Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew.  Stay tuned for four fascinating news stories from this past week of Archaeologica!  Send us feedback on The Archaeology Channel Facebook page or post a message on our social networking site, ArchaeoSeek!

Microbes in chewed birch tar show that Mesolithic Europeans 10,000 years ago had gum disease and tooth decay.  Investigators in Switzerland report on the discovery of an extremely well preserved Medieval gauntlet, or flexible armored glove.   A new study identifies three major prehistoric migrations that resulted in the genetic makeup of western Europeans.   An isotopic examination of the tusk of a woolly mammoth in Alaska shows that humans went where the mammoths were.

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And now, here’s Laura Kennedy with the Audio News from Archaeologica!  We hope you find this to be a valuable part of your day!

Welcome to the Audio News from Archaeologica!  I’m Laura Kennedy, and these are the headlines in archaeological and historical news for the week of January 14th through the 20th, 2024.

We begin this week in Scandinavia, where a new study highlights the poor oral health of a group of Mesolithic Scandinavian hunter-gatherers who lived approximately 10,000 years ago.

As reported by Phys.org, Emrah [EM-rah] Kirdök and Anders Götherström led a study sequencing the DNA found on three pieces of chewed birch tar that were excavated in the 90s from Huseby Klev, Sweden.  The tar pieces were dated between 9,900 and 9,500 years old.

The scientists created profiles of the plant, microbial and animal species DNA found on each sample of the birch tar.  Then they compared profiles to those previously reported for modern human samples, ancient human dental plaque and a 6,000-year-old chewed birch tar sample.

The microbial DNA samples revealed similarities to microbes found in the modern human mouth, in the ancient human dental plaque, and in the 6,000-year-old chewed birch tar sample.  This suggests that humans chewed the Huseby Klev birch tar samples.

The researchers also found that the samples contained an increased abundance of several bacteria that are commonly associated with gum disease and tooth decay.

The authors used machine learning models to determine how much of the hunter-gatherer population was affected by gum disease.  They also considered the relative abundance of microbial species in the birch tar sample.  They estimated that gum disease affected 70 to 80 percent of the hunter-gatherer group.

Because ancient hunter-gatherer societies likely used their teeth to perform tasks involving gripping, cutting and tearing, they had an increased risk of coming into contact with microbial species that cause gum disease.

The authors also identified DNA sequences consistent with those from a range of plant and animal species, such as hazelnut, mistletoe, gray wolf, red fox, mallard, brown trout, and limpet.  It’s possible that these materials were chewed prior to chewing the birch tar from the samples.  The authors speculate that these materials could have included food sources, furs and bone tools.

These findings demonstrate the poor oral health of Mesolithic Scandinavian hunter-gatherers, but they also provide insight into their diet, material use and local environment.

The study was published by Scientific Reports.

Next, we head to Switzerland, where excavations have revealed a fully-preserved fourteenth-century gauntlet of armor.

The object was found during excavations to the southeast of Kyburg Castle, located in Kyburg in the canton of Zurich.

As reported by Arkeonews, the gauntlet measures 14 inches long.  To create the gauntlet, 25 individual iron plates were overlapped like scales and connected by side rivets.  Then they were riveted to a leather or fabric material before being sewn onto a leather or textile glove.  

The small plates and flexible under-layers allowed the wearer to comfortably grip a sword and make a fist.  The gauntlet would have had great flexibility and would have been worn on the right hand.

According to the Zurich cantonal [CAN-tone-al] infrastructure department, only five fourteenth-century gauntlets have come to light in Switzerland.  This latest discovery is the best preserved.  Some of the fingers are completely free of corrosion and look as good as new.

The settlement of Kyburg grew up around Kyburg Castle.  During the medieval period, this castle was known as Chuigeburg (meaning “cows-fort”), which indicates an original use as a refuge castle for livestock.

Archeologists also discovered a medieval weaving cellar.  Fire destroyed the cellar during the fourteenth century, but traces of forging remain in the form of a mold and over 50 metal objects associated with smithing.

Archaeologists also found a hammer, tweezers, pliers, keys, knives, and bullet points.  They also found fragments of the gauntlet’s counterpart worn on the other hand.

It’s not yet known who owned the gauntlet or why this type of object is so rarely found.  More research may establish whether armored gloves were rare in the fourteenth century or if they were simply melted down.

Our third story takes us to western Europe, where a new study offers some surprising insights into the origins of western Europeans.

