Out of Africa: a theory in crisis

The sensational discovery of modern humans in the Levant 177-194 thousand years ago should cause a rethink of the currently held Out-of-Africa orthodoxy.

By Out-of-Africa, I mean here the origin of anatomically modern humans, as opposed to the earlier origin of the genus Homo or the later origin of behaviorally fully modern humans.

Two main pieces of evidence supported the conventional OOA theory:

1. The observation that modern Eurasians possess a subset of the genetic variation of modern Africans.
2. The greater antiquity of AMH humans in the African rather than the Eurasian palaeoanthropological record.

Both these observations are in crisis.

1a. The oldest African fossil AMH is in North Africa (Morocco, Jebel Irhoud); modern genetic variation does not single out this region as a potential source of modern humans. In short, modern genetic variation has nothing to say about where AMH originated.
1b. Eurasians can no longer be seen as a subset of Africans, given that they possess genetic variation from Denisovans, a layer of ancestry earlier than all extant AMH. While it is still true that most Eurasian genetic material is a subset of that of modern Africans, it is also true that the deepest known lineage of humans is the Denisovan-Sima de los huesos, with no evidence for any deeper African lineage. Within humans as a whole, Africans possess a subset of Eurasian genetic variation.
2a. African priority received a boost by 0.1My by the redating of Jebel Irhoud last year. And, non-African AMH received a boost of 0.05My by the Hershkovitz et al. paper yesterday. A very short time ago, Ethiopia boasted the oldest AMH by 0.07My and now it's tied with the Levant and beaten by Morocco. It's a bit silly to argue for temporal priority based on the spotty and ever-shifting palaeoanthropological record.
2b. It is virtually untenable to consider the ~120,000 year old Shkul/Qafzeh hominins as a failed Out-of-Africa, since it now seems that they may have been descendants from the Mislya Cave population of >50,000 or even >100,000 years earlier.

I had previously supported a "two deserts" theory of human origins in which AMH originated in North Africa (Sahara) and then left Africa >100kya as evidenced by the Shkul/Qafzeh hominins and/or the Nubian technocomplex in Arabia. While I am still convinced that AMH originated somewhere in North Africa or the Near East, I am less certain as to where.

Science 26 Jan 2018: Vol. 359, Issue 6374, pp. 456-459 DOI: 10.1126/science.aap8369

The earliest modern humans outside Africa

Israel Hershkovitz et al.

To date, the earliest modern human fossils found outside of Africa are dated to around 90,000 to 120,000 years ago at the Levantine sites of Skhul and Qafzeh. A maxilla and associated dentition recently discovered at Misliya Cave, Israel, was dated to 177,000 to 194,000 years ago, suggesting that members of the Homo sapiens clade left Africa earlier than previously thought. This finding changes our view on modern human dispersal and is consistent with recent genetic studies, which have posited the possibility of an earlier dispersal of Homo sapiens around 220,000 years ago. The Misliya maxilla is associated with full-fledged Levallois technology in the Levant, suggesting that the emergence of this technology is linked to the appearance of Homo sapiens in the region, as has been documented in Africa.

Link

Nubian assemblages from the Negev

Nubian assemblages from the Levant are quite important because they provide an intermediate link (along land routes) between those from Africa and Arabia. It's also more difficult now to consider the Arabian finds as a limited event without broader implications about modern human dispersals. From the paper:

Mapping the earliest dated sites that contain a Nubian component does not permit an unequivocal identification of a region of origin for the Nubian Technology.

Quaternary International doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.02.008

“Diffusion with modifications”: Nubian assemblages in the central Negev highlands of Israel and their implications for Middle Paleolithic inter-regional interactions

Mae Goder-Goldberger, Natalia Gubenko, Erella Hovers

Nubian Levallois cores, now known from sites in eastern Africa, the Nile Valley and Arabia, have been used as a material culture marker for Upper Pleistocene dispersals of hominins out of Africa. The Levantine corridor, being the only land route connecting Africa to Eurasia, has been viewed as a possible dispersal route. We report here on lithic assemblages from the Negev highlands of Israel that contain both Levallois centripetal and Nubian-type cores. Wetter conditions over the Sahara and Negev deserts during MIS 6a–5e provided a generally continuous environmental corridor into the Levant that enabled the dispersal of hominin groups bearing the Nubian variant of prepared core technologies. The Negev assemblages draw renewed attention to the place of the Levant as one of the dispersal routes out of Africa during the Late Pleistocene and could suggest that processes of human dispersals and cultural diffusion resulted in the spread of Nubian technology across eastern Africa, the western Sahara and the Nile Valley, the southern Levant and Arabia.

Link

~55 thousand year old modern human from Manot cave in Israel

It seems that this abstract came online one day early on my news feed and will probably appear in Nature tomorrow. I will update this entry when the paper properly appears. This is of course very important because it directly proves that modern humans appear in Eurasia before the Upper Paleolithic revolution, and disproves the theory that modern humans spread UP technologies with an expansion out of Africa.

We will have to wait until tomorrow to see exactly what they compared it against. The abstract contrasts it with "other early AMH" from the Levant, which I presume means the Skhul/Qafzeh specimens of ~50ka earlier than Manot. But, they also say that it is similar to UP Europeans and recent Africans, which suggests that they did not find any particular similarities to old African skulls of which there are many.

UPDATE: The paper is now online

UPDATE I: The authors write:

Manot 1 could also have been a direct descendant of early AMH populations (such as Skhul/Qafzeh), but the differences in morphology between Manot 1 and the majority of fossils from these sites render this possibility unlikely (Supplementary InformationC).However, it should be noted that within- and between-group morphological variations in these populations are extremely large18, rendering any conclusion based exclusively on morphology as tentative. Nevertheless, the absence of
otherAMHspecimens in the Levant between the Skhul/Qafzeh material (,120–90 kyr ago) and the later appearing Manot 1 (,55 kyr ago) does not support the hypothesis of continuous representation and local evolution of AMHs in the Levant. 

