Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Evidence of Prostatic Stones at Al Khiday Cemetery, Central Sudan

Usai, Donatella; Maritan, Lara; Sasso, Gregorio Dal; Artioli, Gilberto; Salvatori, Sandro; Jakob, Tina; Salviato, Tiziana

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0169524

Cited by 11 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…We are often dependent on case reports from Pleistocene burials, human and hominin, as a result (for example, evidence of bacterial infection of prostatic stones (Usai et al, 2017) and osteolytic pathology caused by Echinococcus (Vlok et al, 2021); for a more detailed summary, see (Houldcroft & Underdown, 2016)). Parasites may either cause disease directly (for example, helminthiasis (Crompton, 1999)), or they may act as vectors for an infectious disease (such as transmission of the typhus‐causing bacteria Rickettsia prowazekii , which can be spread by human body lice, Pediculus humanus (Badiaga & Brouqui, 2012)).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infectious disease in the Pleistocene: Old friends or old foes?

Houldcroft

Underdown

2023

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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The impact of endemic and epidemic disease on humans has traditionally been seen as a comparatively recent historical phenomenon associated with the Neolithisation of human groups, an increase in population size led by sedentarism, and increasing contact with domesticated animals as well as species occupying opportunistic symbiotic and ectosymbiotic relationships with humans. The orthodox approach is that Neolithisation created the conditions for increasing population size able to support a reservoir of infectious disease sufficient to act as selective pressure. This orthodoxy is the result of an overly simplistic reliance on skeletal data assuming that no skeletal lesions equated to a healthy individual, underpinned by the assumption that hunter‐gatherer groups were inherently healthy while agricultural groups acted as infectious disease reservoirs. The work of van Blerkom, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., vol. suppl 37 (2003), Wolfe et al., Nature, vol. 447 (2007) and Houldcroft and Underdown, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., vol. 160, (2016) has changed this landscape by arguing that humans and pathogens have long been fellow travelers. The package of infectious diseases experienced by our ancient ancestors may not be as dissimilar to modern infectious diseases as was once believed. The importance of DNA, from ancient and modern sources, to the study of the antiquity of infectious disease, and its role as a selective pressure cannot be overstated. Here we consider evidence of ancient epidemic and endemic infectious diseases with inferences from modern and ancient human and hominin DNA, and from circulating and extinct pathogen genomes. We argue that the pandemics of the past are a vital tool to unlock the weapons needed to fight pandemics of the future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infectious disease in the Pleistocene: Old friends or old foes?

Houldcroft

Underdown

2023

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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“…The Middle Mesolithic can be further broken down into three sub-phases: Middle Mesolithic A (6650-6500 cal BC), B (6500-6250 cal BC) and C (6200-6000 cal BC). To date, these deposits have provided a unique opportunity to investigate subsistence strategies, burial practices, material production, and social organization at a very detailed level (e.g., Buckley et al, 2014;Dal Sasso et al, 2014, 2016Linseele, 2020;Maritan et al, 2018;Salvatori et al, 2014;Usai et al, 2014Usai et al, , 2017Zerboni et al, 2018). The neolithization of the region appears rooted in the Mesolithic HGF groups, although some external influences cannot be ruled out (Usai, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild Food: Plants, Fish and Small Animals on the Menu for Early Holocene Populations at al-Khiday, Central Sudan

et al. 2022

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Al-Khiday, located on the bank of the White Nile in Sudan, offers an exceptionally preserved stratigraphic sequence, providing a unique opportunity to use organic residue analysis to investigate diet and subsistence during the Khartoum Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic, a period of nearly 3500 years (7000–4500 cal BC). While the vast and diverse Mesolithic fish assemblage indicates a strong reliance on products from aquatic habitats, floodplains, vegetated marshes, and open water, results from the lipid residue analysis suggest that the fish were not cooked in ceramic pots, but consumed in other ways. Rather, pots were more specialized in processing plants, including wild grasses, leafy plants, and sedges. These results, confirmed by experimental analysis, provide, for the first time, direct chemical evidence for plant exploitation in the Khartoum Mesolithic. Non-ruminant fauna (e.g., warthog) and low lipid-yielding reptiles (e.g., Adanson’s mud turtle and Nile monitor lizard), found in significant numbers at al-Khiday, were likely also cooked in pots. There is little evidence for the processing of wild ruminants in the Mesolithic pots, suggesting either that ruminant species were not routinely hunted or that large wild fauna may have been cooked in different ways, possibly grilled over fires. These data suggest sophisticated economic strategies by sedentary people exploiting their ecological niche to the fullest. Pottery use changed considerably in the Early Neolithic, with ruminant products being more routinely processed in pots, and while the exploitation of domesticates cannot be confirmed by a small faunal assemblage, some dairying took place. The results provide valuable information on Early and Middle Holocene lifeways in central Sudan.

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Bone Powder and Wild Plants: Subsistence Strategies of Early Neolithic Settlers in North China

Wei,

Sun,

et al. 2024

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture is a major turning point in human history. In North China, although crops were cultivated as early as 10,000 BP, they only became staple foods with the establishment of a fully functional agricultural system between 6000 and 5000 BP. Thus, exploring the subsistence strategies of this transitional period is crucial for understanding how hunter‐gatherers gradually evolved into farmers. The Peiligang culture (c. 9000–7000 BP) is one of the most significant early Neolithic cultures in this region. In this study, we investigated the crust residues from the pottery Ding‐tripods (鼎) dating to the middle Peiligang culture (8800–8200 cal bp) at the Xielaozhuang site using a multidisciplinary approach that includes FTIR, XRD, SEM‐EDS, and starch granule analyses. Our results indicate that a mixture containing bone powder, Panicoideae, Triticeae, and acorns was prepared in these pottery Ding‐tripods. This finding represents one of the earliest known uses of bone powder globally, contributing valuable insights to the ongoing debate regarding fragmented bone assemblages and bone grease extraction. Moreover, combined with macrobotanical and zooarchaeological data, our findings suggest that agriculture had not yet fully supplanted hunting and gathering, as wild plants and animals continued to play a critical role in the diet at the Xielaozhuang site during the Peiligang culture. The use of bone powder alongside wild plant starches illustrates how these early communities invested significant time and effort into transforming inedible resources into consumable food, a strategy crucial for obtaining sufficient calories to sustain a sedentary lifestyle, especially during periods of resource scarcity. These insights illuminate the subsistence strategies of early Neolithic societies transitioning from reliance on hunting‐gathering to more settled practices.

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Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Evidence of Prostatic Stones at Al Khiday Cemetery, Central Sudan

Cited by 11 publications

References 31 publications

Infectious disease in the Pleistocene: Old friends or old foes?

Infectious disease in the Pleistocene: Old friends or old foes?

Wild Food: Plants, Fish and Small Animals on the Menu for Early Holocene Populations at al-Khiday, Central Sudan

Bone Powder and Wild Plants: Subsistence Strategies of Early Neolithic Settlers in North China

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