Near-Eastern Origin Research Articles

Georgian cattle, sheep, goats: are they of Near-Eastern origins?

The main aim of this research was to establish the nucleotide sequence of the highly variable region of the D loop of the mitochondrial DNA of some Georgian domestic animal species (cattle, goat, sheep) as well as their phylogenetic position among the worldwide set of domestic animals. In this study, a total of 5 haplogroups (T – 5; T3 – 7; T1 – 1; T2 – 2; T5 – 2) in 17 Georgian Mountain cattle (GMC), 4 haplogroups (A – 15; A2a1 – 3; A1a – 1; A6 – 3) in 22 Georgian goats and 3 haplogroups (A – 10; B – 16; C -15) in 41 Georgian sheeps (15 Imeretian and 26 Tushetian) were detected. This study represents the first attempt of Genetic study of native Georgian livestocks. The GMC, Georgian (Megrelian) goat, Georgian (Imeretian and Tushetian) sheep mitogenomes were grouped phylogenetically in the haplogroups indicating the closeness to the Near Eastern animals.

DURATION OF THE NEOLITHIZATION: A NORTHERN VIEW

This paper discusses the Neolithization and its duration in north-east Europe, traditionally seen as peripheral - and not actually Neolithic. It is proposed, through the case studies of pottery, cultivation, settlement and mass production, that conventional, Eurocentric views and definitions of the Neolithic are inadequate - Neolithic and Neolithization are much more diverse and multifaceted phenomena when observed on Eurasian or global scale. Further, Neolithization does not imply simply a technological or economic change but a more pervasive transformation in worldview. Neolithization in north-east Europe was a slow process, which took over two millennia, from the later 6th millennium BC to the mid-3rd millennium BC, or even further. Lastly, contrary to the traditional ideas propagating southern and ultimately Near-eastern origins, Northern Neolithic seems to have deep roots also in the East.

La parure protohistorique de Chypre : Recherche de traces sur le continent grec

The appearance of jewellery of Near-Eastern origin at Cyprus and Greece is a well-known phenomenon from the 12 th to the 7 th century BC . In order to prevent any cliché about the famous “ Dark Ages ”, the aim of the article is not only a careful analysis of some significant pieces of jewellery but also of further evidence which could bear witness to our hypotheses on cultural interactions . Following this approach by going beyond the mere documentation of jewellery , it is evident that such discoveries seem to be less sporadic as one might suppose (e . g . in Argolid and Attica ). At the same time , care must be taken to avoid the preconceived idea of discovering the former trade routes by studying the given diffusion patterns of jewellery which were rather caused by different factors such as intermarriages , phenomena of migration , or wandering craftsmen .

A genome-wide genetic signature of Jewish ancestry perfectly separates individuals with and without full Jewish ancestry in a large random sample of European Americans

A principal components analysis of genomic information showed that individuals with full Jewish ancestry formed a clearly distinct cluster from those individuals with no Jewish ancestry.

Ancient DNA provides no evidence for independent domestication of cattle in Mesolithic Rosenhof, Northern Germany

Recent studies of modern and ancient mtDNA in domesticated and wild cattle has indicated that members of the extinct Near Eastern aurochs population ( Bos primigenius primigenius) were the wild progenitors of European domesticated cattle ( Bos taurus) (Bollongino, R., Edwards, C.J., Burger, J., Alt, K.W., Bradley, D.G., 2006. Early history of European domestic cattle as revealed by ancient DNA. Biol. Lett. 2, 155–159; Edwards, C.J., Bollongino, R., Scheu, A., Chamberlain, A., Tresset, A., Vigne, J.-D., Baird, J.F., Larson, G., Ho, S.Y.W., Heupink, T.H., Shapiro, B., Freeman, A.R., Thomas, M.G., Arbogast, R.-M., Arndt, B., Bartosiewicz, L., Benecke, N., Budja, M., Chaix, L., Choyke, A.M., Coqueugniot, E., Döhle, H.-J., Göldner, H., Hartz, S., Helmer, D., Herzig, B., Hongo, H., Mashkour, M., Özdogan, M., Pucher, E., Roth, G., Schade-Lindig, S., Schmölcke, U., Schulting, R.J., Stephan, E., Uerpmann, H.-P., Vörös, I., Voytek, B., Bradley, D.G., Burger, J., 2007. Mitochondrial DNA analysis shows a Near Eastern origin for domestic cattle and no indication of comestication of European aurochs. Proc. Biol. Sci. 274, 1377–1385; Troy, C.S., MacHugh, D.E., Bailey, J.F., Magee, D.A., Lotfus, R.T., Cunningham, P., Chamberlain, A.T., Sykes, B.C., Bradley, D.G., 2001. Genetic evidence for near-Eastern origins of European cattle. Nature 410, 1088–1091). This observation is generally consistent with the observation of archaeo-zoologists, but there are exceptions. As cattle domestication is associated with size reduction, wild and domesticated individuals have usually been differentiated by measuring the size of the bones. But this criteria is complicated by a pronounced sexual dimorphism that makes it difficult to discriminate between male domestic cattle and female aurochs. In particular, several bone samples from the mainly terminal Mesolithic site Rosenhof LA 58 in northernmost Germany have provoked intense discussion because they are smaller than the minimum known size of Scandinavian female aurochs. Therefore, some scholars have argued that they represent the first and possibly locally domesticated bovines of the northern European Mesolithic. To clarify the status of the Rosenhof “cattle”, we determined the mtDNA-haplotype and sex of four of these presumed Mesolithic domesticates. We also analysed one early Neolithic sample and four Mesolithic robust and therefore morphologically definite wild aurochs from Rosenhof. For the purposes of comparison, we also determined the mtDNA haplotypes of seven samples from the adjacent Neolithic site of Wangels. The Neolithic samples from Wangels and Rosenhof revealed lineages that are typical of imported taurine cattle. In contrast, the four wild aurochs and the four presumed Mesolithic domesticates from Rosenhof yielded mtDNA sequences that are characteristic for European aurochs. Furthermore, all the proposed domestics from Rosenhof were female individuals while three out of four remains from Rosenhof's confirmed aurochs were males. As the four bones in question are too large to belong to female domesticates it is highly likely that they stem from wild female aurochs that were smaller than previously thought. Our data thus indicate that the beginning of cattle husbandry in Northern Germany did not predate, but is rather linked to the Neolithic transition. The single Neolithic Rosenhof domestic revealed an early radiocarbon date of 4000 ± 50 cal BC and marks the onset of the Neolithic in Northern Europe.

