Szigetszentmiklós Cemetery (Santa's Six Foot Elves)

Next up is a gigantic cemetery in Szigetszentmiklós township on Csepel Island (Shea-pel). In Hungarian, "Santa Claus Island" (I believe) is broken down: Sziget (Island) Szent (Saint) Miklos (Nicholas). Like the previous Neolithic, the Eastern Domain of Beakers preferred enormous cemeteries to which they grafted themselves.

The first Beaker immigrants were largely buried in the N-S gender differentiated format deriving from further west on the Danube. Over time Beaker graves in this area trend toward cremation urns, which is viewed as regression to native habits.  This cemetery at Szigetszentmiklós is noteworthy for a larger percentage of inhumations than other Csepel Beaker cemeteries.  It also has its fair share of bodiless burials, which is a freaky Beaker thing, or they could be bothros pits.

Like the Małopolskan Beakers from the previous post, the initial Beaker ethnic is wholly alien to this region, being characterized as a tall, Alpine, wide-faced, strongly-built people with pronounced brachycephaly.   The prominent noses, cheeks and mastoid processes are often remarked upon, including from the Köhler paper below.

The cemetery described in these three papers is "Felső Ürge-hegyi dűlő", which is a motorway site unrelated to a previous one at Szigetszentmiklós.  This part was excavated in 2006-2007 by Robert Patay (paper below).  These profiles are from "The Beaker Phenomenon and the Genomic Transformation of Northwest Europe" by Olalde et al, 2017.

Köhler, K   Anthrop. Közl. 52; 5576. (2011) [Link]

The Szigetszentmiklós occupants are considered by the osteologist to be highly heterogeneous and that may be evident in the craniometrics of the four individuals genetic tested here, 49, 133, 552, 688 (table 4 of Köhler). This cemetery is also, according to Kitti Köhler, the first time in the history of this Carpathian region that the Bell Beaker ethnic type is determined.

As we look to the Olalde paper, the Szigetszentmiklós individuals are in a genetic sense, a society of mixed ancestries. The individual pictured above (I2787) has the highest concentration of the Steppe-like ancestry of any individual within the Beaker world, and probably Western Europe for that matter. At the same rate, Szigetszentmiklós has an individual (I2741) who exhibits nearly zero Steppe-like ancestry.

It may be tempting to over-interpret the heterogeneity from Szigetszentmiklós, especially having an individual with such elevated Steppe-related ancestry, buried in the Beaker format. But there are several different narratives for these four individuals that can't yet be excluded.

When you look at grave 688 (I2787), you will see below his Y-chromosome haplogroup is identified as R1b1a1a2a2 (Z2103) which is unlike almost all Bell Beakers (that can be discerned) but absolutely like many of the Yamnaya sequenced to date. This can mean several things, but one reasonable possibility is that I2787 was ethnically half Bell Beaker and half Tisza Yamnaya. I could imagine his father as a relatively unmixed Yamnaya pastoralist from across the Tisza River and that his mother was an ethnic Central European Bell Beaker, which is why he was entitled to Beaker rites at Szigetszentmiklós.

It could also be viewed as fray from a region that in some past time sent out founder lineages; but whether true or not, I don't think that would really describe this man's personal history, not on Csepel Island. Some sites on the island have ridiculous quantities of horse remains. I2787's family history may reflect the horse trade and networks that connected different peoples in this area. Maybe his parents were some of those different peoples.

(graphic 1 only) from Robert Patay, 2007  [Link]

Fig. 13. Szigetszentmiklós-Felső Ürge-hegyi dűlő – 1–6: bell beaker examples in the cemetery 

The individual of these four that is most intriguing is the Bell Beaker man buried in grave 49 (The guy with zero steppe ancestry).  His grave is rather close to number 10, so he's reasonably early.  He has a good Central European ring ditch and has a good send-off.  Patay doesn't mention the decoration of his bowl and beaker in his 2007 paper, but I am curious if it is of a plain or epi-Maritime variety.  I wonder if this guy is a Spaniard.

Robert Patay comments on an early western-like halberd which is one of a great many things that connect these people to Central Europe and beyond.  (I've linked Patay's paper below)

Here's the Olalde narratives:

