of African hominids provide insights into human evolution, the ancestral state of the human microbiome, and a temporal framework for understanding microbial health and disease.

In recent years, new applications of microremain dietary analysis using dental calculus as a source of dietary data on ancient human subsistence and behaviours have accelerated. The dental calculus of contemporary human and non-human populations with known diets have been used as reference datasets, including the chimpanzees of Taï National Park (Côte d'Ivoire), but explaining the preservation mechanism involved is challenged by our incomplete knowledge of the microremain content within the diets of these reference populations and our rudimentary information on microremain incorporation into dental calculus. Here, we analyse phytoliths in faecal samples to assess to what extent plant phytoliths of a diet are reflected in the dental calculus as well as in the egested faeces. In this study, we identify and document the faecal phytolith assemblages as an indicator of plant consumption in two Western chimpanzees of the Taï National Park (Côte d'Ivoire) before (wet season), during (dry season) and after (dry season) a dust-rich period. Moreover, observational dietary records of these two individuals were compiled to improve the interpretability of this dental calculus phytolith dataset. The faecal phytolith assemblages vary significantly across samples in terms of abundance and diversity. The most common phytolith morphotypes were eudicot plates, single-cell and multi-cell tracheids, monocot rugulose and echinate spheroids and, to a lesser extent, unspecified thick and thin elongates. High loads of grit and other micro-remains (e.g. diatoms) are found during the dry period. Using observational dietary records as a starting point and our faecal results as a terminus, we consider how dental calculus can accumulate phytoliths. Our findings enable identification of the phytolith morphotypes that are under-represented in dental calculus, which is highly informative for future dental calculus research strategies.

The resilience of Neanderthals towards changing climatic and environmental conditions, and especially towards severely cold climates in northern regions of central Europe, is still under debate. One way to address this is to investigate multi-layered occupation in different climatic intervals, using independently-compiled paleoenvironmental and chronological data. Unfortunately, most open-air sites on the northern European Plain lack a robust chronostratigraphy beyond the radiocarbon dating range, thereby often hampering direct links between human occupation and climate. Here we present the results of integrative research at the Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Lichtenberg, Northern Germany, comprising archaeology, luminescence dating, sedimentology, micromorphology, as well as pollen and phytolith analyses. Our findings clearly show Neanderthal presence in temperate, forested environments during the Mid-Eemian Interglacial, MIS 5e and the latest Brörup Interstadial, MIS 5c/GI 22 (Lichtenberg II). For the previously known occupation Lichtenberg I, we revise the chronology from the former early MIS 3 (57 ± 6 ka) to early MIS 4/GS 19 (71.3 ± 7.3 ka), with dominant cold steppe/tundra vegetation. The early MIS 4 occupation suggests that Neanderthals could adjust well to severely cold environments and implies recurring population in the region between MIS 5 and MIS 3. The artefact assemblages differ between the temperate and cold environment occupations regarding size, blank production, typology and tool use. We argue that this distinctness can partially be explained by different site functions and occupation duration, as well as the availability of large and high-quality flint raw material. Raw material availability is in turn governed by changing vegetation cover that hindered or fostered sediment redeposition as a provider of flint from the primary source of the glacial sediments nearby.

New ancient genomes from Africa provide details of the spread of food production across sub-Saharan Africa., Africa hosts the greatest human genetic diversity globally, but legacies of ancient population interactions and dispersals across the continent remain understudied. Here, we report genome-wide data from 20 ancient sub-Saharan African individuals, including the first reported ancient DNA from the DRC, Uganda, and Botswana. These data demonstrate the contraction of diverse, once contiguous hunter-gatherer populations, and suggest the resistance to interaction with incoming pastoralists of delayed-return foragers in aquatic environments. We refine models for the spread of food producers into eastern and southern Africa, demonstrating more complex trajectories of admixture than previously suggested. In Botswana, we show that Bantu ancestry post-dates admixture between pastoralists and foragers, suggesting an earlier spread of pastoralism than farming to southern Africa. Our findings demonstrate how processes of migration and admixture have markedly reshaped the genetic map of sub-Saharan Africa in the past few millennia and highlight the utility of combined archaeological and archaeogenetic approaches.

