In skeletal material from the neolithic settlement at Makotrasy, county Kladno, were analysed two children's craniums (identification numbers Ao 8218 and Ao 4184) with pathological cases. Case 1 (Object 127, Ao 8218) is the individual about 4 to 5 years old. There is oval aperture with the diameter 25 x 20 mm in the area of anthropometrical point bregma, with vertical, multiple knurled edges. Bevelled and rounded segment in the left frontal part of the aperture with diameter 10 mm is imitating healing process. We suggest this case is the trephination with the marks of the healing process in the period of 1 to 2 weeks after the surgery took over. Case 2 (Pit 25, Ao 4184) is child with age determined about 4 years old. Cranium was found buried separately. There is oval defect located at os occipitale and os parietale sin and goes through sutura lambdoidea. Caudal part of defect is missing. The edge of the defect is sharp and inward bevelled with exposed diploe. Traces of any vital reaction were not identified. Diameter is around 50 mm. Perimortal trephination leading to death, or postmortal taking of the trephinational amulet must be considered. There were several pathological lesions on the same skull. Defect of oval shape sized 8 x 12 mm is located at the os parietale dex. Defect interferes mostly with lamina externa and less with lamina interna. Exposed diploe is without any vital reaction.

• MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lebka patologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• paleopatologie MeSH
• předškolní dítě MeSH
• trepanace dějiny   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• předškolní dítě MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika MeSH

The Alföld Region of Hungary played a key role in the spread of Neolithic in Europe as being the main route towards Central and Northern Europe. From local excavations, nearly 500 skeletons have been uncovered so far from the Early-Middle Neolithic periods, providing an excellent base for the study of the first Central European farmers. Ancient DNA analysis of these human remains was needed to give reliable data on their genetic diversity and origin, because archaeological data were only accompanied by morphometrical investigations prior to our studies. A primer walking strategy was used to map through the hypervariable region of the human mitochondrial DNA to identify any specific polymorphism containing sequence in the 7,000-8,000-year-old Neolithic remains. Amplifiable fragments were isolated and their sequences were determined via direct sequencing of PCR products of interest. The sizes of the amplification products were found from 80 to 455 bp, but this efficiency was only achievable when we applied a DNA purification step in the prePCR protocol. Direct DNA sequence analysis of PCR products of interest showed that HVR of the mitochondrial DNA contain point mutations just specifically bound to the 8,000-year-old aDNA, and the distinctive mutation patterns of nt16257 and nt16261 were repeatedly found, which is characteristic of the N9a mitochondrial haplogroup. This mtDNA lineage is rare among contemporary Europeans and more common in the East Asian samples, while according to our aDNA data, no polymorphisms of N haplogroups were found in more recent sites dating from the Middle Ages up to the present. These data are in accordance with the knowledge of a heterogeneous genetic pattern of European Neolithic, but with local differences and novel genetic data. These polymorphisms were followed up throughout the Neolithic remains collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, and checked with amplification experiments using polymorphism specific primers. This analysis will be extended onto other Neolithic sites in Europe, or even outside Europe in order to determine the mtDNA polymorphism pattern of Neolithic people.

• MeSH
• antropologie metody   MeSH
• biologická evoluce MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mitochondriální DNA analýza   diagnostické užití   genetika   MeSH
• polymorfismus genetický genetika   MeSH
• zemědělství pracovní síly   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Maďarsko MeSH

Les études anthropologiques employant la biométrie sont nombreuses ? s'?tre intéressées ? la variabilité humaine en Europe occidentale ? la période du Néolithique. Notre étude se base sur une période plus restreinte : le Néolithique moyen (4800-3300 av. J.-C.). Plusieurs populations ont été étudiées et mesurées. Elles se situent dans une zone géographique large entre l'Italie du Nord, la Suisse occidentale et la France centrale et méridionale. De multiples analyses univariées et multivariées ont été réalisées ? partir des données métriques du squelette crânien et infracrânien afin de percevoir les variations de forme et de format entre les différents groupes humains. Un gradient morphologique a été perçu entre les populations de Suisse occidentale et deux groupes provenant du centre et du Sud de la France alors que ceux provenant de l'Italie du Nord et du Languedoc proposent des différences de forme crânienne. Les formes et formats infracrâniens nous ont permis de proposer quelques hypoth?ses sur les conditions de vie des populations étudiées. Ces derni?res présentent des caractéristiques qui pourraient ?tre liées au contexte mésologique dans lequel elles évoluent.

Biometric studies have been used as a tool to explore human variability of Neolithic populations of Europe. Our study concerned with the Middle Neolithic (4800-3300 BC) of western Europe. The material consists of 329 skeletons from nine archeological sites spanned a large geographic area which includes northern Italy, western Switzerland, and central and southern France. Univariate and multivariate analyses based on cranial and postcranial measurements were conducted to describe shape and size variation between studied samples. A morphological gradient has been observed between western Switzerland populations and two groups from central and southern France. Differences in cranial shape were detected between samples from northern Italy and Languedoc. Size and shape of postcranial skeleton allowed us to propose some hypotheses about the life conditions of the studied groups. We suggest that differences may be linked to ecological and environmental conditions in which the groups lived.

