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My latest for Forbes discusses the new paper by Rascovan and colleagues, \u201cEmergence and Spread of Basal Lineages of Yersinia pestis<\/em> during the Neolithic Decline<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers investigated the hypothesis that the so-called \u201cNeolithic Decline<\/a>\u201d\u2014population decreases throughout Europe\u2014was caused at least in part by pandemics. To do this, they cleverly made use of one feature of paleogenomics that often causes researchers to tear their hair out. When we sequence or genotype ancient DNA extractions, we get back data from\u00a0all<\/em> the DNA extracted from the ancient source, including large amounts of microbial DNA. This can be incredibly frustrating if you\u2019re trying to reconstruct a genome of the human whose bone (or tooth, or hair) you\u2019re extracting from; it can be enormously expensive to sequence enough DNA to get a whole human genome. However, in this case, the researchers were able to look at published datasets to see if they could find evidence of pathogens in DNA published from Neolithic individuals buried in a high-density passage grave in the Fr\u00e4lseg\u00e5rden cemetery in Falbygden (western Sweden).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n You can read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n @ArchaeOhlrau<\/a>, who works on Trypillia mega-sites (which Rascovan et al. implicated in the origins of plague), did a Twitter thread on this paper critiquing some of their interpretations and providing some much-needed context. For example,<\/p>\n And most importantly: there are no human remains from mega-sites. Thus, their hypothesis of a plague outbreak can\u2019t be falsified. Inhumations occur at the end of Trypillia, during the transition to burial mounds or in special contexts like the Verteba cave.<\/p>\n \u2014 Ren\u00e9 Ohlrau \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@ArchaeOhlrau) December 7, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I highly recommend you check out his thread<\/a> on the subject (h\/t @monicaMedHist<\/a>).<\/p>\n For more Forbes archaeology awesomeness, check out this story<\/a> by David Anderson<\/a> about the resilience of Hohokam canal builders in the face of environmental disasters:<\/p>\n Despite the odds, members of the Hohokam culture were able to work together to bring an agricultural lifestyle to a harsh desert environment for one-thousand years. This success required collaborative labor to maintain a system of civil infrastructure in the form of an extensive system of canals. Repeated environmental catastrophes, however, can wear down even the most prepared societies. Something people today should perhaps keep in mind.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And Kristina Killgrove<\/a> tackled the fascinating question of whether or not a gold artifact was a Roman nipple cover, connecting the difficulties of interpreting the purpose of ancient artifacts without projecting our own ideas upon the past to Tumblr\u2019s new terms of service:<\/p>\n In response to recent terms-of-service changes at Tumblr that ban \u201cadult content,\u201d many users of the microblogging site are firing back, trolling the site\u2019s administrators with non-pornographic images that they worry will be banned by the new policy. This \u201cancient Roman nipple cover\u201d posted by peashooter85 is one such image, and it has gained tens of thousands of responses in a couple days\u2019 time. There\u2019s one problem, though: archaeologists are unsure about that identification.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n You can read the full post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comment section or hit me up<\/a> on Twitter. (Although if you see me on there too much, feel free to remind me that I should be working on my book or academic papers instead).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Edited to add: If you\u2019d rather listen to a podcast than read, a new Archaeological Fantasies episode<\/a> that I\u2019m on just dropped!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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