On the other hand, the considerably fluctuating climatic conditions during MIS 5 and 4 (favouring an alteration of differently adapted populations), the unequivocal presence of Neanderthals in the region in the time gap between early AMHs and the Manot population, and the continuing evolution of AMHs in Africa19 advocate for the most parsimonious explanation, which is that theManot people re-colonized the Levant from Africa, rather than evolved in situ.

I don't buy this explanation. The key phrase is "the majority of fossils". In Figure 3 is it is clear that Qafzeh 9 is completely modern. Moreover, UP Europeans like Cro-Magnon 3, Mladec 6/5 are close to AMH Levantine specimens such as Skhul-5 and Qafzeh-6. Indeed, the late Neandertals such as Shanidar and Amud are already moving towards "modern" humans.

African samples like Omo-2, LH18, and and Jebel Irhoud 1/2 don't look anything like modern humans. It is quite strange that the authors interpret this evidence as discontinuity between ~100ka humans from the Levant and replacement by a fresh Out-of-Africa wave, when in fact all the Qafzeh/Skhul remains (and a couple of Neandertals) look much more plausible relatives of Manot than any of the ancient African samples. Not single sample has been found in Africa from the mysterious hypothetical ancestral population of modern humans that supposedly colonized Eurasia ~60ka. As far as I can tell, this theory has nothing to support it, except, perhaps, (i) some misinterpretation of old genetic data based on the now discredited "fast" mutation rate, and (ii) the belief that behavioral modernity first arose in Africa and coincided with the spread of modern humans from that continent into Eurasia.



Nature advance online publication 28 January 2015. doi:10.1038/nature14134

Levantine cranium from Manot Cave (Israel) foreshadows the first European modern humans

Authors: Israel Hershkovitz, Ofer Marder, Avner Ayalon, Miryam Bar-Matthews, Gal Yasur, Elisabetta Boaretto, Valentina Caracuta, Bridget Alex, Amos Frumkin, Mae Goder-Goldberger, Philipp Gunz, Ralph L. Holloway, Bruce Latimer, Ron Lavi, Alan Matthews, Viviane Slon, Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer, Francesco Berna, Guy Bar-Oz, Reuven Yeshurun, Hila May, Mark G. Hans, Gerhard W. Weber & Omry Barzilai

A key event in human evolution is the expansion of modern humans of African origin across Eurasia between 60 and 40 thousand years (kyr) before present (bp), replacing all other forms of hominins. Owing to the scarcity of human fossils from this period, these ancestors of all present-day non-African modern populations remain largely enigmatic. Here we describe a partial calvaria, recently discovered at Manot Cave (Western Galilee, Israel) and dated to 54.7 ± 5.5 kyr bp (arithmetic mean ± 2 standard deviations) by uranium–thorium dating, that sheds light on this crucial event. The overall shape and discrete morphological features of the Manot 1 calvaria demonstrate that this partial skull is unequivocally modern. It is similar in shape to recent African skulls as well as to European skulls from the Upper Palaeolithic period, but different from most other early anatomically modern humans in the Levant. This suggests that the Manot people could be closely related to the first modern humans who later successfully colonized Europe. Thus, the anatomical features used to support the ‘assimilation model’ in Europe might not have been inherited from European Neanderthals, but rather from earlier Levantine populations. Moreover, at present, Manot 1 is the only modern human specimen to provide evidence that during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic interface, both modern humans and Neanderthals contemporaneously inhabited the southern Levant, close in time to the likely interbreeding event with Neanderthals.

Link

European pigs replacing Near Eastern ones in Iron Age Israel

Related:

• The comings and goings of Near Eastern and European domestic pigs (Ottoni et al. 2012)

Scientific Reports 3, Article number: 3035 doi:10.1038/srep03035

Ancient DNA and Population Turnover in Southern Levantine Pigs- Signature of the Sea Peoples Migration?

Meirav Meiri et al.

Near Eastern wild boars possess a characteristic DNA signature. Unexpectedly, wild boars from Israel have the DNA sequences of European wild boars and domestic pigs. To understand how this anomaly evolved, we sequenced DNA from ancient and modern pigs from Israel. Pigs from Late Bronze Age (until ca. 1150 BCE) in Israel shared haplotypes of modern and ancient Near Eastern pigs. European haplotypes became dominant only during the Iron Age (ca. 900 BCE). This raises the possibility that European pigs were brought to the region by the Sea Peoples who migrated to the Levant at that time. Then, a complete genetic turnover took place, most likely because of repeated admixture between local and introduced European domestic pigs that went feral. Severe population bottlenecks likely accelerated this process. Introductions by humans have strongly affected the phylogeography of wild animals, and interpretations of phylogeography based on modern DNA alone should be taken with caution.

Link

Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Kebara: 49-46 ky cal BP

The UP/MP transition and the related MSA/LSA transition in Africa seems to have occurred almost simultaneously and to have coincided with the emergence of modern behavior in other remote parts of the world, as far away as East Timor. The date from Kebara appears a little earlier than the first Aurignacian in Central Europe and Riparo Mochi, and of the LSA in South Africa in Border Cave. Whether transmission of new behavioral innovations was cultural or genetic, an origin in a crossroads region between Europe, Africa, and East Asia, would make fairly good sense.

Journal of Archaeological Science Volume 38, Issue 9, September 2011, Pages 2424–2433

New radiocarbon dating of the transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic in Kebara Cave, Israel

N.R. Rebollo et al.

