Wheat is regarded as one of the most important West Asian domesticates that were introduced into Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age China. Despite a growing body of archaeological data, the timing and routes of its dispersal remain controversial. New radiocarbon (C) dating evidence from six archaeological sites in the Shandong and Liaoning Peninsulas and Bayesian modelling of available C data from China suggest that wheat appeared in the lower Yellow River around 2600 Before Common Era (BCE), followed by Gansu and Xinjiang around 1900 BCE and finally occurred in the middle Yellow River and Tibet regions by 1600 BCE. These results neither support long-standing hypotheses of a progressive spread of wheat agriculture from Xinjiang or Gansu to eastern China nor suggest a nearly synchronous appearance in this vast zone, but corroborate transmission to lower Yellow River elites as an exotic good through cultural interactions with the Eurasian steppe along north-south routes.
The arid climate of many regions within Central Asia often leads to excellent archaeological preservation, especially in sealed funerary contexts, allowing for ancient DNA analyses. While geneticists have looked at human remains, clothes, tools, and other burial objects are often neglected. In this paper, we present the results of an ancient DNA study on Bronze Age leather objects excavated from tombs of the Wupu cemetery in the Hami Oasis and Yanghai cemetery in the Turpan Oasis, both in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwestern China. In addition to species identification of goat (Capra aegagrus/hircus), sheep (Ovis orientalis/aries), and cattle (Bos primigenius/taurus), mitochondrial haplogroups were determined for several samples. Our results show that Bronze Age domesticated goats and sheep from the Hami and Turpan oases possessed identical or closely related haplotypes to modern domestic animals of this area. The absence of leather produced from wild animals emphasizes the importance of animal husbandry in the cultures of Wupu and Yanghai.
The Pleistocene glaciations shaped the distribution and population structure of most European species. Some species survived the glacial cycles by shifting their range to Mediterranean refuges, while others endured in central European habitats. It has been argued that certain cold‐tolerant aquatic insect populations were able to persist in non‐freezing rivers close to glaciers. We aimed to identify the Pleistocene biogeographic history of a net‐winged midge (Blephariceridae), a relatively unknown group of Dipteran montane habitat specialists, by inference from its current population genetic structure.
We sampled five mountain ranges covering the extent of the species range. We genotyped a novel set of 11 microsatellites and sequenced the mitochondrial cytochrome‐c‐oxidase subunit I region to detect genetic structure within and among five European mountain ranges in the net‐winged midge Liponeura cinerascens cinerascens.
Liponeura cinerascens cinerascens shows distinct genetic differentiation between different mountain ranges, coupled, however, with near panmictic gene flow across distances exceeding 100 km within each studied mountain range. Distinct mitochondrial cytochrome‐c‐oxidase subunit I lineages with endemic haplotypes, microsatellite population genetic structure and high levels of regionally private alleles provide evidence that mountain range populations have been evolving independently from each other for a significant number of generations.
Liponeura cinerascens cinerascens is able to maintain gene flow between watercourses in highly structured mountain ranges. Lowland regions, however, pose significant dispersal barriers, possibly because high‐gradient stretches with boulders are rare in such landscapes. We posit that each of the studied mountain regions represents an independent Pleistocene glacial refuge, and that L. c. cinerascens was able to persist glacial cycles in extra‐Mediterranean periglacial refugia in the Jura Mountains, Bavarian Forest, and Carpathians.
Recent excavations of Ifri Oudadane, a prehistoric rockshelter on the Mediterranean coast of NW Morocco, yielded a rich marine and terrestrial fauna. We present an analysis of the shellfish remains (exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates) from the 2011 trench, covering the Epipaleolithic and Early Neolithic levels. A total of 4,415 liters of sediment contained 8,749 specimens (MNI) of at least 40 species of shellfish: 12 bivalves, 24 gastropods, one tusk shell, barnacles, crabs, and sea urchins. The mean abundance of shellfish was 2 MNI per liter. Limpets (Patellidae), topshells (Trochidae), mussels (Mytilidae), and rockshells (Muricidae) formed 98% of the total mollusk fauna and were part of the diet; limpets prevailed in Epipaleolithic levels and topshells in Neolithic ones. Evidence was found for a systematic butchering of topshells (Phorcus turbinatus): the shells in Epipaleolithic levels were mostly smashed while topshells in Neolithic levels were usually topped in a uniform way. Seven species of mollusks showed traces of manipulation and were used as ornament or tools. Species used as food, such as limpets, topshells, and mussels, never show any indications of being used as ornament or tools, and the mollusks that were used as jewelry or tools were not part of the diet.
1. Dispersal abilities and the resulting levels of connectivity between streams influence population structure in aquatic organisms. We investigated how different dispersal and life-history traits affect gene flow and population structure in three aquatic invertebrate species in a central European mountain range.2. We used microsatellite markers and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I barcode data to assess small-scale population structure and connectivity of the mayfly Baetis alpinus, the stonefly Brachyptera seticornis, and the amphipod Gammarus fossarum in seven streams within Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany. 3. Significant population structure within the study area was detected in B. alpinus and G. fossarum, whereas B. seticornis had signatures of panmixia. In G. fossarum, that structure corresponded to stream topography, while in B. alpinus it did not. The Bavarian Forest range appears to be a contact zone for different mitochondrial lineages of B. alpinus and G. fossarum. 4. Limited geneflow between sample sites in B. alpinus can be explained by the species' short adult lifespans, which restricts dispersal between sites. Since imagines are able to disperse via adult flight population structure is, however, decoupled from stream topology. Longer-lived B. seticornis is better able to maintain geneflow between sample sites. In flightless G. fossarum, population structure corresponding to stream topology can be explained by limited dispersal capabilities between streams. 5. Dispersal ability alone is insufficient to predict or explain patterns of gene flow and connectivity for individual species, and should be examined together with life-history traits when assessing population and community structure.
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