scholarly journals A 3,000-year-old, basal S. enterica lineage from Bronze Age Xinjiang suggests spread along the Proto-Silk Road

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. e1009886
Author(s):  
Xiyan Wu ◽  
Chao Ning ◽  
Felix M. Key ◽  
Aida Andrades Valtueña ◽  
Aditya Kumar Lankapalli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Ancient Dna ◽  
Salmonella Enterica ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Dna Evidence ◽  
Geographic Spread ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Pathogen Dna ◽  
The Bronze Age

Salmonella enterica (S. enterica) has infected humans for a long time, but its evolutionary history and geographic spread across Eurasia is still poorly understood. Here, we screened for pathogen DNA in 14 ancient individuals from the Bronze Age Quanergou cemetery (XBQ), Xinjiang, China. In 6 individuals we detected S. enterica. We reconstructed S. enterica genomes from those individuals, which form a previously undetected phylogenetic branch basal to Paratyphi C, Typhisuis and Choleraesuis–the so-called Para C lineage. Based on pseudogene frequency, our analysis suggests that the ancient S. enterica strains were not host adapted. One genome, however, harbors the Salmonella pathogenicity island 7 (SPI-7), which is thought to be involved in (para)typhoid disease in humans. This offers first evidence that SPI-7 was acquired prior to the emergence of human-adapted Paratyphi C around 1,000 years ago. Altogether, our results show that Salmonella enterica infected humans in Eastern Eurasia at least 3,000 years ago, and provide the first ancient DNA evidence for the spread of a pathogen along the Proto-Silk Road.

scholarly journals Bronze age sickles in diverse roles

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Eszter Fejér
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Carpathian Basin ◽  
Research Interest ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The People ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Special Value ◽  
The Bronze Age

Bronze sickles are among the most numerous types of artefacts discovered in Late Bronze Age assemblages in Europe, and they have been found in particularly large numbers in the Carpathian Basin. Since their form has barely changed during the last few thousand years and they are generally regarded as having a very ordinary function, for a long time they had failed to spark research interest. Nevertheless, detailed analysis of their find contexts and condition, as well as their comparison with historical, anthropological, and ethnographic observations reveal that they may have had diverse meanings, a greater significance than previously thought, and a special value for the people of the Bronze Age.

scholarly journals Ancient DNA identification of domestic animals used for leather objects in Central Asia during the Bronze Age

The Holocene ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 1722-1729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oskar Schröder ◽  
Mayke Wagner ◽  
Saskia Wutke ◽  
Yong Zhang ◽  
Yingxia Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Ancient Dna ◽  
Domestic Animals ◽  
Dna Identification ◽  
The Bronze Age

Silk Road riches no embarrassment

Antiquity ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 85 (328) ◽  
pp. 654-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. James
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Tarim Basin ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Western China ◽  
Domestic Life ◽  
Sven Hedin ◽  
North Western ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
The Silk Road

The survival of organicmaterials in the waterless fringes of the Takla Makan and Lop Deserts in the Tarim basin in Xinjiang (north-western China) has fascinated us for a century, since Sven Hedin, Aurel Stein and Albert von Le Coq found the remains of settlements and cemeteries at the Great Wall's lonely outposts and along the routes between China and Central Asia known as the Silk Road. The finds date from the Bronze Age to the later firstmillennium AD. In the 1980s and '90s, it was shown that the most striking of them, the Tarim 'mummies', belong to both Mongoloid and Caucasoid peoples (Mallory&Mair 2000). The archaeology here of public and domestic life is full of the kinds of surprises and contradictions that we are learning to expect—if not accept—with 'globalisation'. Development in the region is now prompting new discoveries but also looters, so the research is urgent.

scholarly journals Andronovo Problem: Studies of Cultural Genesis in the Eurasian Bronze Age

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-36
Author(s):  
Stanislav Grigoriev
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Scientific Terminology ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
Genetic Continuity ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Cultural Genesis ◽  
The Bronze Age

Abstract Andronovo culture is the largest Eurasian formation in the Bronze Age, and it had a significant impact on neighboring regions. It is the important culture for understanding many historical processes, in particular, the origins and migration of Indo-Europeans. However, in most works there is a very simplified understanding of the scientific problems associated with this culture. The history of its study is full of opposing opinions, and all these opinions were based on reliable grounds. For a long time, the existence of the Andronovo problem was caused by the fact that researchers supposed they might explain general processes by local situations. In fact, the term “Andronovo culture” is incorrect. Another term “Andronovo cultural-historical commonality” also has no signs of scientific terminology. Under these terms a large number of cultures are combined, many of which were not related to each other. In the most simplified form, they can be combined into two blocks that existed during the Bronze Age: the steppe (Sintashta, Petrovka, Alakul, Sargari) and the forest-steppe (Fyodorovka, Cherkaskul, Mezhovka). Often these cultures are placed in vertical lines with genetic continuity. However, the problems of their chronology and interaction are very complicated. By Andronovo cultures we may understand only Fyodorovka and Alakul cultures (except for its early stage); however, it is better to avoid the use of this term.

scholarly journals A HALF OF A METAL BIPARTITE MOLD OF THE SEIMA-TURBINO PERIOD FROM THE UPPER IRTYSH REGION

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-65
Author(s):  
A. P. Borodovsky
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Siberia ◽  
Irtysh Basin ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Gate System ◽  
Chill Mold ◽  
Bronze Casting ◽  
The Bronze Age

We describe a rare fi nd—part of a Middle Bronze Age bipartite metal chill mold from the Upper Irtysh basin, used for casting three socketed javelin heads of the Seima-Turbino type. The use of metal molds (chill molds) for bronze casting is a sophisticated technique that is rather rare even at the present time. Having originated in the Bronze Age, it was subsequently abandoned for a long time. Chill molds indicate an advanced and effi cient bronze casting. In terms of the gate system, the specimen is a hinged vertically split chill mold. In Eurasia, the technique of casting javelin heads in chill molds was practiced until the Early Iron Age. In Western Siberia, it originated no later than the Middle Bronze Age. At that time, bronze casting in molds made of metal, stone, clay, and organic materials was highly developed. Apparently, the Upper Irtysh basin, including western Altai, was the region from whence prototypical metal molds had spread and were subsequently replicated in less valuable and less technologically effi cient materials such as clay.

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