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We report the first large-scale palaeoproteomics research on eastern and southern African zooarchaeological samples, thereby refining our understanding of early caprine (sheep and goat) pastoralism in Africa. Assessing caprine introductions is a complicated task because of their skeletal similarity to endemic wild bovid species and the sparse and fragmentary state of relevant archaeological remains. Palaeoproteomics has previously proved effective in clarifying species attributions in African zooarchaeological materials, but few comparative protein sequences of wild bovid species have been available. Using newly generated type I collagen sequences for wild species, as well as previously published sequences, we assess species attributions for elements originally identified as caprine or 'unidentifiable bovid' from 17 eastern and southern African sites that span seven millennia. We identified over 70% of the archaeological remains and the direct radiocarbon dating of domesticate specimens allows refinement of the chronology of caprine presence in both African regions. These results thus confirm earlier occurrences in eastern Africa and the systematic association of domesticated caprines with wild bovids at all archaeological sites. The combined biomolecular approach highlights repeatability and accuracy of the methods for conclusive contribution in species attribution of archaeological remains in dry African environments., Competing Interests: We declare we have no competing interests., (© 2023 The Authors.)

The transition from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age has witnessed important population and societal changes in western Europe. 1 These include massive genomic contributions of pastoralist herders originating from the Pontic-Caspian steppes 2 , 3 into local populations, resulting from complex interactions between collapsing hunter-gatherers and expanding farmers of Anatolian ancestry. 4-8 This transition is documented through extensive ancient genomic data from present-day Britain, 9 , 10 Ireland, 11 , 12 Iberia, 13 Mediterranean islands, 14 , 15 and Germany. 8 It remains, however, largely overlooked in France, where most focus has been on the Middle Neolithic (n = 63), 8 , 9 , 16 with the exception of one Late Neolithic genome sequenced at 0.05× coverage. 16 This leaves the key transitional period covering ∼3,400-2,700 cal. years (calibrated years) BCE genetically unsampled and thus the exact time frame of hunter-gatherer persistence and arrival of steppe migrations unknown. To remediate this, we sequenced 24 ancient human genomes from France spanning ∼3,400-1,600 cal. years BCE. This reveals Late Neolithic populations that are genetically diverse and include individuals with dark skin, hair, and eyes. We detect heterogeneous hunter-gatherer ancestries within Late Neolithic communities, reaching up to ∼63.3% in some individuals, and variable genetic contributions of steppe herders in Bell Beaker populations. We provide an estimate as late as ∼3,800 years BCE for the admixture between Neolithic and Mesolithic populations and as early as ∼2,650 years BCE for the arrival of steppe-related ancestry. The genomic heterogeneity characterized underlines the complex history of human interactions even at the local scale., Competing Interests: Declaration of Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In the Western Mediterranean, the Neolithic mainly developed and expanded during the sixth millennium BCE. In these early phases, it generally spread through the displacement of human groups, sometimes over long distances, as shown, for example, by the Impressa sites documented on the northern shores. These groups then settled new territories which they gradually appropriated and exploited. The question of their potential interaction with groups of Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers living in the area prior to their arrival is therefore crucial. Were their encounters based on conflict and resistance or, on the contrary, on exchange and reciprocity? Many hypotheses have been put forward on this matter and many papers written. Before we can consider these potential interactions however, we must first ascertain that these different human groups really did meet-an implicit assumption in all these studies, which is, in reality, much less certain than one might think. The population density of the Late Mesolithic groups varied greatly throughout the Mediterranean, and it is possible that some areas were relatively devoid of human presence. Before any Neolithization scenarios can be considered, we must therefore first determine exactly which human groups were present in a given territory at a given time. The precise mapping of sites and the chronological modeling of their occupation enriches our understanding of the Neolithization process by allowing high-resolution regional models to be developed, which alone can determine the timing of potential interactions between Mesolithic and Neolithic groups. Various international research programs have recently produced several hundred new radiocarbon dates, based on selected samples from controlled contexts. The geochronological modelling of these data at the scale of the Western Mediterranean shows contrasting situations, probably related to different social and environmental processes. These results suggest that we should consider a varied range of Neolithization mechanisms, rather than uniform or even binary models., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This paper aims to define the first chrono-cultural framework on the domestication and early diffusion of the opium poppy using small-sized botanical remains from archaeological sites, opening the way to directly date minute short-lived botanical samples. We produced the initial set of radiocarbon dates directly from the opium poppy remains of eleven Neolithic sites (5900-3500 cal BCE) in the central and western Mediterranean, northwestern temperate Europe, and the western Alps. When possible, we also dated the macrobotanical remains originating from the same sediment sample. In total, 22 samples were taken into account, including 12 dates directly obtained from opium poppy remains. The radiocarbon chronology ranges from 5622 to 4050 cal BCE. The results show that opium poppy is present from at least the middle of the sixth millennium in the Mediterranean, where it possibly grew naturally and was cultivated by pioneer Neolithic communities. Its dispersal outside of its native area was early, being found west of the Rhine in 5300-5200 cal BCE. It was introduced to the western Alps around 5000-4800 cal BCE, becoming widespread from the second half of the fifth millennium. This research evidences different rhythms in the introduction of opium poppy in western Europe.

