The Ancestry of Eastern Paraguay: A Typical South American Profile with a Unique Pattern of Admixture

Immigrants from diverse origins have arrived in Paraguay and produced important demographic changes in a territory initially inhabited by indigenous Guarani. Few studies have been performed to estimate the proportion of Native ancestry that is still preserved in Paraguay and the role of females and males in admixture processes. Therefore, 548 individuals from eastern Paraguay were genotyped for three marker sets: mtDNA, Y-SNPs and autosomal AIM-InDels. A genetic homogeneity was found between departments for each set of markers, supported by the demographic data collected, which showed that only 43% of the individuals have the same birthplace as their parents. The results show a sex-biased intermarriage, with higher maternal than paternal Native American ancestry. Within the native mtDNA lineages in Paraguay (87.2% of the total), most haplogroups have a broad distribution across the subcontinent, and only few are concentrated around the Paraná River basin. The frequency distribution of the European paternal lineages in Paraguay (92.2% of the total) showed a major contribution from the Iberian region. In addition to the remaining legacy of the colonial period, the joint analysis of the different types of markers included in this study revealed the impact of post-war migrations on the current genetic background of Paraguay.

Fish- and Shellmiddens from Galicia (Northwest Spain): Reflections upon a Neglected Coastal Cultural Heritage from the Iberian Peninsula

The physiographical features of the Galician sea, in particular its temperature, marine currents and plankton richness, have turned its waters into one of the most biologically diversified marine regions of the planet. The 1500 km of shorelines from this Northwest Iberian region are dotted with rías (Galician fjords) where settlements devoted to fishing and trade have existed since prehistoric times. These activities left abundant testimonies in terms of archaeological deposits. In recent decades, urban/industrial development, as well as a number of natural agents (e.g., storms, sea level rise, climate change), is rapidly erasing the evidences of this rich cultural heritage. Loss of fish and shellmiddens in particular will hamper our ability to infer traditional lifeways, doing away with evidence that is crucial to monitoring past climatic changes and to inferring those biological conditions under which marine species and coastal populations thrived in the past. This paper surveys some issues dealing with the coastal bio-archaeological heritage of Galicia, and the risks these deposits face. It concludes with a proposal to save this increasingly threatened marine heritage.

Fibonacci – Protagonist or Witness? Who Taught Catholic Christian Europe about Mediterranean Commercial Arithmetic?

Leonardo Fibonacci (ca. 1170 - after 1240) during his boyhood went to Bejaïa, learned about the Hindu-Arabic numerals there, and continued to collect information about their use during travels to the Arabic world. He then wrote the Liber abbaci, which with half a century’s delay inspired the creation of Italian abbacus mathematics, later adopted in Catalonia, Provence, Germany etc. Hindu- Arabic numerals, and Arabic mathematics, was thus transmitted through a narrow and unique gate. This piece of conventional wisdom is well known - too well known to be true, indeed. There is no doubt, of course, that Fibonacci learned about Arabic (and Byzantine) commercial arithmetic, and that he presented it in his book. He is thus a witness (with a degree of reliability which has to be determined) of the commercial mathematics thriving in the commercially developed parts of the Mediterranean world. However, much evidence - presented both in his own book, in later Italian abbacus books and in similar writings from the Iberian and the Provençal regions - shows that the Liber abbaci did not play a central role in the later adoption. Romance abbacus culture came about in a broad process of interaction with Arabic non-scholarly traditions, at least until ca. 1350 within an open space, apparently concentrated around the Iberian region.

The spinosaurid dinosaur Baryonyx (Saurischia, Theropoda) in the Early Cretaceous of Portugal

Jaw fragments bearing teeth from the Barremian of Boca do Chapim (Lisboa e Setubal Province, Portugal), originally considered as crocodilian and identified as Suchosaurus girardi by Sauvage, are redescribed and referred to the spinosaurid dinosaur Baryonyx, on the basis of comparison with Baryonyx walkeri, from the Barremian of England. This extends the geographical distribution of this unusual theropod genus to Portugal.Baryonyx appears to have been a frequent component of Early Cretaceous dinosaur assemblages in the Iberian region, which may have formed a biogeographical ‘stepping-stone’ for baryonychine dispersal between Europe and Africa.