The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition (MP-UP transition) is considered a major technological and cultural threshold, at the time when modern humans spread “out of Africa”, expanded from the Levant into Europe and possibly into central and northern Asia. The dating of this techno-cultural transition has proved to be extremely difficult because it occurred sometime before 40,000 radiocarbon years before present (14C years BP), which is close to the end of the effective dating range of radiocarbon. Other dating methods such as Thermoluminescence (TL) or Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) are not sufficiently precise to date the recorded archaeological MP-UP transition in the Levant. Here we report a consistent set of stratified radiocarbon ages on freshly excavated charcoal from Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel (Israel), that span the late Middle Paleolithic (MP) and Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) This study applied novel strategies to improve sample preparation techniques and data analysis to obtain high-resolution radiocarbon models. From this study it is proposed that the MP-UP transition for this site can be placed immediately after 45,200 ± 700 14C years BP and before 43,600 ± 600 14C years BP or from 49/48 to 47/46 radiocarbon calibrated years before present (years Cal BP).

Link

Ancient mtDNA from Wadi el-Makkukh

Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 1‐14

ANCIENT mtDNA SEQUENCES AND RADIOCARBON DATING OF HUMAN BONES FROM THE CHALCOLITHIC CAVES OF WADI EL‐MAKKUKH

Salamon, M et al.

DNA from fossil human bones can provide valuable information for understanding intra‐ and
inter‐population relationships. Using the DNA preserved inside crystal aggregates from human fos‐
sil bones containing relatively large amounts of collagen, we demonstrate the presence of repro‐
ducible mtDNA control region sequences. Radiocarbon dates from each bone show that the burial
caves were used for up to 600 years during the Chalcolithic period (5th‐4th millennium BP). A com‐
parison of the ancient DNA sequences with modern mtDNA databases indicates that all samples
can most likely be assigned to the R haplogroup sub‐clades, which are common in West‐Eurasia. In
four cases more precise and confident haplogroup identifications could be achieved (H, U3a and
H6). The H haplogroup is present in three out of the four assigned ancient samples. This hap‐
logroup is prevalent today in West – Eurasia. The results reported here tend to genetically link this
Chalcolithic group of individuals to the current West Eurasian populations.

Link (pdf)

Minoans in Ancient Canaan

While it has been generally accepted that the Philistines originated in the Aegean, new archaeological research from the Levant shows that they were not the first Aegean peoples to influence the area of Canaan. How strange that we've gone from a "legendary" Minos, to the excavation of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization, to a gradual confirmation of its thalassocracy, as described by the ancient authors.

Archaeologists Uncover Evidence of a Minoan Presence Among Ancient Canaanites

A recent and ongoing excavation at the remains of an expansive Middle Bronze Age Canaanite palace in the western Galilee region of present-day Israel is opening a new window on the possible presence of ancient Minoans at an ancient Canaanite palace, revealing what may be the earliest known Western art found in the eastern Mediterranean.

Known as Tel Kabri (located near its namesake kibbutz not far from historic Acco and the resort town of Nahariya on the coast of Israel), the site features an early Middle Bronze Age (MB I) palace dated to the 19th century B.C.E., making it, along with ancient Aphek and possibly Megiddo, the earliest MB palace discovered in present-day Israel. This conclusion was drawn as a result of excavations conducted there as recently as December 20, 2010 to January 10, 2011. But the tell-tale signs of an Aegean presence or influence at the site show up in a later developmental phase of the palace structure some 150 to 200 years later in the overlying MB II palace dated to the 17th century. Reports Dr. Eric Cline of George Washington University and Co-Director of the excavations along with Assaf Yasur-Landau of Haifa University, "Excavations conducted by [Aharon] Kempinski and [Wolf-Dietrich] Niemeier from 1986 to 1993 at the site of Tel Kabri -- now identified as the capital of a Middle Bronze Age Canaanite kingdom located in the western Galilee region of modern Israel -- revealed the remains of a palace dating to the Middle Bronze (MB) II period (ca. 1700 - 1550 B.C.E.). Within the palace, Kempinski and Niemeier discovered an Aegean-style painted plaster floor and several thousand fragments originally from a miniature Aegean-style wall fresco."(1) The new excavations under the direction of Cline and Yasur-Landau have added to the discovery. Reports Cline, et al., "During the 2008 and 2009 excavations at Tel Kabri more than 100 new fragments of wall and floor plaster were uncovered. Approximately 60 are painted, probably belonging to a second Aegean-style wall fresco with figural representations and a second Aegean-style painted floor."(2)

400-200ka dental remains from Qesem Cave

The authors present three scenaria for the unique set of features of their discovered teeth:

1. A local Homo population associated with the local Acheulo-Yabrudian cultural complex
2. Neandertaloid traits (shoveling and lingual tubercle) may suggest a pre-Neandertal population, however, these traits are missing in the younger Skhul/Qafzeh specimens and re-appear in the later still Neandertals from the region
3. Presence of multiple taxa in the sample; surprisingly earlier samples appear to be smaller and more modern than later ones

It is hard to evaluate the importance of this evidence, and it'd be nice to hear the opinion of dental/anthropology experts; my personal take-home lesson is that the finds are discordant with a simple model of heidelbergensis evolving into Neandertals and smaller and more modern morphology arriving from Africa.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21446

Middle pleistocene dental remains from Qesem Cave (Israel)

Israel Hershkovitz et al.