• Klíčová slova
• Střední neolit, Střední Evropa, analýza rozdílů,
• MeSH
• antropometrie * MeSH
• biometrie metody   MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• hodnotící studie jako téma MeSH
• lebka * abnormality   anatomie a histologie   růst a vývoj   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• migrace lidstva MeSH
• vývoj člověka MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• historické články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Francie MeSH
• Itálie MeSH
• Švýcarsko MeSH

Neolithic people of the Linear Pottery or Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture buried their dead in the cemetery on the area of today's city of Nitra (Slovakia) at the end of the 6th millennium BC. This article aims to present a detailed description of skeletons along with a basic anthropological analysis. The material comprised of 77 individuals, including 28 juveniles, 19 males, 27 females and 3 indeterminable adults. Females were dying more often at the age under 35 years, males at an older age. The average stature in males reached 165.0 cm, in females 155.2 cm. Population from Nitra was dolichocranic, moderately robust with platymeric femurs. Distinct muscle topography, enthesopathies and other alterations on bones associated with long-term workload were noted in skeletal material. The health status of the population was affected by numerous dental caries, inflammations occurred, including one case of tuberculosis. Cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis and Harris lines demonstrate stressful periods during the life of some individuals from Nitra. Violence among the first farmers is ilustrated by cranial trauma in five individuals.

Paleogenomic and archaeological studies show that Neolithic lifeways spread from the Fertile Crescent into Europe around 9000 BCE, reaching northwestern Europe by 4000 BCE. Starting around 4500 BCE, a new phenomenon of constructing megalithic monuments, particularly for funerary practices, emerged along the Atlantic façade. While it has been suggested that the emergence of megaliths was associated with the territories of farming communities, the origin and social structure of the groups that erected them has remained largely unknown. We generated genome sequence data from human remains, corresponding to 24 individuals from five megalithic burial sites, encompassing the widespread tradition of megalithic construction in northern and western Europe, and analyzed our results in relation to the existing European paleogenomic data. The various individuals buried in megaliths show genetic affinities with local farming groups within their different chronological contexts. Individuals buried in megaliths display (past) admixture with local hunter-gatherers, similar to that seen in other Neolithic individuals in Europe. In relation to the tomb populations, we find significantly more males than females buried in the megaliths of the British Isles. The genetic data show close kin relationships among the individuals buried within the megaliths, and for the Irish megaliths, we found a kin relation between individuals buried in different megaliths. We also see paternal continuity through time, including the same Y-chromosome haplotypes reoccurring. These observations suggest that the investigated funerary monuments were associated with patrilineal kindred groups. Our genomic investigation provides insight into the people associated with this long-standing megalith funerary tradition, including their social dynamics.

• MeSH
• archeologie * MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• genom lidský * MeSH
• haplotypy * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• lidský chromozom Y genetika   MeSH
• pohřeb MeSH
• zemědělství dějiny   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Spojené království MeSH

OBJECTIVE: We aim to identify maternal genetic affinities between the Middle to Final Neolithic (3850-2300 BC) populations from present-day Poland and possible genetic influences from the Pontic steppe. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted ancient DNA studies from populations associated with Złota, Globular Amphora, Funnel Beaker, and Corded Ware cultures (CWC). We sequenced genomic libraries on Illumina platform to generate 86 complete ancient mitochondrial genomes. Some of the samples were enriched for mitochondrial DNA using hybridization capture. RESULTS: The maternal genetic composition found in Złota-associated individuals resembled that found in people associated with the Globular Amphora culture which indicates that both groups likely originated from the same maternal genetic background. Further, these two groups were closely related to the Funnel Beaker culture-associated population. None of these groups shared a close affinity to CWC-associated people. Haplogroup U4 was present only in the CWC group and absent in Złota group, Globular Amphora, and Funnel Beaker cultures. DISCUSSION: The prevalence of mitochondrial haplogroups of Neolithic farmer origin identified in Early, Middle and Late Neolithic populations suggests a genetic continuity of these maternal lineages in the studied area. Although overlapping in time - and to some extent - in cultural expressions, none of the studied groups (Złota, Globular Amphora, Funnel Beaker), shared a close genetic affinity to CWC-associated people, indicating a larger extent of cultural influence from the Pontic steppe than genetic exchange. The higher frequency of haplogroup U5b found in populations associated with Funnel Beaker, Globular Amphora, and Złota cultures suggest a gradual maternal genetic influx from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Moreover, presence of haplogroup U4 in Corded Ware groups is most likely associated with the migrations from the Pontic steppe at the end of the Neolithic and supports the observed genetic distances.