Szigetszentmiklós, Felső Ürge-hegyi dűlő (Hungary)
Contact person: Róbert Patay
The cemetery is located in the northwestern part of Csepel Island near Budapest. The
archaeological investigation of the site was conducted between 2006 and 2007. A total
of 716 features were uncovered, amongst them 218 burials of the Bell Beaker period.
One remarkable feature of this burial ground is the unusually high proportion of
inhumation burials: 102 graves of the 218 excavated graves were inhumations. Another
element of the central European funerary tradition could also be documented in the
Szigetszentmiklós cemetery, namely inhumation performed according to strict rites. The
proportion of the deceased laid on the right and the left side was roughly equal and they
were oriented either northeast-southwest or southwest-northeast. Anthropological
analysis of the skeletal remains indicated that men were always interred on their left
side, while women were laid to rest on their right side, with the face turned toward the
east in the case of both male and female burials. A comparable burial practice was
observed in cemeteries of the Bell Beaker East Group in central Europe.  A series of five AMS radiocarbon dates from the cemetery can be subjected to Bayesian analysis. If we assume that the graves represent a single phase, the time span of the use of the cemetery can be placed to approximately 2420–2190 calBCE

Grave 49 (I2741, GEN 20): Male individual lying of his left side, in contracted position.
The rectangular shaped grave pit, oriented northeast–southwest, was enclosed by a
round ditch. Grave goods include a Bell Beaker, a bowl, a stone wrist-guard and a
dagger. The radiocarbon date for this individual is:
I2741/GEN_20, Grave 49: 2458–2154 calBCE (3835±35 BP, Poz-83641) [I2a1a1 + H1+16189]

Grave 133 (I2786, GEN 56): Male individual lying of his left side, in contracted
position. The rectangular shaped grave pit, oriented northeast–southwest, was enclosed
by a round ditch. Grave goods include a bowl, a jug, and a stone silex. The radiocarbon
date for this individual is:
I2786/GEN_56, Grave 133: 2459–2206 calBCE (3850±35 BP, Poz-83639)  [I2a2a + I1]

Grave 552 (I4178, GEN 58): Male individual lying on his left side, in contracted
position. The rectangular shaped grave pit, oriented northeast–southwest, was enclosed
by a round ditch. Grave goods include a Bell Beaker, and a bowl.
I4178/GEN_58/Grave552: 2500-2200 BCE [R1b1a1a2 + J1c1b1a]

Grave 688 (I2787, GEN 59): Male individual lying of his left side, in contracted
position. The rectangular shaped grave pit, oriented northeast–southwest, was enclosed
by a round ditch. Grave good include a small jar. The radiocarbon date is:
I2787/GEN_59/Grave 688: 2458–2202 calBCE (3840±35 BP, Poz-83640) [R1b1a1a2a2 (Z2103) + T2b]

From S1 of Olalde et al, 2017

Köhler, K.: A Harang alakú edények népe Szigetszentmiklós-Felső-ürge Hegyi dűlő lelőhelyen feltárt temetőjének...  Anthrop. Közl. 52; 5576. (2011) [Link]

Bell Beaker Cemetery and Settlement at Szigetszentmiklós: First Results
RÓBERT PATAY [Link]

Abstract
This paper is a preliminary report on the excavation and evaluation of the Bell Beaker cemetery investigated in the outskirts of Szigetszentmiklós. A total of 219 Bell Beaker burials were uncovered. The cemetery contained a surprisingly high proportion of inhumation burials compared to the burial grounds earlier investigated in the Budapest area. The burial rites and the grave goods show strong ties with the Central European cemeteries of the culture, with the Bell Beaker East Group. The nds from the cemetery also bespeak the cultural impact of the local Early Bronze Age cultures. The halberd from one of the burials is a unique nd in the Bell Beaker heritage of the Carpathian Basin. The radiocarbon dates indicate that the cemetery was used between 2500–2200 cal BC.

"Anthropological examination of the Bell Beaker cemetery at Szigetszentmiklós- Felső-Ürge-hegyi dűlő"

Anthrop. Közl. 52; 5576. (2011) [Link]

Köhler, K.: Anthropological examination of the Bell Beaker cemetery at Szigetszentmiklós- Felső-Ürge-hegyi dűlő. The archaeological remains of the Early Bronze Age Bell Beaker culture, known from all around West-Europe, are present in Hungary along the Danube down to the Csepel Island. In this paper we present the results of the physical anthropological analysis of the cemetery found at Szigetszentmiklós, excavated by Róbert Patay, between 2006 and 2007. During the examination 100 inhumation and 74 cremations were analysed. Based on the results of the metrical and morphological examination we may establish that we can for the first time demonstrate the presence of the brachycranial, so called (“Glockenbecher”) Taurid type in the Bell Bea ker popula tions fr om the Ca r pa thia n Ba sin. P r eviously, the pr esence of this anthropological component in this region could be demonstrated only indirectly, through its appearance among human remains of somewhat later Bronze Age cultures. 