Abstract

This study presents a description and comparative analysis of Middle Pleistocene permanent and deciduous teeth from the site of Qesem Cave (Israel). All of the human fossils are assigned to the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC) of the late Lower Paleolithic. The Middle Pleistocene age of the Qesem teeth (400–200 ka) places them chronologically earlier than the bulk of fossil hominin specimens previously known from southwest Asia. Three permanent mandibular teeth (C1-P4) were found in close proximity in the lower part of the stratigraphic sequence. The small metric dimensions of the crowns indicate a considerable degree of dental reduction although the roots are long and robust. In contrast, three isolated permanent maxillary teeth (I2, C1, and M3) and two isolated deciduous teeth that were found within the upper part of the sequence are much larger and show some plesiomorphous traits similar to those of the Skhul/Qafzeh specimens. Although none of the Qesem teeth shows a suite of Neanderthal characters, a few traits may suggest some affinities with members of the Neanderthal evolutionary lineage. However, the balance of the evidence suggests a closer similarity with the Skhul/Qafzeh dental material, although many of these resemblances likely represent plesiomorphous features.

Link

Lathyrus consumption in Late Bronze and Iron Age Israel

Related:

• The script of the Philistines
• Tayinat Dark Age temple

Journal of Archaeological Science doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.05.008

Lathyrus Consumption in Late Bronze and Iron Age Sites in Israel: An Aegean Affinity

Yael Mahler-Slasky et al.

Abstract

This paper presents new evidence, together with previous findings, for the appearance of charred seeds of Lathyrus sativus (grass pea)/L. cicera. This grain legume was a food staple in ancient times, principally in the Aegean region, but also appeared sporadically and in a limited way in the archaeological record of the southern Levant. It is encountered there first in the Late Bronze Age but disappears in the record at the end of the Iron Age. Although a palatable, nutritious plant adapted for growing under adverse conditions, its seeds can be toxic when consumed in large quantities. Apparently L. sativus/cicera made its way to the lowlands of the southern Levant, either by trade or with Philistine immigrants. It is absent at other south Levantine Bronze Age (i.e., Canaanite) and Iron Age sites and it remained a food component in the southern coastal region (i.e., Philistia, the region associated with the biblical Philistines) up to the end of Iron Age II, suggesting a possible ethnic association. Evidence of L. sativus/cicera joins that of another Aegean archaeobotanical import from an earlier, Middle Bronze Age II context, L. clymenum, found at Tel Nami, a coastal site farther to the north of the region.

Link

Origin of Northern Israel Mycenaean pottery in the Argolid (Peloponnese)

Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume 37, Issue 2, February 2010, Pages 409-416

A provenance study of Mycenaean pottery from Northern Israel

Sharon Zuckerman

Abstract

The occurrence of imported Mycenaean pottery in the Late Bronze Age southern Levant is one of the most conspicuous aspects of Eastern Mediterranean trade connections during this period. A group of 183 Mycenaean pottery vessels from 14 sites in northern Israel, from both coastal and inland settlement contexts were analyzed by Neutron Activation Analysis. The results indicate that the vast majority of these vessels have a similar profile and can be provenanced to the north-eastern Peloponnese or more specifically, to the Mycenae/Berbati workshop in the Argolid. Possible interpretations of these results are presented and discussed against the historical and cultural background of the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean.

Link

Another Four Composites: guess their origin

ANSWER (15/1/2010):

Israeli, Polish

Portuguese, Hungarian

END ANSWER

I won't reveal the origins of the four composites in the earlier post, since this would give out info on these four, all of which belong to a different group. Once again, guess away!

Lower Paleolithic hunters from Qesem Cave

From ScienceDaily:

"The Lower Paleolithic (earlier) hunters were skilled hunters of large game animals, as were Upper Paleolithic (later) humans at this site," UA anthropology professor Mary C. Stiner said.

"This might not seem like a big deal to the uninitiated, but there's a lot of speculation as to whether people of the late Lower Paleolithic were able to hunt at all, or whether they were reduced to just scavenging," Stiner said. "Evidence from Qesem Cave says that just like later Paleolithic humans, the earlier Paleolithic humans focused on harvesting large game. They were really at the top of the food chain."

PNAS doi:10.1073/pnas.0900564106

Cooperative hunting and meat sharing 400–200 kya at Qesem Cave, Israel

Mary C. Stiner et al.

Abstract

Zooarchaeological research at Qesem Cave, Israel demonstrates that large-game hunting was a regular practice by the late Lower Paleolithic period. The 400- to 200,000-year-old fallow deer assemblages from this cave provide early examples of prime-age-focused ungulate hunting, a human predator–prey relationship that has persisted into recent times. The meat diet at Qesem centered on large game and was supplemented with tortoises. These hominins hunted cooperatively, and consumption of the highest quality parts of large prey was delayed until the food could be moved to the cave and processed with the aid of blade cutting tools and fire. Delayed consumption of high-quality body parts implies that the meat was shared with other members of the group. The types of cut marks on upper limb bones indicate simple flesh removal activities only. The Qesem cut marks are both more abundant and more randomly oriented than those observed in Middle and Upper Paleolithic cases in the Levant, suggesting that more (skilled and unskilled) individuals were directly involved in cutting meat from the bones at Qesem Cave. Among recent humans, butchering of large animals normally involves a chain of focused tasks performed by one or just a few persons, and butchering guides many of the formalities of meat distribution and sharing that follow. The results from Qesem Cave raise new hypotheses about possible differences in the mechanics of meat sharing between the late Lower Paleolithic and Middle Paleolithic.

Link

Byzantine coins from the time of the sack of Jerusalem

Tourist discovers trove of 1,300-year-old coins in Jerusalem's City of David

A British tourist working in an archaeological dig in Jerusalem on Sunday unearthed a treasure of 264 gold coins from 1,300 ago. Archaeologists called the find "one of the most impressive deposits ever found in the capital."

The coins were found by Nadine Ross, who came to Israel for one month to volunteer at the archaeological site at the City of David. They all carry the portrait of the Roman emperor Heraclius, who ruled the empire between 610 and 641.