• MeSH
• antropologie fyzická MeSH
• běloši genetika   MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• haplotypy genetika   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mitochondriální DNA genetika   MeSH
• starobylá DNA * MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Polsko MeSH

Important gaps remain in our understanding of the spread of farming into Europe, due partly to apparent contradictions between studies of contemporary genetic variation and ancient DNA. It seems clear that farming was introduced into central, northern, and eastern Europe from the south by pioneer colonization. It is often argued that these dispersals originated in the Near East, where the potential source genetic pool resembles that of the early European farmers, but clear ancient DNA evidence from Mediterranean Europe is lacking, and there are suggestions that Mediterranean Europe may have resembled the Near East more than the rest of Europe in the Mesolithic. Here, we test this proposal by dating mitogenome founder lineages from the Near East in different regions of Europe. We find that whereas the lineages date mainly to the Neolithic in central Europe and Iberia, they largely date to the Late Glacial period in central/eastern Mediterranean Europe. This supports a scenario in which the genetic pool of Mediterranean Europe was partly a result of Late Glacial expansions from a Near Eastern refuge, and that this formed an important source pool for subsequent Neolithic expansions into the rest of Europe.

• MeSH
• běloši MeSH
• efekt zakladatele MeSH
• etnicita MeSH
• genetická variace * MeSH
• genom lidský * MeSH
• haplotypy MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mitochondriální DNA analýza   MeSH
• starobylá DNA analýza   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH
• Střední východ MeSH
• Středomoří MeSH

OBJECTIVES: This study presents biological affinities between the last hunter-fisher-gatherers and first food-producing societies from the Nile Valley. We investigate odontometric and dental tissue proportion changes between these populations from the Middle Nile Valley and acknowledge the biological processes behind them. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dental remains of 329 individuals from Nubia and Central Sudan that date from the Late Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene are studied. Using 3D imaging techniques, we investigated outer and inner metric aspects of upper central incisors, and first and second upper molars. RESULTS: Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic foragers display homogeneous crown dimensions, dental tissue proportions, and enamel thickness distribution. This contrasts with Neolithic trends for significant differences from earlier samples on inner and outer aspects. Finally, within the Neolithic sample differences are found between Nubian and Central Sudanese sites. DISCUSSION: Substantial dental variation appears to have occurred around 6000 bce in the Nile Valley, coinciding with the emergence of food-producing societies in the region. Archeological and biological records suggest little differences in dietary habits and dental health during this transition. Furthermore, the substantial variations identified here would have happened in an extremely short time, a few centuries at most. This does not support in situ diet-related adaptation. Rather, we suggest these data are consistent with some level of population discontinuity between the Mesolithic and Neolithic samples considered here. Complex settlement processes could also explain the differences between Nubia and Central Sudan, and with previous results based on nonmetric traits.

• MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• dieta dějiny   MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• moláry anatomie a histologie   MeSH
• paleodontologie * MeSH
• řezáky anatomie a histologie   MeSH
• zuby anatomie a histologie   chemie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Súdán MeSH

Vladimír Ondruš (1972) referred to numerous instances of children's burials at the Neolithic settlement in Vedrovice in South Moravia, Czech Republic. He based his explanation of these occurrences on the theory that children had been subjected to ritual sacrifice during the process of laying the foundation or completion of a house. Elevated values of strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr > 0.7115) in M1 tooth enamel and a compact bone segment of the central femur of the three juvenile individuals suggest that these children (grave H3/66, 6–7 years; grave H4/69, 7–8 years; grave H5/71, 5–6 years) were migrants. The Vedrovice area is located close to the NE-SW trending boundary between the Bohemian Massif crystalline region, dominated by Palaeozoic or older granitoids and metamorphic rocks with generally high 87Sr/86Sr to the NW, and lowland areas to the SE, dominated by Cenozoic marine sediments with low 87Sr/86Sr ratio. It is thus more probable that the 3 children in question originated from the NW region. Children in graves H3/66, H4/69, and H5/71 from the Neolithic site in Vedrovice were placed behind posthole huts, on their western side. The graves of H3/66 and H4/69 contained no gifts, and all were non-locals, likely born northwest of Vedrovice. One of them had the arms in front of the face as if in fear. Hence it may be concluded and to speculate that these children were migrants, and were killed (or buried alive) during the founding of a field in a religious ceremony to support the growth of crops. Analyses of migration on the site as well as ethnographical comparisons with other primitive agricultural societies from the Amazon, New Guinea and India which have traditions of comparing children to plant growth, suggest that the children were most likely sacrificed during the process of founding a field as part of a ritual ceremony to support the growth of crops. Perimortem traumas on the skulls of two children from the triple burial 48-49-50/65 Nitra-Horné Krškany (Slovakia) are evidence of potential violence. We can only speculate whether the children in both sites, Vedrovice and Nitra, were victims of ritualistic behaviour among the Neolithic farmers.