In the last decades, many changes have occurred in scientific publishing, including online publication, data repositories, file formats and standards. The role played by computers in this process rekindled the argument on forms of technical determinism. This paper addresses this old debate by exploring the case of publishing processes in prehistoric archaeology during the second part of the twentieth century, prior to the wide-scale adoption of computers. It investigates the case of a collective and international attempt to standardize the typological analysis of prehistoric lithic objects, coined typologie analytique by Georges Laplace and developed by a group of French, Italian, and Spanish researchers. The aim of this paper is to: 1) present a general bibliometric scenario of prehistoric archaeology publishing in continental Europe; 2) report on the little-known typologie analytique method in archaeology, using publications, archives, and interviews; 3) show how the publication of scientific production was shaped by social (editorial policies, support networks) and material (typography features and publication formats) constraints; and 4) highlight how actors founded resources to control and counterbalance these effects, namely by changing and improving publishing formats.

Genomic studies conducted on ancient individuals across Europe have revealed how migrations have contributed to its present genetic landscape, but the territory of present-day France has yet to be connected to the broader European picture. We generated a large dataset comprising the complete mitochondrial genomes, Y-chromosome markers, and genotypes of a number of nuclear loci of interest of 243 individuals sampled across present-day France over a period spanning 7,000 y, complemented with a partially overlapping dataset of 58 low-coverage genomes. This panel provides a high-resolution transect of the dynamics of maternal and paternal lineages in France as well as of autosomal genotypes. Parental lineages and genomic data both revealed demographic patterns in France for the Neolithic and Bronze Age transitions consistent with neighboring regions, first with a migration wave of Anatolian farmers followed by varying degrees of admixture with autochthonous hunter-gatherers, and then substantial gene flow from individuals deriving part of their ancestry from the Pontic steppe at the onset of the Bronze Age. Our data have also highlighted the persistence of Magdalenian-associated ancestry in hunter-gatherer populations outside of Spain and thus provide arguments for an expansion of these populations at the end of the Paleolithic Period more northerly than what has been described so far. Finally, no major demographic changes were detected during the transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest.

This article explores the changes that occurred in harvesting technology during the dispersal of the Neolithic in the Mediterranean basin. It does so through technological and use-wear analysis of flaked stone tools from archaeological sites dated between ca. 7000 and 5000 cal BCE, from the Aegean Sea to the westernmost coasts of Portugal. The main goal is to analyse the transformations that occurred in the harvesting toolkit. Our study reveals dynamics of continuity and change in sickles at a Mediterranean scale, resulting from adaptations of the migrant groups to the newly occupied territories and from processes of technological innovation. Adaptations in the production system of the inserts and in their use-pattern occurred in relation to lithic raw material availability and knappers' skills, but also in relation to the scale of production and farming techniques. A major shift took place in the north-western Mediterranean arc with the diffusion of parallel-hafted inserts, probably as a result of heterogeneous phenomena including the diffusion of new groups, technical transfers, establishment of new interaction networks and new systems of lithic production., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Farming economy was first introduced to the coastal areas of Southern France by Impressa groups (ca. 5850-5650 cal BC), originating from Italy, and subsequently spread to the hinterland by Cardial/Epicardial communities (ca. 5400-4500 cal BC). Fruit and seed remains preserved in archaeological sites provide direct evidence of the botanical resources cultivated and collected by these ancient social groups. But the transition from hunter-gathering to agricultural subsistence strategies is still poorly known in the area, due to insufficient and sometimes outdated archaeobotanical studies. Here we present new results and a critical review of all the available archaeobotanical data, in order to characterize food plant resources, cultivation practices and their variations in time and space. The archaeological dataset is composed of 19 sites (20 site/phases) mostly located in the Mediterranean lowlands. Our results demonstrate that farming economy of the Impressa groups was focused on the cultivation of hulled wheats, with only slight differences compared to their South Italian origins. The contribution of naked cereals increased in the Cardial/Epicardial agriculture, in agreement with the situation in other areas of the Western Mediterranean. The subsistence economy of hinterland sites seems to include a wider contribution of wild fruits and more limited contribution of crops. However, the poor evidence of cultivation activities in the hinterland is likely due first to the difficulties to find and excavate the sites and perform large-scale archaeobotanical sampling. It is likely that agriculture played a significant but variable role between sites and territories., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The detailed description of corrosion processes in ancient and historical metal artifacts currently relies on the in-depth study of prepared cross sections. The in-plane elemental and phase distributions can be established from a combination of light and electron microscopy characterization. Here, we show that high-resolution virtual sectioning through synchrotron X-ray microcomputed tomography allows a precise noninvasive 3D description of the distribution of both internal and external mineral phases in whole objects. In fragments of early copper artifacts (third-second millennium BC) from Southern Mesopotamia and the Indus valley, this approach provided essential clues on long-term corrosion processes. Major and minor phases were identified through semiquantitative evaluation of attenuation coefficients using polychromatic X-ray illumination. We found evidence for initially unidentified phases through statistical processing of images. We discuss interpretation of the distribution of these phases. A good correlation between the corrosion phases identified by CT and by invasive BSE-SEM is demonstrated. In addition to the stratigraphy of the copper corrosion compounds, we examine and discuss the variations observed in the attenuation coefficients of Cu(I) phases. Semiquantitative synchrotron X-ray microtomography phase mapping requires no specific sample preparation, in particular polishing or surface finishing, and any material tearing or displacement is avoided. We also provide evidence for the noninvasive observation of phases rapidly altered upon preparation of real cross sections. The method can be applied when cross-sectioning even of minute fragments is impossible.