Shotgun metagenomics applied to archaeological feces (paleofeces) can bring new insights into the composition and functions of human and animal gut microbiota from the past. However, paleofeces often undergo physical distortions in archaeological sediments, making their source species difficult to identify on the basis of fecal morphology or microscopic features alone. Here we present a reproducible and scalable pipeline using both host and microbial DNA to infer the host source of fecal material. We apply this pipeline to newly sequenced archaeological specimens and show that we are able to distinguish morphologically similar human and canine paleofeces, as well as non-fecal sediments, from a range of archaeological contexts. This work was supported by the US National Institutes of Health R01GM089886 (to Christina Warinner and Cecil Lewis), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft EXC 2051 #390713860 (to Christina Warinner), and the Max Planck Society. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Aunque el papel clave del comercio a larga distancia en la transformación de las cocinas en todo el mundo está bien documentado desde al menos la época romana, la prehistoria del comercio de alimentos euroasiático es menos visible. Con el fin de arrojar luz sobre la transformación de las cocinas del Mediterráneo oriental durante la Edad del Bronce y la Edad del Hierro Temprana, analizamos los microrestos y las proteínas conservadas en el cálculo dental de individuos que vivieron durante el segundo milenio a. Nuestros resultados proporcionan evidencia clara del consumo de alimentos básicos esperados, como cereales (Triticeae), sésamo ( Sesamum ) y dátiles ( Phoenix ). Además, informamos evidencia del consumo de soja ( glicina ), probable banano ( Musa ) y cúrcuma (Curcuma ), que hace retroceder la evidencia más antigua de estos alimentos en el Mediterráneo por siglos (cúrcuma) o incluso milenios (soja). Descubrimos que, desde principios del segundo milenio en adelante, al menos algunas personas en el Mediterráneo oriental tuvieron acceso a alimentos de lugares distantes, incluido el sur de Asia, y esos productos probablemente se consumieron en forma de aceites, frutos secos y especias. Estos conocimientos nos obligan a repensar la complejidad y la intensidad del comercio indo-mediterráneo durante la Edad del Bronce, así como el grado de globalización en la cocina del Mediterráneo oriental temprano. Although the key role of long-distance trade in the transformation of cuisines worldwide has been well-documented since at least the Roman era, the prehistory of the Eurasian food trade is less visible. In order to shed light on the transformation of Eastern Mediterranean cuisines during the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, we analyzed microremains and proteins preserved in the dental calculus of individuals who lived during the second millennium BCE in the Southern Levant. Our results provide clear evidence for the consumption of expected staple foods, such as cereals (Triticeae), sesame (Sesamum), and dates (Phoenix). We additionally report evidence for the consumption of soybean (Glycine), probable banana (Musa), and turmeric (Curcuma), which pushes back the earliest evidence of these foods in the Mediterranean by centuries (turmeric) or even millennia (soybean). We find that, from the early second millennium onwards, at least some people in the Eastern Mediterranean had access to food from distant locations, including South Asia, and such goods were likely consumed as oils, dried fruits, and spices. These insights force us to rethink the complexity and intensity of Indo-Mediterranean trade during the Bronze Age as well as the degree of globalization in early Eastern Mediterranean cuisine.

Three piles of shoots, leaves, and pods were discovered in the Zagunluk cemetery (about AD 100–400 based on 14C dating), Xinjiang, NW China. Morphological characteristics assigned the specimens to Medicago sativa L. (alfalfa). The preserved condition of alfalfa remains unambiguously indicate that the plant was of great economic importance and used as hay fodder at that time. This study provides the first systematic archeobotanical data about the forage utilization of alfalfa and the earliest relevant physical material so far known in China. Our results also help us to understand the dispersal of alfalfa across the Eurasia via the southern Xinjiang region and the cultural exchange information between China and the West.