On one side of the coins, Heraclius is depicted wearing a uniform while clasping a cross in his right hand. The flipside of the coin also features the sign of the cross. According to archaeological records, these coins were made during the early years of Heraclius' rule, between 610 and 613 - one year before the 614 Persian conquest of Jerusalem.

Such a large cache of coins from one place is unusual, and is usually a sign that they were deliberately hidden away, their secret lost with the death of their owner.

In 630AD, the emperor Heraclius liberated Jerusalem from the Persians and Jews who sacked it it in 614AD. Thus, the owner of the coins, or his descendants, could quite easily have retrieved the hidden treasure, since only ~15 years had passed.

What seems likely is that the owner never lived to claim his property, being one of the ~90,000 victims of the slaughter of 614AD. By the time the Romans liberated Jerusalem the secret of the buried treasure was already lost.

"James, brother of Jesus" ossuary a fraud

Exposing the 'Jesus' Brother' Fraud

The discovery of the ossuary was hailed in some quarters as a spectacular archeological find — solidly circumstantial proof, at last, of Christ's existence. For it would have held the remains of the Apostle James, who was killed in 62 A.D. and is described in the Bible as Jesus' brother.

When the James ossuary toured Canada in October 2002, it attracted thousands of the curious and faithful. Some visitors kneeled in quiet prayer. But back in Israel, police detectives, along with a growing posse of Biblical scholars, were growing skeptical of the ossuary's authenticity. After a two-year investigation, police in December 2004 charged the antiquities collector and four others of forgery, alleging that the James ossuary was a clever fake, and that Golan had masterminded an international ring of thieves that over the past 20 years had duped major museums and collectors out of millions. Put on trial, Golan denied the charges and some experts and the pious rallied to his side. Nevertheless, one of the detectives insisted: "Oded Golan played with our beliefs, the beliefs of Jews and Christians. That is why it's the fraud of the century."

Of course, this ossuary was never considered as proof of Jesus' existence by real Christians. According to the Antiquitates Judaicae, concerning the martyrdom of St. James:

But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, (23) who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.

and Hegesippus:

And, when many were fully convinced by these words, and offered praise for the testimony of James, and said, “Hosanna to the son of David,” then again the said Pharisees and scribes said to one another, “We have not done well in procuring this testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, that they may be afraid, and not believe him.” And they cried aloud, and said: “Oh! oh! the just man himself is in error.” Thus they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah: “Let us away with the just man, because he is troublesome to us: therefore shall they eat the fruit of their doings.” So they went up and threw down the just man, and said to one another: “Let us stone James the Just.” And they began to stone him: for he was not killed by the fall; but he turned, and kneeled down, and said: “I beseech Thee, Lord God our Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

And, while they were thus stoning him to death, one of the priests, the sons of Rechab, the son of Rechabim, to whom testimony is borne by Jeremiah the prophet, began to cry aloud, saying: “Cease, what do ye? The just man is praying for us.” But one among them, one of the fullers, took the staff with which he was accustomed to wring out the garments he dyed, and hurled it at the head of the just man.
And so he suffered martyrdom; and they buried him on the spot, and the pillar erected to his memory still remains, close by the temple.

St. James the adelphotheos is celebrated on October 23.

Phallic figurines from Israel

Phallic Figurines Found in Israel Stone Age Burials

Prehistoric graves with an unusual abundance of phallic figurines and oddly arranged human remains have been found in Israel, archaeologists announced recently.

Near Nazerat (Nazareth), the Stone Age site, called Kfar HaHoresh, dates to between 8,500 and 6,750 B.C.

...

Archaeologists have primarily found female symbolic figurines in other burials of this time period.

"At Kfar HaHoresh, all the gender-oriented symbolism seems to be male," Goring-Morris said. "Researchers in the past have put more emphasis on the 'mother goddess' of agriculture."

Some weird bits of interpretation:

Also the shift in men's role from hunters to more settled herders and farmers may have reduced their status and self-image, Goring-Morris said. This may have led the prehistoric people to bury young male adults at Kfar HaHoresh with animals as a way of honoring their past lives as hunters.

It's not as if the transition to farming/herder happened overnight, so that there would be such "longing" for the men's past lives as hunters. In any case, hunting was never really replaced by farming, but lost its importance in the economic activity of early Neolithic society.

And:

"If you have the skull of your grandfather or grandmother on the mantelpiece at home, this could be your legal document that you were the owner of the house or had certain legal rights, passed from one generation to the next."

Skull as legal document is just plain weird.

Facial image of Biblical Jews from Israel

Anthropol Anz. 2008 Jun;66(2):167-90.

Facial image of Biblical Jews from Israel.

Kobyliansky E, Balueva T, Veselovskaya E, Arensburg B.

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. anatom14@post.tau.ac.il

The present report deals with reconstructing the facial shapes of ancient inhabitants of Israel based on their cranial remains. The skulls of a male from the Hellenistic period and a female from the Roman period have been reconstructed. They were restored using the most recently developed programs in anthropological facial reconstruction, especially that of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Balueva & Veselovskaya 2004). The basic craniometrical measurements of the two skulls were measured according to Martin & Saller (1957) and compared to the data from three ancient populations of Israel described by Arensburg et al. (1980): that of the Hellenistic period dating from 332 to 37 B.C., that of the Roman period, from 37 B.C. to 324 C.E., and that of the Byzantine period that continued until the Arab conquest in 640 C.E. Most of this osteological material was excavated in the Jordan River and the Dead Sea areas. A sample from the XVIIth century Jews from Prague (Matiegka 1926) was also used for osteometrical comparisons. The present study will characterize not only the osteological morphology of the material, but also the facial appearance of ancient inhabitants of Israel. From an anthropometric point of view, the two skulls studied here definitely belong to the same sample from the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine populations of Israel as well as from Jews from Prague. Based on its facial reconstruction, the male skull may belong to the large Mediterranean group that inhabited this area from historic to modern times. The female skull also exhibits all the Mediterranean features but, in addition, probably some equatorial (African) mixture manifested by the shape of the reconstructed nose and the facial prognatism.