See also:

"Funerary Rituals Social Relations and Diffusion of Bell Beaker Csepel-Group" from Current researches on Bell Beakers Proceedings of the 15th International Bell Beaker Conference: From Atlantic to Ural.5th 9th May 2011 Poio Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain [Link]

Samborzec Beakers from Małopolska, Poland (Olalde et al, 2017)

Polish Bell Beakers can be divided into three distinct, relational clusters most likely reflecting their places of origin.   Czebreszuk and Szmyt outline these groups in "Bell Beakers and the Cultural Milieu of North European Plain".

Essentially they define (1) a northern group of Beakers, with strong ties to the Danish Single Grave Culture and CWC, (2) a southwestern group in Silesia, with ties to the Bohemia Basin (3) and in Southeastern Poland or Małopolska (Lesser Poland), they are more directly connected to, or largely originate from, Moravian Beakers.  The latter two groups belong to the Eastern Domain and the former to the Northern. 

The three individuals profiled in this post are from "The Beaker Phenomenon and the Genomic Transformation of Northwest Europe" by Olalde et al, 2017.  It follows several related posts of the past few weeks of individuals sequenced from this study.

From "Bell Beaker Culture in South-Eastern Poland"  Budziszewski, Haduch, Wlodarczak

The Samborzec Beakers are typical of the Beaker ethnic as repeatedly described by osteologists, being an often tall, powerfully built, short-headed people with a flattened upper occiput bone (among other hereditary and environmentally-influenced characteristics). (1)  The features of the skull are discussed in (1) and by Elzbieta Haduch in "Bell Beaker and Corded Ware People in the Little Poland Upland - An Anthropological Point of View".

So far genetically, these Beakers are very similar to other Beaker groups, especially the Eastern Group of Central European Beakers.  There is a great deal of heterogeneity in the Csepel Group, with sites like Szigetszentmiklós being very differentiated, but the profile flattens west of Hungary, possibly reflecting the founder phenomenon.

Haduch appears to suggest (1) that within this Upper Vistula Beaker community there are at least four local Neolithic women that married Beakers based on their hereditary characteristics compared to the previous populations.  Maybe as more Southern Polish Beakers are sequenced we'll see greater diversity than exists so far.

And to illustrate just how weird the Beakers are, the graphic below from the same paper:

Weirdos.  From "Bell Beaker Culture in South-Eastern Poland"  Budziszewski, Haduch, Wlodarczak

Examination from this older study showed that the boy in grave 1 (I4252) may have died of craniosynostosis, in which the plates of the skull fused too quickly.  Two other people, including the woman above, died of multiple myeloma cancer.  Despite this, a lot of the Upper Vistula Beakers lived to a ripe age, much like those of Bohemia and Moravia.  Grave 7 (I4251) is a radiocarbon outlier (as discussed on Anthrogenica), and this is also mentioned on page 167 of (1), believing the date is out of sync for a number of reasons.

Here's the narrative from Olalde et al, 2017:

"The site was located on the loess upland in the vicinity of the Vistula valley (western Małopolska; SE Poland). The excavations were conducted in the 1960s. A complex of small cemeteries dated to the late and final Neolithic has been found (Złota, Corded Ware and Bell Beaker graves). The cemetery from the Bell Beaker period consisted of 10 graves. The features were linearly structured and oriented on the N-S axis. Grave pits presented simple rectangular constructions without any additional outer elements. The deceased were lying in contracted position, males to the left side and women to the right side. Their equipment was typical for the Eastern group of the Beaker complex. Anthropologically, the skeletons from Samborzec show very characteristic morphological traits distinguishing them from other Neolithic and Early Bronze groups from SE Poland. The skulls are classified as short or very short. Their main characteristic is the shape of the back part, namely the distinct flattening of the upper part of the occipital bone and of an area of the parietal bone. Such a morphology suggests that this population was genetically foreign to the territory of Małopolska. We obtained genome-wide ancient DNA data from three individuals:

I4251/RISE1122/grave no. 7: 2837-2672 BCE (3990±60 BP, Ki-7926). Male inhumation burial (25-30 years) with northwest-southeast orientation, located on the left side. The grave goods consisted of two vessels (bowl and unornamented cup), a flint blade dagger and a flint scraper.  [R1b1a1a2 + H1]

Tablica XVIII

I4252/RISE1123/grave no. 1: 2463-2142 BCE (3820±50 BP, Ki-7921). Child inhumation burial (11-13 years; genetically male) with northeast-southwest orientation, located on the left side. There was a ceramic bowl and an undecorated cup.  [R + U5a1a1]

Tablica XI

I4253/RISE1124/grave no. 13: 2571-2208 BCE (3920±60 BP, Ki-7929). Male inhumation burial (25-30 years), with N-S orientation, located on the left side. The only element of equipment was a ceramic bowl, posed in the northern part of the grave." [R1b1a1a2 + U5a2c]

I'm not quite sure about this number 13.  The quote specifically mentions 10 graves from Samborzec to the Beaker period and those ten graves are discussed in (5).  So it may be a misprint, not sure.