Archaeologists have suggested that subsistence is central to understanding the population trajectory of Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic modern humans in western Eurasia. Zooarchaeology and stable isotope data have revealed that hunting supplied most of the protein requirements for Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals and early Upper Paleolithic modern humans. However, the application of dental wear, archaeobotany, and other techniques have shown that plants were an important part of the diet in both Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies in warm and cool regions of western Eurasia. Some lines of evidence have indicated that both groups potentially used a relatively similar range of plants even though this contradicts expectations from optimal foraging theory and diet breadth models positing that Middle Paleolithic societies used fewer plant foods. In this contribution, we identify evidence for increases in the use of Upper Paleolithic processing of plant foods in western Eurasia. We propose that increases in human population density throughout the Upper Paleolithic and especially during the late glacial period were supported by the more frequent use of plant food processing technologies, rather than the use of new plant food taxa.

Occupation of the humid tropics by Late Holocene food producers depended on the use of vegetative agricultural systems. A small number of vegetative crops from the Americas and Asia have come to dominate tropical agriculture globally in these warm and humid environments, due to their ability to provide reliable food output with low labour inputs, as well as their suitability to these environments. The prehistoric arrival in Africa of Southeast Asian crops, in particular banana, taro and greater yam but also sugar cane and others, is commonly regarded as one of the most important examples of transcontinental exchanges in the tropics. Although chronologies of food-producer expansions in Central Africa are increasingly gaining resolution, we have very little evidence for the agricultural systems used in this region. Researchers have recovered just a handful of examples of archaeobotanical banana, taro and sugar cane remains, and so far none from greater yam. Many of the suggested dispersal routes have not been tested with chronological, ecological and linguistic evidence of food producers. While the impact of Bantu-speaking people has been emphasised, the role of non-Bantu farmers speaking Ubangi and Central Sudanic languages who have expanded from the (north)east has hardly been considered. This article will review the current hypotheses on dispersal routes and suggest that transmissions via Northeast Africa should become a new focus of research on the origins of Asian vegeculture crops in Africa. Introduction Geography, Ecology and Plant Biology - Banana - Taro - Greater Yam - Sugarcane Archaeology and History - Banana - Taro - Greater Yam - Sugarcane Linguistics - The Possible Role of Linguistics - Inventory, Classification, and Documentation of Languages - Historical Linguistic Models Modelling the Crop Suitability of Asian Crops and the Spread of Food Producers Discussion - The Different Dispersal Routes - Route A: Atlantic Ocean Route - Route B: Indian Ocean Route - Route C: West Asian Route - Route D: Circum‑Indic Route - Conspectus Conclusions

Neanderthals are known primarily from their habitation of Western Eurasia, but they also populated large expanses of Northern Asia for thousands of years. Owing to a sparse archaeological record, relatively little is known about these eastern Neanderthal populations. Unlike in their western range, there are limited zooarchaeological and paleobotanical studies that inform us about the nature of their subsistence. Here, we perform a combined analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes on bone collagen and microbotanical remains in dental calculus to reconstruct the diet of eastern Neanderthals at Chagyrskaya Cave in the Altai Mountains of Southern Siberia, Russia. Stable isotopes identify one individual as possessing a high trophic level due to the hunting of large- and medium-sized ungulates, while the analysis of dental calculus also indicates the presence of plants in the diet of this individual and others from the site. These findings indicate eastern Neanderthals may have had broadly similar subsistence patterns to those elsewhere in their range. This research was funded in part by the Max Planck Society; all authors would like to thank Jean-Jacques Hublin for financial support. The archaeological investigations of Chagyrskaya Cave were established by the Russian Science Foundation, project number 19-48-04107. D.C.S.G. acknowledges funding by the Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEGENT/2019/061) and the Spanish government (EUR2020-112213)

