Paleodemography

I conduct the first comparative analysis of long term human population stability in North America. Questions regarding population stability among animals and plants are fundamental to population ecology, yet no anthropological research has addressed human population stability. This is an important knowledge gap, because a species’ population stability can have implications for its risk of extinction and for the stability of the ecological community in which it lives. I use archaeological and paleoclimatological data to compare long term population stability with subsistence strategy and climate stability over 6,000 years. I conduct my analysis on a large scale to better understand general trends between population stability, subsistence strategy, and climate stability. I found that agricultural sequences fluctuate less than hunter-gatherer sequences in general, but they also experience rare, extreme population swings not seen among hunter-gatherers. I suggest that agriculturalists are more vulnerable to population collapses because of their increased population densities. I found that population stability shows a weak relationship with climate stability. Climate stability may have an indirect effect on long-term population stability.

Проведена оценка возможного влияния миграционного фактора на палеодемографические характеристики выборок русских Нового времени. Материалами для анализа послужили 64 скелетных серии, происходящие преимущественно из раскопок городских кладбищ XVII-XIX вв. Показано, что выборки с территории Сибири отличаются значительно более высоким процентом детей, а также относительно низкой долей индивидов зрелого возраста среди взрослых по сравнению с выборками европейской части России. В целом выявленные различия совпадают с различиями между выборками «первопоселенцев» и «старожилов» независимо от территории проживания. Одна из основных причин специфичности палеодемографической характеристики сибиряков заключается в особенностях половозрастного состава переселенцев и в более высоких темпах прироста населения к востоку от Урала. Обнаружены существенные расхождения в оценках ожидаемой продолжительности жизни, основанных на палеодемографических значениях индекса ювенильности и данных официальной статистики XIX века. Вероятнее всего, они обусловлены расхождениями между возрастными распределениями обитателей сельских и городских поселений, а также недостаточной репрезентативностью скелетных серий. Показано, что в среднем в выборках из военно-административных и промышленных поселений выше доля людей активного трудоспособного возраста, чем в сельских группах. Это объясняется как различиями в половозрастном составе живого населения, так и относительно высокими коэффициентами смертности отдельных возрастных групп, проживавших в поселениях указанных двух типов.

Палеодемография русского населения Сибири и европейской России в XVII-XIX вв. // Краткие материалы XVIII Международной Западносибирской археолого-этнографической конференции: «Западная Сибирь в транскультурном пространстве Северной Евразии: итоги и перспективы 50 лет исследований ЗСАЭК» (2020 г., Томск, Россия). Электронный ресурс, режим доступа: http://zsaek.tsu.ru/sites/default/files/webform/Широбоков_Тезисы%202020.pdf

Archaeology of Death E-learning

Dear Colleagues,
As the Covid-19 safety measures are limiting our communication, please use the following web link to download presentation of the Archaeology of Death course.
https://cuni.academia.edu/JanTurek/Teaching-Documents
Since the lesson 4, that we have already missed I include much more texts and references, so you can use it as e-learning material.
Let’s hope we are going to have chance to catch up with the lectures later the spring term.
Meanwhile stay safe
and
Good luck!

Sincerely
Jan Turek
Center for Theoretical Study

The lecture provides a basic overview of the theory and methodology of the study of funerary areas, burial contexts and social and symbolic perception of death in prehistoric societies. Through the archaeological evidence of funerary rituals will be presented not only prehistoric people's attitudes toward death and the afterlife but also their culture, social organization, symbolic systems and cosmology. The focus on archaeology of personhood will be targeted mainly on the analysis of age and gender categories. Introductory topics summarize the methodology of field and laboratory research of funerary data in archaeology including application of scientific methods, spatial analysis of burial data and palaeodemography. In the interpretation section of the course an attention is also paid to the social and ritual significance of death and the transformation of human understanding of mortality. We are going to focus on case studies from different periods and locations throughout the world from Palaeolithic to the rise of historical societies. Case studies will further shed light on the social interpretation of burial data and their use in reconstructing social relationships, and will present significant discoveries. The end of the course is devoted to the ethics of the archaeological research of funerary and the political and ethical controversies surrounding human remains. This lecture is designed for audience among archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and others who have a professional interest in funerary evidence, or general curiosity about past death and burial.

Monte Albán fue un asentamiento zapoteco (500 aC-850 dC) localizado en los Valles Centrales de Oaxaca. En este sitio arqueológico la
variedad y cantidad de los depósitos mortuorios encontrados es muy
diversa, dadas las diferentes estrategias de excavación, el tratamiento mortuorio diferencial y los procesos tafonómicos. De lo anterior
podemos preguntarnos, la serie esquelética que analizamos (n=410)
¿a qué parte de la población representa en el sentido estadístico y
sociodemográfico? y ¿qué criterios de selectividad encontramos? El
objetivo de este trabajo es discutir y reflexionar sobre aspectos de representatividad y selectividad, aunados al contexto arqueológico de
los individuos de Monte Albán. Se utilizó el análisis de conglomerados para mostrar las diferencias en la composición de los edificios
excavados en esta ciudad dependiendo de variables como número de
cuartos excavados, número de individuos, sexo y edad. Los resultados muestran una problemática compartida por toda Mesoamérica,
donde se observan grandes sesgos en la composición de la muestra
según la temporalidad y el espacio, lo que nos lleva a discutir la selectividad de la muestra y el papel de los elementos óseos aislados.