Link

Who's a Jew?

Steve Sailer points me to this article in the New York Times regarding the strict criteria adopted by the Chief Rabbinate in Israel:

One day last fall, a young Israeli woman named Sharon went with her fiancé to the Tel Aviv Rabbinate to register to marry. They are not religious, but there is no civil marriage in Israel. The rabbinate, a government bureaucracy, has a monopoly on tying the knot between Jews. The last thing Sharon expected to be told that morning was that she would have to prove — before a rabbinic court, no less — that she was Jewish. It made as much sense as someone doubting she was Sharon, telling her that the name written in her blue government-issue ID card was irrelevant, asking her to prove that she was she.

...

In recent years, the state’s Chief Rabbinate and its branches in each Israeli city have adopted an institutional attitude of skepticism toward the Jewish identity of those who enter its doors. And the type of proof that the rabbinate prefers is peculiarly unsuited to Jewish life in the United States. The Israeli government seeks the political and financial support of American Jewry. It welcomes American Jewish immigrants. Yet the rabbinate, one arm of the state, increasingly treats American Jews as doubtful cases: not Jewish until proved so.

...

Seth Farber is an American-born Orthodox rabbi whose organization — Itim, the Jewish Life Information Center — helps Israelis navigate the rabbinic bureaucracy. He explained to me recently that the rabbinate’s standards of proof are now stricter than ever, and stricter than most American Jews realize. Referring to the Jewish federations, the central communal and philanthropic organizations of American Jewry, he said, “Eighty percent of federation leaders probably wouldn’t be able to reach the bar.” To assist people like Sharon, Farber has become a genealogical sleuth. He is the first to warn, though, that solving individual cases cannot solve a deeper crisis.

If you want to find out the end of Sharon's story, read the article. This story highlights the deep divide between those with a more subjectivistic idea of religious identity or ethnicity, emphasizing self-image, and those seeking a set of more objective criteria.

mtDNA of Slovaks

From the paper:

Recent mtDNA variability study in Czechs, the neighbors of Slovaks, has shown that they are genetically similar with adjacent European populations, but characterized by a small frequency of East Eurasian (2.8%) and Roma-specific (2.8%) mtDNA lineages (Malyarchuk et al. 2006b). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to characterize the mtDNA variation in Slovaks from western and eastern areas of Slovakia, based on variation of the HVS I and HVS II sequences, followed by a hierarchical survey of mtDNA haplogroup-specific restriction fragments length polymorphism (RFLP) markers.

In the above passage they are referring to this paper. More on the haplogroup M in Slovaks:

However, in contrast to the previously studied Czech population from western Bohemia (Malyarchuk et al. 2006b), samples from Slovakia do not display any East Eurasian mtDNAs. One of the Slovak M-haplotype belongs to subhaplogroup M1b and is identical to M1b1a-haplotypes revealed in Italians and Bedouins from southern Israel (Olivieri et al. 2006) as well as in Saudi Arabs (Abu-Amero et al. 2007). A second M-lineage detected in Slovaks is defined by variants at positions 16129–16223-16230–16233-16304–16344. This lineage is identical to those revealed previously in gene pools of the Bulgarian Roma at frequency of 3.6% (Gresham et al. 2001). Based on the presence of the 16129 variant, Gresham et al. (2001) suggested that this lineage belongs to Indian-specific haplogroup M5. Nevertheless, to determine its exact phylogenetic status we completely sequenced our Slovak sample (Slv227) and compared it with Indian M-haplotypes published by Sun et al. (2006) (Fig. 1). As a result, we have found that our sample belongs to haplogroup M35 due to mutations at positions 199 and 12561. Moreover, it shared transition at 15928 with the South Indian sample T17 (from Andhra Pradesh) that allowed us to define a new Indian/Roma branch called as M35b.

And on a Roma-related J1* lineage:

Previously, we have found that the Polish Roma population is characterized by high incidence (18.8%) of haplogroup J1* lineage, defined by HVS I motif 16069–16126-16145–16222-16235–16261-16271 (Malyarchuk et al. 2006a). This and a similar haplotype, lacking only the 16271 transition, are very rare in European Roma populations, being found only in the Spanish, Bulgarian and Hungarian Roma (Gresham et al. 2001; Egyed et al. 2007). Among Europeans, such haplotypes have been revealed only in French (0.5%; Dubut et al. 2004), Hungarian (0.5%; Egyed et al. 2007) and Czech (about 3%; Vanecek et al. 2004; Malyarchuk et al. 2006b) populations. In the present study, we have found that 2.9% of individuals from eastern Slovakia are characterized by exactly the same J1*-haplotype.

On differences within Slovakia:

The MDS analysis performed on the basis of pairwise F_ST values revealed that Slovak populations do not cluster together. Western Slovaks are located together with the Czechs and Austrians (in accordance with their geographic proximity), whereas eastern Slovaks are placed close to Slovenians (Fig. 3).