Archaeoparasitology is increasingly being used as a tool in archaeological research to investigate relationships between past humans, environments, diets and disease. It can be particularly useful in contexts where parasite eggs preserve, but human and faunal remains do not, including in the identification of disease and/or dietary items otherwise absent from the local archaeological record. We analyzed soil samples from the Late Mesolithic layers of the lake island site of Derragh in County Longford, Ireland. All samples were positive for the presence of Diphyllobothrium sp., an intestinal fish tapeworm that infects humans, causing diphyllobothriasis. Though fish are thought to be a staple food in Mesolithic Ireland, evidence for fishing and subsistence from this period is extremely fragmentary. Similarly, there is little available evidence for disease, primarily due to the lack of human remains. This finding represents the earliest known presence of human-derived parasites in Ireland, the earliest known finding of Diphyllobothrium sp. in Europe and the only finding of the tapeworm from hunter-gatherer contexts. It suggests parasitic infections, particularly those resulting from undercooked food, may be more common in ancient hunter-gatherer populations than previously suspected. The presence of these zoonotic parasites at hunter-gatherer sites can provide important insight into local environments, health and disease, and culinary practices. In locations like Mesolithic Ireland, the presence of parasites may assist in the identification of subsistence activities, such as fishing, and specific prey.

The expansion of Neolithic stable isotope studies in France now allows distinct regional population-scale food patterns to be linked to both local environment influences and specific economic choices. Carbon and nitrogen isotope values of more than 500 humans and of animal samples also permit hypotheses on sex-biased human provenance. To advance population scale research, we here present the first study that draws together carbon (C), nitrogen (N), sulphur (S) and strontium (Sr), dental calculus, aDNA, and palaeoparasitology analysis to infer intra-population patterns of diet and provenance in a Middle Neolithic population from Le Vigneau 2 (human = 40; fauna = 12; 4720–4350 cal. BC) from north-western France. The data of the different studies, such as palaeoparasitology to detect diet and hygiene, CNS isotopes and dental calculus analysis to examine dietary staples, Sr and S isotopes to discriminate non-locals, and aDNA to detect maternal (mtDNA) versus paternal lineages (Y chromosome), were compared to anthropological information of sex and age. Collagen isotope data suggest a similar diet for all individuals except for one child. The provenance isotopic studies suggest no clear differences between sexes, suggesting both males and females used the territory in a similar pattern and had access to foods from the same environments.

Dental calculus is increasingly recognized as a major reservoir of dietary information. Palaeodietary studies using plant and animal micro remains (e.g. phytoliths, pollen, sponge spicules, and starch grains) trapped in calculus have the potential to revise our knowledge of the dietary role of plants in past populations. The conventional methods used to isolate and identify these micro remains rely on removing them from their microenvironment in the calculus, thus the microenvironment that traps and preserves micro remains is not understood. By using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDX) on modern chimpanzee calculus from the Taï Forest, Côte d'Ivoire, and human calculus from the Chalcolithic site of Camino del Molino, Spain, we present the first reported observations on characteristics of the matrix setting that are conducive to the survival of starch in dental calculus. We also assess the potential for SEM–EDX to detect starch and differentiate it from structurally and molecularly similar substrates. We demonstrate that SEM–EDX may offer a non-destructive technique for studying micro remains in certain contexts. Finally, we compare traditional optical analytical techniques (OM) with less invasive electron microscopy. The results indicate that SEM–EDX and OM are both effective for observing micro remains in calculus, but differ in their analytical resolution to identify different micro remains, and we therefore recommend a sequential use of both techniques.