According to the online newspaper haaretz.com, a study led by Morten Allentoft of the University of Copenhagen analyzed the genomes of 1,600 ancient people.  Researchers hoped to gain greater insight into the process of Europe’s Neolithization.  This is the transition from the hunting and gathering stage of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic to the food-production stage of the Neolithic Period.

The study revealed that from 15,000 years ago to the Medieval period, an invisible boundary stretched from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea.

The hunter-gatherers to the east and west of this boundary were different populations, and the process of their Neolithization was markedly different.  Farming as an entrenched lifestyle would take 3,000 years longer to develop east of the imaginary line than it would to the west.

Three great migrations created the ancestry of today’s Europeans.  The first was the exit from Africa around 45,000 years ago. 

The second great migration occurred between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago.  This happened once agriculture and animal husbandry emerged in southeast Turkey and the Fertile Crescent.  Since settlements could support larger populations once humans had learned to tame plants and animals, researchers speculate that humans migrated to alleviate population density.  These early farmers brought their plants and animals with them, specifically cereals, legumes, cows, sheep, and goats.  They spread to the west of the invisible Black Sea and Baltic Sea line.

To the east, hunting and gathering persisted as a lifestyle for another 3,000 years.  Researchers theorize that perhaps farmers didn’t penetrate eastern Eurasia because the crops and animals were unable to thrive in the conditions east of the invisible boundary.

The third great migration occurred 5,000 years ago when nomads of the Yamnaya [Yahm-NAH-yuh] culture rode their newly-domesticated horses out of the Pontic steppe which sprawls from Europe to central Asia.  This eradicated the invisible boundary once and for all.

Interestingly, an unrelated study reveals that the Yamnaya carried with them the genetic risk for multiple sclerosis, or MS.

A study conducted by William Barrie of the University of Cambridge, UK and his team compared genetic information from the Mesolithic onward with 410,000 white Europeans.  Today, the highest incidences of this incurable neurodegenerative disease are in northern Europe, at one end of a clear north-south gradient.

The results indicate that the genetic risk for MS emerged among the Yamnaya.  Researchers speculate that the mutation which increased the risk of MS may have conferred an advantage under certain circumstances.  Perhaps the genetic variants associated with MS had some advantage both on the steppe and later in northern Europe. 

Finally, we travel to interior Alaska, where isotope analysis on a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth tusk provides evidence that early hunter-gatherers in this region shared habitat with the iconic creatures.

As reported by ScienceDaily, archaeologists excavated the tusk in 2009 along with the remains of two related juvenile mammoths at the Swan Point archaeological site.  They also discovered evidence of campfires, the use of stone tools and butchered remains of other game.

Researchers at the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility at University of Alaska Fairbanks then analyzed thousands of samples from the tusk to determine the animal’s life and travels.

They determined that the mammoth was a healthy 20-year-old female.  During her lifetime, she traveled roughly 1,000 kilometers through Alaska and northwestern Canada.  The Healy Lake Village Council nicknamed her “Elma.”

Isotopes provide chemical markers of an animal’s diet and location.  The markers are then embedded in the bones and tissues of animals and remain even after they die.

Mammoth tusks grew throughout the animal’s lives with clearly visible layers appearing when split lengthwise.  This makes them well-suited to isotopic study.  By identifying isotopes in samples along the growth bands of the tusk, researchers can collect a chronological record of a mammoth’s life.

Much of Elma’s journey overlapped with that of a previously studied male mammoth who lived 3,000 years earlier.  This allowed researchers to discern long-term movement patterns of the mammoths over several millennia.

The long-term predictable presence of woolly mammoths would have attracted humans to the area.

Isotopic data,  DNA from other mammoths at the site and archaeological evidence, suggests that early Alaskans likely positioned their settlements to overlap with areas where mammoths congregated.

Senior study author Matthew Wooler, director of the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, notes that Elma was a young adult in the prime of her life.  Her isotopes showed that she was healthy and that she died in the season when people used the hunting camp at Swan Point, where her tusk was found.

Mammoths were accustomed to an open habitat.  Because of climate change toward the end of the last ice age, the grass- and shrub-dominated steppe landscape that had been common in interior Alaska was beginning to shift toward more forested terrain.  This would have fragmented the open habitat that the mammoths preferred.  This also potentially decreased their movement and made them more vulnerable to attacks from early humans.

That wraps up the news for this week!

For more stories and daily news updates, visit Archaeologica on the World Wide Web at www.archaeologica.org where all the news is history! Also, be sure to check out our growing subscription platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service, at heritagetac.org!

I’m Laura Kennedy and I’ll see you next week!