Ann Hum Genet (OnlineEarly Articles). doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2007.00410.x

Mitochondrial DNA Variability in Slovaks, with Application to the Roma Origin
Annals of Human Genetics

A. Malyarchuk, M. A. Perkova, M. V. Derenko, T. Vanecek, J. Lazur, P. Gomolcak

To gain insight into the mitochondrial gene pool diversity of European populations, we studied mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variability in 207 subjects from western and eastern areas of Slovakia. Sequencing of two hypervariable segments, HVS I and HVS II, in combination with screening of coding region haplogroup-specific RFLP-markers, revealed that the majority of Slovak mtDNAs belong to the common West Eurasian mitochondrial haplogroups (HV, J, T, U, N1, W, and X). However, a few sub-Saharan African (L2a) mtDNAs were detected in a population from eastern part of Slovakia. In addition, about 3% of mtDNAs from eastern Slovakia encompass Roma-specific lineages. By means of complete mtDNA sequencing we demonstrate here that the Roma-specific M-lineages observed in gene pools of different Slavonic populations (Slovaks, Poles and Russians), belong to Indian-specific haplogroups M5a1 and M35. Moreover, we show that haplogroup J lineages found in gene pools of the Roma and some Slavonic populations (Czechs and Slovaks) belong to new subhaplogroup J1a, which is defined by coding region mutation at position 8460.

Link

Divergent X chromosome haplotype in Eurasians and East Africans

Yet another piece of evidence in favor of my idea that ancestral Africans were subdivided and did not form a single population. A widely divergent haplotype of the X chromosome was found in Eurasians and East Africans but not at all in the Sub-Saharan Africans of the CEPH Panel. If there was no population structure in Africa, then we would expect to see this hX haplotype in different African locations.

From the paper:

Designated hX, this haplotype was found once in Melanesia (Oceania) and 8 times in widespread locations in Eurasia, including the Orkney Islands, Pakistan, Algeria, Israel, and France. Contrary to the typical pattern found in many genes, in which the variation in non-African populations is a subset of the variation in sub-Saharan Africa, hX was not observed among the HGDP-CEPH males from sub-Saharan Africa (98 individuals).

...

One possible historical model that could generate this pattern supposes that differences between hX and other haplotypes arose in the presence of population structure that allowed for the divergence among Xp11.22 haplotypes. Even if we discount the possibility of a non-African archaic human population as the source of hX, the age and low frequency of the haplotype does suggest a history in which hX persisted and diverged in a separate refugium population (either a separate modern human population or possibly an archaic human population). Models of this type, which suppose the presence of old population strutcture among African populations, have been suggested based on evidence from other regions of the genome (Tishkoff et al. 1996Go; Harding et al. 1997Go; Labuda et al. 2000Go; Tishkoff et al. 2000Go; Zietkiewicz et al. 2003Go; Garrigan, Mobesher, Kingan, et al. 2005Go).

Molecular Biology and Evolution

Divergent Haplotypes and Human History as Revealed in a Worldwide Survey of X-Linked DNA Sequence Variation

Makoto K. Shimada et al.

The population genetic history of a 10.1-kbp noncoding region of the human X chromosome was studied using the males of the HGDP-CEPH Human Genome Diversity Panel (672 individuals from 52 populations). The geographic distribution of patterns of variation was roughly consistent with previous studies, with the major exception that 1 highly divergent haplotype (haplotype X, hX) was observed at low frequency in widely scattered non-African populations and not at all observed in sub-Saharan African populations. Microsatellite (short tandem repeat) variation within the sequenced region was low among copies of hX, even though the estimated time of ancestry of hX and other sequences was 1.44 Myr. The estimated age of the common ancestor of all hX copies was 5,230 years (95% consistency index: 2,000–75,480 years). To further address the presence of hX in Africa, additional samples from Chad and Tanzania were screened. Five additional copies of hX were observed, consistent with a history in which hX was present in Africa prior to the migration of modern humans out of Africa and with eastern Africa being the source of non-African modern human populations. Taken together, these features of hX—that it is much older than other haplotypes and uncommon and patchily distributed throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia—present a cautionary tale for interpretations of human history.

Link

DNA8 Conference

From the program of the 8th International Conference on Ancient DNA and Associated Biomolecules which took place last October.

Greenblatt Charles L., Towards the Molecular Archaeology of the Holyland

The history of the Israelite origin and residence in the area of present day
Israel stretches back through a number of important archaeological periods;
from the Early Bronze Age (3,500 BC), through the Iron Age (1150 – 586 BC),
the Hellenistic (300 BC) and the late Roman period (70 – 400 CE). Several
major questions dominate the archaeology of the Holyland. They concern the
origin of the Israelites, the maintenance of their social structure (that is the
priestly class, the kings, prophets and rabbis), and the conquest of the land
from the Cannanites. More generally stated, how did these nomads with a
record of bad kings, corrupt priests, conquest by major enemies – Egyptians,
Assyrians, Arameans (Syrians), Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans,
persist and even become dominant in the land? Molecular biology and aDNA
research can lend insights into some of these questions. Central to the
successful settlement was plant and animal domestication. Recently we have
been able to do the evolutionary tree of the indigenous grape and traced its
relationship to those of the Mediterranean basin. Parchments from the Dead
Sea Scrolls provide molecular signatures of early goat domesticates. Y
chromosome analysis shows relatedness of the Jews to Mesopotamian
populations, and on the same chromosome gene clusters define the priestly
class’s origin as occurring before the separation of the mainstreams of the
Jews. We are also gaining a better idea of the diseases of the Biblical period,
with a recent finding of a member of the elite class co-infected with leprosy
and tuberculosis.

Baca M. et al, Was Inca from Ccopan genetically different from his subjects?

Polish archeological team headed by dr M. Ziolkowski discovered in Ccopan
site in Peru a rich grave dated for XV century. Most probably, the grave
belonged to an Inca of high rank. We have amplified and analyzed the 290 bp
mtDNA fragment from the remnants (teeth) found in this grave and from the
remnants of 4 individuals buried nearby in much poorer graves. The aim of
this study is to verify the hypothesis that Inca leaders were ethnically different
from their subjects. We are planning to analyze mtDNA sequences from the
greater number of individual and to extend our study on the chromosome Y
sequences.

