Whilst archaeological evidence for many aspects of life in ancient China is well studied, there has been much less interest in ancient infectious diseases, such as intestinal parasites in past Chinese populations. Here, we bring together evidence from mummies, ancient latrines, and pelvic soil from burials, dating from the Neolithic Period to the Qing Dynasty, in order to better understand the ...

The combustion of crude oil produces a wide range of pollutants, including gases, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, acid compounds (e.g., sulfuric acid), and soot. Several of these pollutants have been linked with the deterioration and blackening of monuments. The paper reports the results of an investigation on the causes of the soiling of cultural remains at import...

A molecular paleoparasitological diagnostic approach was developed for Enterobius vermicularis. Ancient DNA was extracted from 27 coprolites from archaeological sites in Chile and USA. Enzymatic amplification of human mtDNA sequences confirmed the human origin. We designed primers specific to the E. vermicularis 5S ribosomal RNA spacer region and they allowed reproducible polymerase chain react...

CONSTANTINO MANUEL TORRES Archaeological evidence for the antiquity of psychoactive plant use in the Central Andes. This work presents an evaluation of the evidence for the antiquity of psychoactive plant use by the indigenous populations of the Central Andes. The first problem is to determine what constitutes clear archaeological evidence. The most direct form of evidence is the finding of pla...

Chemical analyses of ancient organic compounds absorbed into the pottery fabrics of imported Etruscan amphoras (ca. 500-475 B.C.) and into a limestone pressing platform (ca. 425-400 B.C.) at the ancient coastal port site of Lattara in southern France provide the earliest biomolecular archaeological evidence for grape wine and viniculture from this country, which is crucial to the later history ...

This paper presents a new type of stone objects within the boundaries Aeolis region. One them is found in an old Turkish cemetery next to Kale Tepe, north Dumanlı Mountain, and rest around Samurlu cemetery. Objects question are particularly interesting for both their size shapes. They not similar any other known archaeological or ethnological object. Despite Tepe examples were cemeteries, they ...

Considerations of ancient Maya cycles of time often focus on dated events obtained from texts on carved stone monuments or on Maya prophecies recorded in ethnohistoric documents. However, temporal cycles are also in evidence in the archaeological records of Maya households. Archaeologically recognizable cycles can be seen in the contextual data of Caracol’s residential groups, specifically in t...

Three probable cases of foot amputation, with healing, in skeletal remains associated with the Moche culture (AD 100–750) of northern coastal Peru are described. Each case exhibits non-functional tibio-talar joints with proliferative bone occupying the normal joint space. The robusticity of the tibiae and fibulae suggest renewed weight-bearing and mobility following recovery. The osteological e...

Rockfish (Sebastes spp.) are a common marine fish in nearshore and continental shelf environments in the North Pacific Ocean. They are frequently identified in coastal archaeological sites in western North America; however, the morphological similarity of rockfish species limits conventional zooarchaeological identifications to the genus level. This study applies ancient DNA analysis to 96 arch...