The Natufian culture marks a dramatic in the cultural evolution of our species, the shift from mobile to sedentary communities. Within this framework, analysis of their use of plants is pivotal for social and economic reconstruction. While most researchers believe the Natufians collected the grains of grasses, little direct evidence (e.g. macrobotanical remains) has been found. This current study uses phytoliths (opal silica bodies) to interpret Late Natufian plant use at Raqefet Cave (Mt. Carmel, Israel). We analyzed a wide range of sediment samples for microbotanical phytoliths remains. This analysis, of an assemblage of 35 samples, was aimed at exposing plant use at the site both in burial contexts and hewn bedrock features (e.g. mortars, cupmarks). The results indicate economic use of grass seeds, including both small-seeded varieties and large-seeded grasses such as barley and wheat. They also suggest an opportunistic approach to grass seed collection. Phytoliths found in the burials of Homo 19 and Homo 22 may be the remnants of a final meal. The phytolith assemblages from burial contexts also show abundant morphotypes from dicotyledons that are rare elsewhere in the cave. The evidence suggests that a multi-species layer of vegetation including flowering plants and Phragmites lined the graves, accompanying the dead. This adds new insights to the range of known Late Natufian mortuary practices.

During recent decades, Neanderthal diet has been a major research topic in palaeoanthropology. This has been accelerated by the maturation of different techniques, which have produced a plethora of new information. However, this proliferation of data has led to confusing and contradictory results. Furthermore, most of the ecological dietary studies have been carried out on specimens drawn from different time periods and regions, almost exclusively those characterized by cold, open environmental conditions. Subsistence models based on these fragmentary data have been applied to Neanderthals living in a variety of different regions and environments, even though their dietary strategies may have been as variable as regions they inhabited. In this paper we integrate different dietary approaches (studies of the zooarchaeology, stable isotopes and plant remains) from the central and southeastern Mediterranean coast of Iberia in order to develop a broader and more complex picture of Neanderthal diet in different Mediterranean environmental conditions. Our results suggest that there may have been some minor dietary variation due to climatic or environmental differences, but that Neanderthal diet focussed on large terrestrial game, supplemented by plant foods when these were available.

Dental calculus (calcified dental plaque) is a source of multiple types of data on life history. Recent research has targeted the plant microremains preserved in this mineralised deposit as a source of dietary and health information for recent and past populations. However, it is unclear to what extent we can interpret behaviour from microremains. Few studies to date have directly compared the microremain record from dental calculus to dietary records and none with long-term observation dietary records, thus limiting how we can interpret diet, food acquisition and behaviour. Here we present a high-resolution analysis of calculus microremains from wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) of Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. We test microremain assemblages against more than two decades of field behavioural observations to establish the ability of calculus to capture the composition of diet. Our results show that some microremain classes accumulate as long-lived dietary markers. Phytolith abundance in calculus can reflect the proportions of plants in the diet, yet this pattern is not true for starches. We also report microremains can record information about other dietary behaviours, such as the age of weaning and learned food processing techniques like nut-cracking.

Despite more than a century of detailed investigation of the Magdalenian period in Northern Iberia, our understanding of the diets during this period is limited. Methodologies for the reconstruction of Late Glacial subsistence strategies have overwhelmingly targeted animal exploitation, thus revealing only a portion of the dietary spectrum. Retrieving food debris from calculus offers a means to provide missing information on other components of diet. We undertook analysis of human dental calculus samples from Magdalenian individuals (including the “Red Lady”) at El Miron Cave (Cantabria, Spain), as well as several control samples, to better understand the less visible dietary components. Dental calculus yielded a diverse assemblage of microremains from plant, fungal, animal and mineral sources that may provide data on diet and environment. The types of microremains show that the individuals at El Miron consumed a variety of plants, including seeds and underground storage organs, as well as other foods, including possibly bolete mushrooms. These findings suggest that plant and plant-like foods were parts of her diet, supplementing staples derived from animal foods. As faunal evidence suggests that the Magdalenian Cantabrian diet included a large proportion of animal foods, we argue here for a mixed subsistence pattern.