An analysis of the paleodemographic situation was conducted with the used of materials of Mitino, Boyanovsky, Demenkovsky, Pyshtayn (Lomovatovskaya culture); Bartymsky, Verkh-Sainsky, Brodovsky and Nevolinsky (Nevolinskaya culture) burial grounds. The primary methods were as follows: compilation of survivance tables, classification of the subjects into age groups (children, adults, elderly people) and intervals (0-4, 5-9, etc.), and subdivision of the subjects into gender groups. The main indicators were the percentage of men and women, percentage of child deaths, percentage of elderly people (over 50 years of age), life expectancy (for men, women and general adult population), and death probability. The main conclusion was that the paleodemographic situation is unique for each burial ground, and does not depend on the cultural affiliation.

The settlement of southern Germany at the transition from the Late Iron Age to the Early Roman Period  is different from the contemporary development on the left bank of the Rhine. Whereas in Gallia settlement continuity is obvious, the Romans found an empty country on the right bank of the Rhine at the beginning of their occupation in 15 BC, as archaeological and historical evidence confirms.

This perception - in the past disclaimed by most archaeologists - is now supported by fresh evidence, i. e. by archaeogenetical proof of migration and archaeological proof of total settlement abandonment about 100/80 BC in southern Germany. Furthermore, it has become obvious that in the 1st half of the 1st century BC people from Central Germany invaded Southeast Bavaria. Likewise archaeological traces in Southwest Germany hint to immigrants from the North, perhaps the “Germani” mentioned by Caesar. Depending on the region, the periods of land use discontinuity before the Roman colonization differ, lasting mostly for far more than 100 years.

The settlement discontinuity is supported by archaeobotanical data, a large set of high-resolution pollen profiles from lake sediments and peat bogs. On abandoned fields a reforestation starts with an intermediate Betula (birch) stage which, after about 60 to 80 years, is replaced by the terminal Fagus (beech) forest, a development clearly proven by the pollen record. However in Southwest Germany in the Late Iron Age we find quite a different situation. The Betula stage was not terminated by final reforestation but by resumed land use resulting again in a semi-open cultural landscape. Who were these farmers who cultivated the land after the Celts had left and before the Romans had arrived? Most likely Germanic people filled  the  gap, a possibility not considered so far. To get reliable answers the archaeological findings as well as the archaeobotanical chronology must be taken into account.

The Northern Northwest Coast of North America has consistently
been an epicenter of hunter-gatherer research, but attention has
focused on the period after 5000 cal BP. Using data largely produced
within the past 12 years, we present the first synthesis and analysis
of this region’s 14C record between
11000 and 5000 cal BP. Our
analysis produced two primary findings (i) that the number of dated
sites does not increase or decrease significantly during this period
and (ii) there is an unexplained gap in dated sites across the entire
region between
9000 and 8300 cal BP. The existence of this gap
has critical implications regarding hypotheses of technological
change, migration, population continuity, and cultural evolution for
the region. However, available explanations for this gap are problematic.
Possible causes investigated include: demographic abandonment
of the region, distorting effects of the calibration curve, sealevel
change, taphonomy, and sampling error. All are found to
be inadequate.

Özet
Olba bölgesindeki çalışmalarda soyulmamış ya da tahrip edilmemiş
mezar tespit etmek oldukça güçtür. Bu nedenle bulunan az sayıdaki
korunmuş ya da kısmen korunmuş mezarların incelenmesi oldukça önem
taşımaktadır. Olba Kazıları, 2010 senesinden bu yana Prof. Dr. Emel Erten
başkanlığında sürdürülmektedir. Olba Kazıları’nda gerek kremasyon gerek
de inhumasyon gömü geleneğine uygun mezarlara rastlanmıştır. Bunun
yanı sıra Olba Akropolisi’nde de yapılan kazılar kentin yerleşim tarihine
ışık tutar niteliktedir. 2018 yılında yapılan “Akropolis Zirve Sondaj 7-8-
9-10-11” kazılarında MS 3. – 4. yüzyılda kullanım görmüş bir konutun
izlerine rastlanmıştır. Konutun dış duvar sırasının dışında ancak konuta
organik olarak bağlı ana kaya kütlesinin dibinde üç mezar tespit edilmiştir.
Bu mezarlardan inhumasyon gömü geleneği ile direk toprağa gömülmüş
7 adet insan iskeleti ele geçmiştir. Bu çalışmanın konusu da iskeletlerin
antropolojik ve arkeolojik analizidir. İskelet sayısı oldukça sınırlı olup, söz
konusu insan iskeletleri, paleodemografik, morfolojik ve patolojik yapının
belirlenmesi amacıyla incelenmiştir.
Absract
In the Olba region it is very diffi cult to identify unpainted or undisturbed
graves. For this reason, it is very important to examine a few preserved
or partially preserved tombs. Olba Excavations are conducted under
the direction of Prof. Dr. Emel Erten since 2010. Th e graves from Olba
represent both cremation and inhumation burial traditions. In addition,
the excavations at the Olba Acropolis also shed light on the history of the
city. During the excavations of the “Acropolis Peak Drill 7-8-9-10-11” in
2018, traces of a house that was used in the 3rd - 4th century AD were
found. Th ree graves were located outside the outer wall row of the house,
but at the base of the organically bound bedrock. Buried in the soil directly
with the tradition of inhumation seven human skeletons were uncovered
in these tombs. Skeletons recovered from the excavations are quite limited.
Th ese human skeletons were examined to determine the paleodemographic,
morphological and pathological structures.