Refs:

(1) "Bell Beaker Culture in South-Eastern Poland" Budziszewski, Haduch & Włodarczak
(2) "Personal Identity and Social Structure of Bell Beakers: The Upper Basins of the Oder and Vistula Rivers" by Makarowicz.
(3) "Northern and Southern Bell Beakers in Poland" by Makarowicz
(4) "Chronology and Bell Beaker Common Ware"  by Piguet and Besse
(5) "Kultura pucharów dzwonowatych na wyżynie MałopolsKiej" Budziszewski & Włodarczak, 2010

DNA. "The Beaker Phenomenon" Olalde et al, 2017 (Update 15)

Here's a breakdown of "The Beaker Phenomenon and the Genomic Transformation of Northwestern Europe".  It's a pre-print at bioRxiv [here].

If you are new to this and don't really know much about the Beakerfolk or the European Neolithic/Bronze Age transition, I'll only say that this paper is possibly the most significant academic paper on this subject since it was first well-defined.

Grave 68/I1390, male - Haut-Rhin, France (L. Vergnaud), Antea Archéologie, "Current researches on Bell Beakers"  R1b1a1a2a1a2 - X2b4a (see more in update 10 below)

Abstract

Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200-1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900-1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain's Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.

(Update 1)
Reading now...

This might be helpful in the meantime.

Fig 3.  Bust and Boom in the Late Neolithic (Shennan et al, 2013)

Here's the blog link to the second paper by Timson et al, 2014. 

(Update 2)

• Ok, so I was wrong.  Lactase Persistence is very low even in the British Bronze Age!!  What!
• They absolutely, positively, unequivocally exclude admixture from Iberia (Neolithic ancestry of Beakers, they say is more similar to LBK populations (actually GAC and TRB).
• Iberian Beakers have zero steppe admixture (except two girls in the North)
• Dutch and British Beakers are identical
• 95% of British Beakers are R1b P312.  However, this reduces in the MBA to 75%
• 93.5% population replacement.  Wow again.  (Keep in mind this may be relative to immigration)
• British Beakers were more vanilla and then became increasingly so. 

(Update 3)

"In central Europe, Steppe ancestry was widespread and we can exclude a substantial contribution from Iberian Beaker Complex-associated individuals, contradicting initial suggestions of gene flow between these groups based on analysis of mtDNA and dental morphology"

It'll be interesting to see how the Dulias paper approaches this problem.  H1, H3 and V in British individuals can't be Neolithic native, probably aren't Iberia (AFTER ALL), so what does this mean?

(Update 4)

• R1b completely absent in Neolithic British samples n=20
• I2a nearly completely absent in British EBA (which is admittedly biased for diagnostic BC)
• No R1a in NE Scottish Beakers.

(Update 5)

I'm looking at the mtdna of Beaker individuals.  Excluding the questions traditionally circling H1, H3 and V, a lot of the rest of it looks surprisingly steppe-like.

(Update 6)

After reading through the first time and looking at the Balkans paper, several things ranging from 1) effectively proven to 2) more likely with new factual weight being added, now seem possible:

• Beaker appears to have come directly from the Pontic-Caspian steppe while absorbing LBK-like or admixed ancestry. Census estimates and other data supports this. 
• Many of their mito-profiles look steppic.
• The Ukraine looks mixed
• Skin, eyes and LP basically identical to Yamnaya, changes over time. (Which I still don't get)
• Not a trickle of people.  Waves of immigrants first into Europe, then the isles with massive population increases following (older papers below).
• Areas of Europe less affected initially get theirs in the Bronze Age.
• U106 ~= Veluwe Beakers

(Update 7)

Looking a little closer at the Iberian remains/contexts associated with Beaker culture.

First, it should be understood that the remains and contexts are what they are.  Plus, even with messy and uncertain contexts, certain ancestry would or wouldn't be there, so this is not a criticism for including these particular remains.  I'm bit surprised at how loose the connections seem between people who look like otherwise ordinary Neolithic Iberians and Beaker associated artifacts.