Flowering plants possess mechanisms that stimulate positive emotional and social responses in humans. It is difficult to establish when people started to use flowers in public and ceremonial events because of the scarcity of relevant evidence in the archaeological record. We report on uniquely preserved 13,700–11,700-y-old grave linings made of flowers, suggesting that such use began much earlier than previously thought. The only potentially older instance is the questionable use of flowers in the Shanidar IV Neanderthal grave. The earliest cemeteries ( ca . 15,000–11,500 y ago) in the Levant are known from Natufian sites in northern Israel, where dozens of burials reflect a wide range of inhumation practices. The newly discovered flower linings were found in four Natufian graves at the burial site of Raqefet Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel. Large identified plant impressions in the graves include stems of sage and other Lamiaceae ( Labiatae ; mint family) or Scrophulariaceae (figwort family) species; accompanied by a plethora of phytoliths, they provide the earliest direct evidence now known for such preparation and decoration of graves. Some of the plant species attest to spring burials with a strong emphasis on colorful and aromatic flowers. Cave floor chiseling to accommodate the desired grave location and depth is also evident at the site. Thus, grave preparation was a sophisticated planned process, embedded with social and spiritual meanings reflecting a complex preagricultural society undergoing profound changes at the end of the Pleistocene.

This article reviews legal advice provided by Attorney General John Ashcroft and Office of Legal Counsel officials John Yoo and Jack Goldsmith during the war on terrorism. It differs from the other works on this subject in two key respects. First, it includes detailed analyses of their conduct under the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and other pertinent legal ethics codes, such as the D.C. Bar Rules, the Code of Professional Responsibility, and the A.L.I.’s Restatement of the Law of Lawyering, as well as under the Department of Justice’s tradition of providing independent advice to the White House and other executive agencies. Second, it examines their own narratives of the crisis, as reflected in their published memoirs. Providing advice concerning the inter-relationships among international law, the law of war, constitutional law, and federal criminal statutory law requires cautious analysis of constitutional, treaty and statutory language, as well as judicial and executive precedent. The article concludes that Ashcroft and Yoo were ill-suited for their roles, each for different reasons. Ashcroft acted as a policy advocate and politician, while Yoo was an unyielding exponent of an extreme constitutional theory concerning executive power and was unwilling or unable to provide pragmatic "lawyering" advice. Goldsmith, however, recognized that Ashcroft’s lax oversight and Yoo’s aggressive theories opened the door to the repudiation of applicable domestic and international law and mistreatment of detainees. The article concludes that Goldsmith was both a better lawyer and a better soldier in the war on terrorism, as the failings of Ashcroft and Yoo weakened support for Bush administration policies, led to losses in the courts, and may have weakened our ability to respond to terrorism in the future.

This article, part of a symposium on the New Federalism movement, asks two questions about the movement and its opponents. The first is whether the disagreement is about principle – finding the appropriate balance between national and state powers, or just about politics – using the term "federalism," which suggests abstract principle largely to hide partisan support of states' rights. It argues that it is politics, and that supporters of states' rights prefer New Federalism to States' Rights because of the latter phrase's association with support for racial segregation. The second question concerns consistency. The article argues that New Federalists depart from text and history in supporting state impunity from federal judicial review, focusing on the sovereign immunity doctrine. This appears to be at odds with their insistence that text and history should govern interpretations of national powers and justify rejection of precedents broadly construing the constitution. The article ends by suggesting renewed emphasis on cooperative federalism – joint federal/state efforts to achieve national and regional objectives.