Near-Eastern origins of European cattle

Our transition from foragers to farmers, beginning some 10 000 years ago, is arguably the most important revolution in the history of humanity. More food meant expanding populations, and sedentary groups became urban civilizations. The genetic impact of the agricultural revolution in Europe has been intensively studied within modern human populations, but the genes of domesticated animals have their own stories to tell.

Genetic evidence for Near-Eastern origins of European cattle.

The limited ranges of the wild progenitors of many of the primary European domestic species point to their origins further east in Anatolia or the fertile crescent. The wild ox (Bos primigenius), however, ranged widely and it is unknown whether it was domesticated within Europe as one feature of a local contribution to the farming economy. Here we examine mitochondrial DNA control-region sequence variation from 392 extant animals sampled from Europe, Africa and the Near East, and compare this with data from four extinct British wild oxen. The ancient sequences cluster tightly in a phylogenetic analysis and are clearly distinct from modern cattle. Network analysis of modern Bos taurus identifies four star-like clusters of haplotypes, with intra-cluster diversities that approximate to that expected from the time depth of domestic history. Notably, one of these clusters predominates in Europe and is one of three encountered at substantial frequency in the Near East. In contrast, African diversity is almost exclusively composed of a separate haplogroup, which is encountered only rarely elsewhere. These data provide strong support for a derived Near-Eastern origin for European cattle.

The common, Near-Eastern origin of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews supported by Y-chromosome similarity.

About 80 Sephardim, 80 Ashkenazim and 100 Czechoslovaks were examined for the Y-specific RFLPs revealed by the probes p12f2 and p49a,f on TaqI DNA digests. The aim of the study was to investigate the origin of the Ashkenazi gene pool through the analysis of markers which, having an exclusively holoandric transmission, are useful to estimate paternal gene flow. The comparison of the two groups of Jews with each other and with Czechoslovaks (which have been taken as a representative source of foreign Y-chromosomes for Ashkenazim) shows a great similarity between Sephardim and Ashkenazim who are very different from Czechoslovaks. On the other hand both groups of Jews appear to be closely related to Lebanese. A preliminary evaluation suggests that the contribution of foreign males to the Ashkenazi gene pool has been very low (1% or less per generation).

Ship-shape andSambuca-fashion

In Book viii ch. 6 Polybius describes the structure and use of a siege-engine, theσαμβύκη, so called from its resemblance to a musical instrument of that name. The purpose of this article is to review the evidence for the shape of the musical instrument, and for the structure of the siege-engine, and for possible points of similarity between them.References to the musical instrument are not uncommon in literature from the fifth century B.C. onwards; there are a number of points on which they agree. Theσαμβύκηwas a stringed instrument, and was generally thought to be of non-Greek, near-Eastern origin. The alternative view, that it was invented by Ibycus the lyric poet of Rhegium, was probably based on a fanciful etymology, and can reasonably be disregarded. The derivation ofἰαμβύκη(probably just a variant spelling) fromἰαμβόςis also fanciful.As regards chronology, theσαμβύκηseems to have been introduced into Greece in the late fifth century B.C., and was at that time regarded as something of a novelty by the comic poets. Some later scholars, however, saw fit to correct this impression, and point out that it was in fact a very ancient instrument. Its main use was apparently to provide a musical accompaniment for debauchery: in fact, so disreputable was the instrument that the word for a female player of it,σαμβυκιστρία, was virtually synonymous withπορνή.