Cipollaro M., del Gaudio S., Pompeii and Murecine: tales from ancient DNA

Ancient DNA extracted from individuals found in three houses located in
Pompeii and Murecine has been studied. Mitochondrial DNA and single genes
analysis has been carried out beside histochemical evaluation of bone tissue.
Data are shown concerning: a possible pedigree of Polybius house
inhabitants, the mitochondrial hypervariable segment I sequences of Murecine
remains and a single gene fragment sequence of three equids found in "Casti
Amanti" house.

The following abstract seems to contradict directly the recent paper on recent selection of Europeans' capacity to digest milk.

Fulge M., Renneberg R., Hummel S., Herrmann B., Lactose persistence in prehistoric individuals

Introduction: The dietary habits of ancient populations are often issues of
stake. With the domestication of animals like cattle, sheep and goat these
habits changed. The question since when milk and its products were used as
daily life aliment is of special interest, because the normal condition in
mammals is that after the lactation period they are not able to digest lactose.
In 95% of the European individuals the state of lactose tolerance maintains,
whereas in Africa and Asia 95% are lactose intolerant.
The point of time and the place of development of the lactase persistence are
in request. Two different theories of it exist. One is that the lactose tolerance
developed in Anatolia in the Neolithic period and would have spread in Europe
8000 years ago. The other theory declares a nomadic tribe (Kurgan culture)
as population of origin. Following this theory the lactose tolerance would have
spread 4500-3500 years ago.
One method to detect the status of the digesting ability of lactose is to
determine the pointmutation C/T (-13910) which is linked to the lactase gene.
If a T is realized (homo- or heterozygote) you are able to digest lactose. In this
study we investigated this mutation in 38 individuals of the Bronze Age
Lichtenstein Cave and in nine Celtic individuals from Manching to get a clue
when the lactose tolerance was spread in Europe.
Materials and Methods: The DNA was extracted of femora and mandibles with
a silica-based method on the EZ1-extraction robot (Qiagen). For detecting the
pointmutaion a dye labelled primer was designed. The upper primer contained
a mismatch which permits the digestion with HinfI if thymidin is realized at the
position 13910. For proving the authenticity of the results the lactose Primer
was coamplified with six autosomal STRs.
Results and Perspective: The lactose genotype could be amplified and
authenticated in 27 Individuals of the Lichtenstein Cave. About 60% were
lactose tolerant and around 40% were intolerant. Similar results were detected
in the nine Celtic individuals: around 50% was lactose intolerant. These high
rates of intolerant individuals suggest that even if stock farming was done
consume of milk was not a daily habit. These results give a hint that lactose
tolerance was not only spread 8000 years ago. For proving this thesis earlier
and later populations should be analysed.

Krause S., Scholten A., Hummel S., Cystic Fibrosis and Hemochromatosis in a Bronze Age population

Introduction: In present day Central European populations, Cystic Fibrosis
(CF) and Hereditary Hemochromatosis (HH) are the most common genetically
determined inherited diseases. Both defects are inherited in an autosomal
recessive mode. While for CF the rate of homozygosity is about 1:2000, the
value is even higher in HH (1:400). Possible reasons for the high incidence
are heterozygous advantages. In case of CF, individuals heterozygous for the
ΔF508 mutation do not suffer from dehydration in relation to diarrhoea, which
may have positively influenced the survival rate for newborn and infant
individuals in historic times. In case of HH which arises from SNPs called
C282Y and H63D women are less prone to suffer from the consequences of
iron loss due to menstrual bleeding and enhanced iron requirements during
pregnancy and lactation. Deviating alleles are thought to have accumulated
comparatively recently in European populations. Methods: The well preserved
Bronze Age skeletal remains of the Lichtenstein Cave from the Harz
mountains, which proved to be an invaluable genetic archive already in other
contexts (e.g. Δ32 ccr5, Hummel et al. 2005) now enabled to investigate the
genetic markers responsible for CF and HH. DNA extracts were processed
from bone powder of all 39 individuals with the help of the EZ1 Biorobot
(Qiagen) (cf. Poster of Wenzel et al.). The primers for the detection of the 3
bp-deletion ΔF508 on chromosome 7 indicating CF were co-amplified with the
STR typing kit Profiler Plus (Applied Biosystems). Therefore, each result for
ΔF508 is accompanied by a full genetic fingerprint ensuring the authenticity of
the amplification result. In case of HH the primers for C282Y and H63D were
each co-amplified with an octaplex STR amplification system, again
generating genetic fingerprint data. The determination of the SNPs were then
carried out through RFLP analysis of the entire amplification product. Results:
None of the Lichtenstein cave individuals revealed the 3bp deletion at the
ΔF508 locus. This result indicates that the increased allele frequencies of
ΔF508 in present day populations may indeed be a result of the younger
European history. In contrast, the typing of C282Y and H63D for HH indicates
that at least the polymorphism for C282Y must be older than the 2000 years
assumed since we found 8% of the 3000 years old Lichtenstein cave
individuals being heterozygous. However, none of the individuals is suspect to
have suffered from HH which requires the compound heterozygous state for
both loci. Although we found 36,5% of the individuals being either
homozygous (13,5%) or heterozygous (23%) for the mutation in H63D none of
these individuals is showing the mutation for C282Y as well. Again, the results
prove that the polymorphism H63D is much older than 3000 years.

Ovchinnikov I. et al., The Pleistocene Horse mtDNA Diversity in Sungir, Russia

Renneberg R. et al., Ancient DNA analysis of bones and textiles of prehispanic
populations settled in the Palpa Valley/Peru

Zawicki P. et al., Presence of Δ32CCR5 in medieval specimens from Poland