In other words, these are mostly collective tombs and caves with complex and disturbed deposits. 
Here's a few of those and the identifications, the first two bolded are R1b with no steppe admixture, the second two are girls with steppe admixture)

-  Galeria da cisterna, tomb (I0839 and I0840)
-  Cova da Moura, cave (I4229)
-  Paris Steet, Barcelona (I0257, I0258, I0260, I0261, I0262, I0263, I0823, I0825, I0826 and I1553)
-  Arroyal I, Burgos (tomb Roy5 (I0462) girl with first steppe admixture in Iberia.  Also (I0458, I0459, I0460, I0461)
-  Camino de las Yeseras (a flat head woman I4245)
-  I4247 (collective inhumation)
- Camino del Molino, Caravaca de la Cruz (I0453)

The Olalde authors made a compelling case that the source of Neolithic admixture in Beakers was largely LBK-based (simply meaning Northern Europe - and actually more close to a mix of Globular Amphora and Funnelbeaker ancestry which may be more directly indicative of significant Corded Ware ancestry of Northern Europe).  Very compelling.  However, I am not really sure that a single individual, other than the woman from Camino de las Yeseras, was actually a truly diagnostic Beaker.

I'm not saying this picture will change much with more testing, but I do believe steppe ancestry is in Iberia and it may be more elusive.

(Update 8)

The authors confirm that the approach to understanding mobility through isotopes is that first generation movers are always going to be few and far between, even when ~93% of a population is immigrant descended.  Valuable data, just needs interpretation beyond turtle-level cautious.

(Update 9)

This is interesting.  The burial of  "Rue de Phaffenheim" is of a 30 year old woman (I1391) who was buried in the supine position with legs flexed right, very similar in format to a Yamana burial, although she is from the mature Beaker phase.

A fascinating aspect of her vestment is that many v-perforated buttons dot the right hemithorax.  In other words, she wore what appears to have been a right-buttoning sweater, coat or blouse.  Before the modern era, the gender-differentiation of button and belts may have been like men for both sexes, because we are right handed.  So this may be something to look into later...

(Update 10)

I added a picture and a source on the Archer from France (I1390).  He's also the very first burial on the burials page at the top of the blog "30 Beaker Burials".  He was buried with a quiver of arrows.  Genetic testing proved that a young man (I1389) buried near him was a first degree relative, probably his brother, since they both have also have the same mtdna X2b4a.

In fact, the radiocarbon dates may suggest they were closer in age in life, than the time difference in death. (Lines 270 and 271 in Supp. 1)

(Update 11)

La Fare (Forcalquier, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) (photo Lemercier) S14/I2575  Y-unsucessful? mtdna - K1c1

Notice the copper knife behind the ear of this French Bell Beaker of the Rhone-Ouvèze group.  He was about 5.6 feet or 1.72 meters tall and a "so-called "alpine" cranial architectural type".  In other words, he had a big, weird Beaker-head.  More pictures on Burials page 2.
Here's the text:  "Le Campaniforme dans le sud-est de la France"

(Update 12)

The Italian Beaker from Parma may be described in this document [here] I believe.  He was (I2478) R1b1a1a2a1a2 - K1a2a.  Other men were present and fairly seasoned 50's and 60's of age.

(Update 13)

Another unusual situation where a man has been buried as a woman.  You'll remember previously a similar situation in the Allentoft paper concerning Kněževes - grave 8 who was a woman buried as a man, with man gear (genetically confirmed a woman).  This has been reported in the CWC as well.

In this case, the man in Grave 1 (line 675 of the Supp. 1) was buried in the female, head-south format with a copper awl, something only Beaker women have been buried with.  The other individuals of the cemetery were buried according to normal rites.

Since they did not appear to DNA test grave 1, I'm not sure if the archaeologist's determination was based on skeletal metrics or confirmed through DNA and not published.  I'd be cautious in projecting too much here.  There's a lot of weird stuff to explore with regard to graves 1) cosmology 2) coming of age 3) married vs. non-married 4) honored and dishonored 5) priestly people and interestingly, 6) noncommunicants, it seems at times.

(Update 14)

When looking closer at the Beaker y-chromosomes, the haplogroup frequency becomes more extreme.   Here's what I mean:

(I1767) is a young male that is the only British male associated with a non-R1b haplotype in the Beaker period from this study.  He's I2a2a1a1a.  Besides his radiocarbon date, his grave contains no diagnostics other than he was a single burial, and he and a female were not in a gender direction (which doesn't necessarily mean anything in Britain).  Not really relevant but interesting, he was intentionally mummified.

(I2364) was a male from a double grave, head south on the western bank of the Danube around Budapest, Hungary.  While he's buried in a large cemetery that contains Beakers, only a small fraction of those graves actually have diagnostic goods, his didn't.  He was Y-chromosome H2.

That leaves two more Hungarian Beakers: (I2786) who was definitely a Bell Beaker having I2a2a, and (I3528) who was probably so G2a2a1a2a1.  One German Beaker (E09538) G2a2a1a2a1a.

I'm totally excluding the Iberian collective contexts where 8 y-chromosomes were published.  I'm just not totally confident that these folks represent people who were ever associated with Beaker cultural materials.  Totally shooting from the hip, but a number as extreme a 3/42 BBC males being associated with non-R1b male lines seems possible.