The process of mimicking properties of specific interest (such as mechanical, optical, and structural) observed in ancient and historical systems is designated here as paleo-inspiration. For instance, recovery in archaeology or paleontology identifies materials that are a posteriori extremely resilient to alteration. All the more encouraging is that many ancient materials were synthesized in soft chemical ways, often using low-energy resources and sometimes rudimentary manufacturing equipment. In this Minireview, ancient systems are presented as a source of inspiration for innovative material design in the Anthropocene., (© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Photoluminescence spectroscopy is a key method to monitor defects in semiconductors from nanophotonics to solar cell systems. Paradoxically, its great sensitivity to small variations of local environment becomes a handicap for heterogeneous systems, such as are encountered in environmental, medical, ancient materials sciences and engineering. Here we demonstrate that a novel full-field photoluminescence imaging approach allows accessing the spatial distribution of crystal defect fluctuations at the crystallite level across centimetre-wide fields of view. This capacity is illustrated in archaeology and material sciences. The coexistence of two hitherto indistinguishable non-stoichiometric cuprous oxide phases is revealed in a 6,000-year-old amulet from Mehrgarh (Baluchistan, Pakistan), identified as the oldest known artefact made by lost-wax casting and providing a better understanding of this fundamental invention. Low-concentration crystal defect fluctuations are readily mapped within ZnO nanowires. High spatial dynamics-photoluminescence imaging holds great promise for the characterization of bulk heterogeneous systems across multiple disciplines.

The influence of climate change on human settlements in coastal areas is a central question for archaeologists. This paper addresses this issue by focusing on the Témara region in Morocco. The study area was selected for two main reasons. First, it contains numerous caves with Upper Pleistocene deposits, which have yielded remains of anatomically modern humans in association with Aterian and Iberomaurusian artifacts. Second, these caves are currently located on the shore, thus this region is particularly sensitive to major climate change and sea level fluctuations. Diachronic taphonomic study of faunal remains from two sites in the region, El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra caves, shows alternating human/non-human predator occupations. The lower layers of El Mnasra Cave dating to Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 5 have yielded diverse ungulate remains with significant anthropogenic impact marks, together with numerous mollusk shells, Nassarius shell beads, hearths, lithics, some bone tools and used pigments. Faunal remains from the upper layers dating to OIS 4, 3 and 2 of El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra caves, largely dominated by gazelles, provide evidence of carnivore activities, such as tooth marks, numerous semi-digested bones and coprolites alongside some anthropogenic signatures (cut marks and burnt bones). Non-human predators appear to be the main agents responsible for faunal modifications and accumulations. The 'non-intensive' nature of human occupation is confirmed by analyses of the lithic industry at El Harhoura 2. The 'intensive' human occupations date to OIS 5 and could have taken place during wet periods in connection with high sea levels, which allowed the exploitation of shellfish in this area. 'Non-intensive' human occupations generally correspond to arid periods and lower sea levels, during which the Témara area was further inland and may have been less attractive to humans., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)