From hunter-gatherers to food producers: New dental insights into the Nile Valley population history (Late Paleolithic-Neolithic).

OBJECTIVES: This study presents biological affinities between the last hunter-fisher-gatherers and first food-producing societies from the Nile Valley. We investigate odontometric and dental tissue proportion changes between these populations from the Middle Nile Valley and acknowledge the biological processes behind them. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dental remains of 329 individuals from Nubia and Central Sudan that date from the Late Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene are studied. Using 3D imaging techniques, we investigated outer and inner metric aspects of upper central incisors, and first and second upper molars. RESULTS: Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic foragers display homogeneous crown dimensions, dental tissue proportions, and enamel thickness distribution. This contrasts with Neolithic trends for significant differences from earlier samples on inner and outer aspects. Finally, within the Neolithic sample differences are found between Nubian and Central Sudanese sites. DISCUSSION: Substantial dental variation appears to have occurred around 6000 bce in the Nile Valley, coinciding with the emergence of food-producing societies in the region. Archeological and biological records suggest little differences in dietary habits and dental health during this transition. Furthermore, the substantial variations identified here would have happened in an extremely short time, a few centuries at most. This does not support in situ diet-related adaptation. Rather, we suggest these data are consistent with some level of population discontinuity between the Mesolithic and Neolithic samples considered here. Complex settlement processes could also explain the differences between Nubia and Central Sudan, and with previous results based on nonmetric traits.

Ancient anomalies: Twinned and supernumerary incisors in a medieval Nubian.

During the analysis of a skeletal assemblage from a medieval cemetery in Nubia (c. AD 500-1550), a young adult female with abnormally developed maxillary incisors was discovered. The possible causes of the two dental anomalies found in this individual and their archaeological context are discussed. The remains are from a medieval assemblage from the Fourth Cataract region of Nubia, which forms part of the Nubian collection curated at the British Museum. The left central incisor has a twinned crown with two root canals, and a supernumerary tooth is present on the right side between the central incisor and lateral incisors. Although two different dental anomalies are present, the bilateral expression suggests that the same biological mechanism could be responsible.

Time to be nosy: Evaluating the impact of environmental and sociocultural changes on maxillary sinusitis in the Middle Nile Valley (Neolithic to Medieval periods).

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of maxillary sinusitis in people who lived in the Middle Nile Valley across different periods, cultures, and environmental conditions. MATERIALS: 481 skeletons from 13 sites, curated at the British Museum, London, were analysed. The sites ranged in date from the Neolithic to Medieval periods (c. 4900 BCE-CE 1500). METHODS: Bony changes within the maxillary sinuses, associated with sinusitis and oroantral fistulae were systematically recorded according to pre-established criteria. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the prevalence of maxillary sinusitis between time period/subsistence economy groups. The Neolithic hunter-gatherer/early agricultural group had the lowest prevalence, whilst the urban group demonstrated the highest frequency of the disease. CONCLUSIONS: Factors involved in the development of maxillary sinusitis are manifold and complex. However, the results indicate that increased aridity in Sudan in later periods and intensification of agricultural practices may have played a role in increasing prevalence of the disease. Urban environments, including crowding, poor sanitation, and industrial air pollution, could also have influenced susceptibility to maxillary sinusitis. SIGNIFICANCE: Prior to this paper, the impact of arid environments on respiratory health in the past had received little attention despite growing clinical research on the topic. Both arid and urban environments are predicted to expand in the future. This paper provides a deep-time perspective on an issue of increasing concern today. LIMITATIONS: Poor preservation of skeletons and a lack of archaeological settlement data for some sites. FUTURE RESEARCH: Investigation of a greater range of populations from different environments/climates.

New insights on interpersonal violence in the Late Pleistocene based on the Nile valley cemetery of Jebel Sahaba.

The remains of 61 individuals buried in the cemetery of Jebel Sahaba (site 117) offer unique and substantial evidence to the emergence of violence in the Nile Valley at the end of the Late Pleistocene. Excavated and assessed in the 1960s, some of the original findings and interpretations are disputed. A full reanalysis of the timing, nature and extent of the violence was conducted through the microscopic characterization of the nature of each osseous lesion, and the reassessment of the archaeological data. Over 100 previously undocumented healed and unhealed lesions were identified on both new and/or previously identified victims, including several embedded lithic artefacts. Most trauma appears to be the result of projectile weapons and new analyses confirm for the first time the repetitive nature of the interpersonal acts of violence. Indeed, a quarter of the skeletons with lesions exhibit both healed and unhealed trauma. We dismiss the hypothesis that Jebel Sahaba reflects a single warfare event, with the new data supporting sporadic and recurrent episodes of inter-personal violence, probably triggered by major climatic and environmental changes. At least 13.4 ka old, Jebel Sahaba is one of the earliest sites displaying interpersonal violence in the world.

Expression of Concern to: Diet restriction inhibits apoptosis and HMGB1 oxidation and promotes inflammatory cell recruitment during acetaminophen hepatoxicity.

The Editors-in-Chief would like to alert readers that this article [1] is part of an investigation being conducted by the journal following the conclusions of an institutional enquiry at the University of Liverpool with respect to the quantitative mass spectrometry-generated results regarding acetylated and redox-modified HMGB1.

Expression of Concern to: The α7 nicotine acetylcholine receptor agonist GTS-21 improves bacterial clearance in mice by restoring hyperoxia-compromised macrophage function.

The Editors-in-Chief would like to alert readers that this article (Sitapara et al. 2014) is part of an investigation being conducted by the journal following the conclusions of an institutional enquiry at the University of Liverpool with respect to the quantitative mass spectrometry-generated results regarding acetylated and redox-modified HMGB1.