So what is that like anyway, 0.7%?  But keep in mind that the non-Iberian Beakers all had steppe admixture, so that would raise that number a little with a more reasonable criteria. Plus, these are just Beakers, not all Western Europeans.

(Update 15)

I'm surprised and intrigued by the absence of Corded Ware Culture R1a lineages, especially in Scotland, the Netherlands and Germany.  This presents a whopping dilemma.  It would seem very reasonable to believe that BBC had CWC ancestry, but I'm not sure that math works.



As soon as the genomes are available, we'll see some improved or alternate models.  Also, there's more Beaker genomes coming!


"The Beaker Phenomenon And The Genomic Transformation Of Northwest Europe"

Iñigo Olalde, Selina Brace, Morten E. Allentoft, Ian Armit, Kristian Kristiansen, Nadin Rohland, Swapan Mallick, Thomas Booth, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Alissa Mittnik, Eveline Altena, Mark Lipson, Iosif Lazaridis, Nick J. Patterson, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Yoan Diekmann, Zuzana Faltyskova, Daniel M. Fernandes, Matthew Ferry, Eadaoin Harney, Peter de Knijff, Megan Michel, Jonas Oppenheimer, Kristin Stewardson, Alistair Barclay, Kurt W. Alt, Azucena Avilés Fernández, Eszter Bánffy, Maria Bernabò-Brea, David Billoin, Concepción Blasco, Clive Bonsall, Laura Bonsall, Tim Allen, Lindsey Büster, Sophie Carver, Laura Castells Navarro, Oliver Edward Craig, Gordon T. Cook, Barry Cunliffe, Anthony Denaire, Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy, Natasha Dodwell, Michal Ernée, Christopher Evans, Milan Kuchařík, Joan Francès Farré, Harry Fokkens, Chris Fowler, Michiel Gazenbeek, Rafael Garrido Pena, María Haber-Uriarte, Elżbieta Haduch, Gill Hey, Nick Jowett, Timothy Knowles, Ken Massy, Saskia Pfrengle, Philippe Lefranc, Olivier Lemercier, Arnaud Lefebvre, Joaquín Lomba Maurandi, Tona Majó, Jacqueline I. McKinley, Kathleen McSweeney, Mende Balázs Gusztáv, Alessandra Modi, Gabriella Kulcsár, Viktória Kiss, András Czene, Róbert Patay, Anna Endródi, Kitti Köhler, Tamás Hajdu, João Luís Cardoso, Corina Liesau, Michael Parker Pearson, Piotr Włodarczak, T. Douglas Price, Pilar Prieto, Pierre-Jérôme Rey, Patricia Ríos, Roberto Risch, Manuel A. Rojo Guerra, Aurore Schmitt, Joël Serralongue, Ana Maria Silva, Václav Smrčka, Luc Vergnaud, João Zilhão, David Caramelli, Thomas Higham, Volker Heyd, Alison Sheridan, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Mark G. Thomas, Philipp W. Stockhammer, Ron Pinhasi, Johannes Krause, Wolfgang Haak, Ian Barnes, Carles Lalueza-Fox, David Reich

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/135962 

Last Minute Review of 2016

In a few weeks 2016 will be a distant memory because some spectacular papers are about to parachute in.

Here's a few things that were memorable.

From the "Beakers & Bodies Project" (British Archaeology, 2017)

1.  One of the best forensic reconstructions of an ancient person was brought to life:  "Ava of the Highlands" 

2.  There was the release of a paper "The Beaker People Project" that gave some support to the idea that flatheads could have been a product of infant rearing practices.

My view for a long while has been that flattened occiputs are enticingly a tell-tale sign of infant cradleboard use, most common in North Asia.  That, in combination with a strong genetic disposition for brachycephaly, made for some strange new head shapes in the Beaker period.   (Being Tall)

Discussed this a little further here VanderWaals, 1984

3.  Very recently there was a 'Neolithic Eyebrow' raising paper from Christina Roth, 2016.  I suspect this is part of a drip from a bigger paper, but in any case the Mesetan Beakerfolk clearly have unexpected maternal profiles that are not native to the plateau lands of Iberia.

Roth's paper agrees to some degree with Brotherton et al, 2013 in that Iberia has the kind of components that later appear elsewhere in Europe, while the reverse could also be true in the Mesetas and the Tagus estuary.  Some sort of reflux in one direction or the other seems likely.

On the other hand, kept in mind Hervella et al, 2015 who suggested that the dominant Beaker maternal profiles (H + V) were largely a contribution from a later Neolithic influx (relatively speaking) from Anatolia which also began to expand with the Beakers.

