The Shahrizor Prehistory Project has targeted prehistoric levels of the Late Ubaid and Late Chalcolithic 4 (LC4; Late Middle Uruk) periods at Gurga Chiya (Shahrizor, Kurdistan region of northern Iraq), along with the Halaf period at the adjacent site of Tepe Marani. Excavations at the latter have produced new dietary and environmental data for the sixth millennium B.C. in the region, while at Gurga Chiya part of a burned Late Ubaid tripartite house was excavated. This has yielded a promising archaeobotanical assemblage and established a benchmark ceramic assemblage for the Shahrizor Plain, which is closely comparable to material known from Tell Madhhur in the Hamrin valley. The related series of radiocarbon dates gives significant new insights into the divergent timing of the Late Ubaid and early LC in northern and southern Mesopotamia. In the following occupation horizon, a ceramic assemblage closely aligned to the southern Middle Uruk indicates convergence of material culture with central and southern Iraq as early as the LC4 period. Combined with data for the appearance of Early Uruk elements at sites in the adjacent Qara Dagh region, this hints at long-term co-development of material culture during the fourth millennium B.C. in southeastern Iraqi Kurdistan and central and southern Iraq, potentially questioning the model of expansion or colonialism from the south.

Objective: To determine the heritability and genetic relationships between dimensional and categorical models of bipolar disorder (BD). Methods: The Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) assesses lifetime history of cardinal manic symptoms and associated impairment. MDQ were collected from participants in the Amish-Mennonite Bipolar Genetics (AMBiGen) study, which enrolls individuals with BD and their relatives from Amish and Mennonite communities in North and South America. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed to analyze the dimensions of the MDQ in 726 participants, 212 of whom were assigned a categorical major mood disorder diagnosis by structured psychiatric interview. SOLAR-ECLIPSE (v9.0.0) was used to perform heritability and genetic correlation analyses between MDQ-derived measures and categorical diagnoses among 432 genotyped participants. Results: As expected, MDQ scores were significantly higher among individuals diagnosed with Bipolar Spectrum Disorders (BSD). PCA suggested a three-component model for the MDQ, consistent with the literature. Heritability of the MDQ symptom score was estimated at 29.9% (p<0.001), which was evenly distributed across its three principal components. Strong and significant genetic correlations were found between categorical diagnoses and most MDQ measures, especially impairment. Conclusion: The results support the MDQ as a dimensional measure of BSD. Furthermore, significant heritability and high genetic correlations between MDQ and categorical BSD diagnoses suggest a genetic continuity between dimensional and categorical measures of major mood disorders.

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