This article explores jury instructions and instruction practices concerning reasonable doubt. It establishes that without accurate and understandable jury instructions, the constitutional rights both to a jury trial and to the reasonable doubt standard are ineffective. The article addresses psychological and social science literature on how lay juries are able to understand and to apply the reasonable doubt standard. The article examines the history of such instructions in federal and state courts, noting that the meaning of some phrases common in pattern instructions, such as "moral certainty," have changed over time. It also notes that slight and often unintended variations in boilerplate statements, such as the one-word shift from "fail to act" to "hesitate to act," can make instructions inconsistent to the point of making one clearly pro-prosecution and the other clearly pro-defense. The article examines a modern alternative suggested by the Federal Judicial Center, which attempts to use contemporary language to convey the meaning of reasonable doubt set forth in a series of appellate decisions. It also examines the options numerous courts use of refusing to explain reasonable doubt to juries or explaining it in multiple, inconsistent, ways. The article also suggests some ameliorative techniques, such as use of algorithmic structures, reliance on communication theory, and revisiting some largely discredited instructions to locate phases that can be used to communicate the concept to juries. The article concludes by attempting to formulate a simple and accurate core instruction on reasonable doubt (but doubts that its version is that much better than the others).

This article examines the application of the fourth amendment to numerous technology-aided "visual" searches that enable law enforcement officers to "see" things previously undetectable. After a brief summary of the test from Katz v. U.S. and several Supreme Court cases interpreting it, the article examines the wide range of visual enhancements, from eyeglasses to infra-red nightscopes. It breaks lower court cases into several general categories. The first, "pure" reasonable expectation of privacy cases, itself has three subcategories, the "successful," the "likely," and the "honored." The other two categories are cases that turn on location and those in which the sophistication of the technology provides the answer. It argues that the inconsistent results produced by these analytical structures reveal that however valid the Katz approach is for the problem of electronic surveillance, it fails to provide consistency or convincing outcomes in many visual search cases. Accordingly, the article suggests adoption of a different approach for such cases. It first takes a broader definition of a fourth amendment search to include all intentional intrusions by the police. It then provides a four part test that evaluates the constitutionality of visual searches. the test first requires two general norms. The government must be able to show that its purpose in using making an observation was legitimate. It must also show that its implementation was reasonable (which is largely the equivalent of the "reasonable execution" requirement for traditional searches). There are also two specific norms. First, some objects are specially protected from visual searches by the government, even outside of a person's house. This would include, for example, a public restroom. Second, highly sophisticated technology would be subject to fourth amendment analysis, as people have legitimate expectations of privacy from government use of technology that is unknown or especially intrusive to the public, even if used from a public location.

Research increasingly suggests that natural and social environments shaped the Neolithic expansion of the farming niche into Europe. The Danube Gorges, on account of its position between the Mediterranean and more temperate regions and the presence of archaeological sites with continuous Mesolithic and Neolithic layers of occupation associated with vast burial grounds is ideal for studying the modality of Neolithization. Previous dietary stable isotope (carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur) studies in the Central Balkan area indicate that many Neolithic humans remained reliant on foraged aquatic resources in the Gorges. Until now, there is no unambiguous evidence of cereal consumption in this region. The possibility that the rich aquatic resources of the Danube river habitats within Central Balkans influenced diet and thus delayed uptake of Neolithic cultigens is unanswered. The extensive skeletal record from sites in the Danube Gorges (Central Balkans) with its long temporal sequence, provides the opportunity to reconstruct plant use during Mesolithic and the Neolithic. To assess when cereals and possibly cultivated plants spread to the region, we analysed the microbotanical remains (starch grains and phytoliths) entrapped in the dental calculus of 81 individuals dating from 9100 to 5500cal BC, recovered from five sites in the Danube Gorges. This study marks the largest study of dental calculus from this period so far conducted. Added to this, we present new radiocarbon dates (n=17), bone collagen stable isotope data (δ13C and δ15N; n=5) and data on caries frequency. This dietary study identifies that the growing of crops commenced in the Early Neolithic circa 6000cal BC and was brought by farming migrants of north-western Anatolian ancestry into the Danube Gorges. Despite bringing a Neolithic agro-pastoral subsistence practices and cultural novelties in the Gorges, these migrants and their descendants adopted some of the local dietary and cultural traditions, suggesting a mosaic pattern of Neolithization. The resulting data provides a better understanding of the tempo and spread of cereal agriculture practices and the role of cereals in the diet of Danube Gorges inhabitants.