4.  Ancient Canary Islander DNA introduces some intriguing possibilities.   The bottom line is that R1b owes much less to the mission period than expected.  It could predate Berbers.  It's probably not Roman either.

The most backwards, isolated, hayseed hicks of the Canary Islands tested from a millennium ago are also the most Atlantic-like.

5.  Beer can literally be brought back from the dead.  [here].  This is more than analyzing ingredients and reproducing a beverage; it's actually reanimating surviving yeast (gives beer most of its unique character).

If beakers meant for drinking were periodically waterproofed with beeswax, then it's possible that yeast migrated into the liner and survived the harsher processes of decomposition.  Reproducing those yeast cells and then reusing (by the right hands, Alex McGovern?) could tell us volumes about the stages, temperatures and conditions in which that particular beer was made and stored (even if it was a relatively wild and uncontrolled yeast).

That would tell us if there was a radical difference in alcohol content in the funeral beakers of children, women and men.  Also, I suspect Neolithic beer was fermented in 1/4 oak log barrels (which is basically a hallowed-out oak log proofed with wax).

This next year looks to be a good one.  Happy New Year!

Sexual Dimorphism of Bell Beaker Folk (and VanderWaals, 1984)

In the previous post "Being Tall" the historic purpose of swaddling infants in North Eurasia was explored and its likely use among the prehistoric Bell Beaker groups for the purpose of improving stature and form.

Beaker Mother and Infant, Camino de Yeseras (Foto a partir
de Blasco et al. 2005: Fig. 7)

There is still yet another interesting aspect when looking at the circumstantial clues pointing to the practice among early Beakers.  That is that boys appear to have been more often swaddled than girls, and by a fairly large margin if you were to accept the hypothesis that flattened occiputs are evidence of this practice.   (This by the way has been demonstrated in studies from Kurdistan to Mongolia)

Here's a long excerpt from a 1984 paper by Van der Waals, but the context is important:

In his paper 'Anthropology of Bell Beaker people', presented to the symposium, Professor Kurt Gerhardt summarized and substantiated his views on Bell Beaker physical anthropology (1976).  Gerhardt is a representative of the traditional typological approach in physical anthropology, with a keen knowledge of human genetics. He acquired fame by his definition of one specific cranial type, occurring in Bell Beaker contexts: the planoccipital steephead. At Oberried he pointed out that this planoccipital steephead was the most characteristic and numerically important type identified by him among the essentially heterogeneous complex of cranial types in Bell Beaker graves. The type had
never been found with any of the earlier Neolithic Central European groups. He based his arguments on his own research, chiefly comprising finds from Central Europe (from the Elsass to Southwest Poland), but on the basis of inspection of material published and illustrated in Crania Britannica from 1865 he was convinced that planoccipital steepheads were also represented on the British Isles. What made Gerhardt's contribution remarkable was his emphatic demonstration of a systematic sexual dimorphism. Among male 'Bell Beaker' skeletons in Central Europe, he had found more than twice the number of planoccipital steepheads than among female 'Bell Beaker' skeletons of the same area.  He furthermore noted that many of the male planoccipital steepheads had been found in the richer Bell Beaker graves, and concluded that 'this remarkable situation asked for a sociological explanation'. During the final discussion of the symposium he explained that he could only think of this situation as resulting from strong endogamy within clans, as with Medieval European high nobility. The resolution of such a social system at the end of the Bell Beaker period could account for the disappearance of the planoccipital steephead in the succeeding Unetice period.

Essentially we learn something that has been recently eluded to in Liesau et al, 2015, and that is a sociological dimension in which head shape is loosely associated with status.  In Camino de Yeseras, the flat-head mother lived a good life and was given a rich burial.  Ordinary women buried nearby lived hard lives and had modest burials.

The other aspect is the attention or preference given to the development of boys.  Throughout much of the Old World, especially the modern MENA nations, boys are nursed substantially longer than girls.  In fact, the attention disparity between genders can be cruelly stark.  The degree to which girls were swaddled compared to boys may depend on where Beaker girls fell within the sequence of male children as parents would focus attention and resources on their boys.

An interesting point to dove-tail in a later post is the apparent 'ruggedness' of Bell Beaker males.  Aside from being taller, they are also much stronger with stronger bones and stronger muscle attachments.  Obviously part of this is genetic, part of it is diet, but another aspect could be environmental.  In other words some of the skeletal evidence may point to resistance training, or at least 'feats of strength', among the warrior elite.  Back to Van der Waals:

In comparing the complete groups of the three periods Czarnetzki demonstrates that the
greatest divergence is between the Late Neolithic (=Corded Ware) and Bell Beaker groups, the smallest between Bell Beaker and Unetice groups, the divergence between Late Neolithic and Unetice being intermediate. The same pattern of divergences emerged when male individuals only were taken into consideration, but among females the divergence between Late Neolithic and the Bell Beaker period was smaller than between the late Neolithic and Unetice. In this case, there appeared to be a normal type of increase in divergence through time. In other words, the gene pool in females remained unchanged into Bell Beaker times, only then certain changes appeared to take place. During the Bell Beaker period, the introduction of a new gene flow must be inferred from the shift in the values active in the formation of epigenetic traits, a shift caused
mainly by male individuals.

Here's the irony of all of this:  everything is circular, from the Dutch hypothesis to Clarke's social continuity.  To be overly cavalier in dismissing a particular theory is to miss that often times there is a valid argument to be made, although maybe not an all encompassing explanation.  I do believe that catastrophic population changes are occurring at the end of the Neolithic, but Clarke's points aren't without merit.  Some of the skeletal quirks of Beakers could in fact be environmentally and culturally induced from the Early Bronze Age arms race:

Yet, to many of the participants the elements of convergence in the presentations of Gerhardt and Shennan were quite intriguing. David Clarke then intervened and pointed out that the convergence of ideas was only apparent. 'There is in fact a very basic division between us here', Clarke said. The question of origins . . . is part of the
questions asked by the old school, about how, when and where. The questions of greater interest and deeper explanatory meaning answer the questions why'. Clarke went on to make clear why he had a deep mistrust of all physical anthropological evidence. If I remember correctly he said it was because the skeletal material available was too much the result of heavily biasing regional circumstances, and therefore liable to generate illusory conclusions.

See also [here]



"Discontinuity, cultural evolution and the historic event"
J D VanderWaals, Proc SocAntiq Scot, 114 (1984), 1-14 [Link]

SUMMARY
Aspects of the traditional culture concept, the closely connected twin concepts of continuity
and discontinuity, and their usefulness for prehistory are reconsidered. Continuity and discontinuity
are considered as functions of the evolution of culture; it is argued that the role of the historic
element should not be overlooked.

Being Tall

In places where swaddling was recently practiced, the desired end-state was to develop infants into taller, straighter adults.  Algonquians, Mongolians and Swedes bound the child to a board in infancy which would help develop the musculature in the most erect posture.

Why they troubled to do this is simple.  Crooked, curved people are historically looked upon as the lowest social order, whilst the fully erect and tall are viewed as strong, healthy, noble.

The English word crooked, as in "Crooked Hillary" or Richard Nixon's famous retort, "I am not a crook", is to literally say that someone is a scoundrel, felon or thief.  The etymology of crook connotes a crooked (curved) person, such as a haggardly witch, a hunchback or a sickly beggar.  Parents want their children to sit up straight, walk straight, and in many places practice walking with a book on the head.

In all likelihood Beakerfolk swaddled their children based on a number of clues, and by extension they did this to make them straighter and taller.  They likely had an active understanding of the effects of swaddling and did so intentionally if they were like later peoples such as the Mongolians, who did so with the intent of improving height and posture.

When we speak of Bell Beaker brachycephaly, we are usually speaking of two separate, and not necessarily related, phenomena.  One is natural brachycephaly which is a long-term human trend, especially in the northern mammal populations.  This may have been further exaggerated due to child rearing practices of Beakers.  The other is the flattened occiput (common to many Beakers), which is entirely the result of an external factor; as I've speculated for a long time, swaddling bands, clothes and cradles. [See here]

Swaddled Beaker babies may not seem that interesting at first, but given the hypothesized severity of the practice another cultural dimension comes to light, that of physical height.

Most Beaker men across Europe seem to have been the height of the Amesbury Archer, 5.8" (176cm), more or less.  This is taken by measuring the femur, although the health of the collagen may be factored in as well (this would likely make a greater difference between many Neolithic populations).  5.7, 5.8 is the mean height of diagnostic Beakers, which is tall for the age.

Some Beaker men were very tall for the times.  Cornaclery Man, Racton Man, Gristhorpe Man and Hindow Burial 1 were all in the 6.1 to 6.3 range (186-192cm).  (There are others, but I just pulled these out of the backpocket)  Now remember, this is based on the skeletal structure alone and other factors may be at play, such as the elongation of the spine as a result of infant binding.

The curvature of the spine is measured in Cobb Angles, which would suggest a person with a "theoretically" flat back would be 3" (or 7.6cm) taller than natural.  It's difficult to know the degree to which Beaker backs were malformed by cradle boards, but their heads were definitely malformed, so low degree backs (not zero degree) are not impossible.  So with that being said, it's possible that many Bell Beakers (men and women) were even taller than their skeletal predisposition, if only by an 1 to 1.5 inches (2 to 4 cm).

Maybe, maybe not.  But people will do anything to add an inch.