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Post by Admin on Mar 21, 2024 19:21:54 GMT
Violent death The fragmented state of the cranium (Fig 1) is the result of at least eight blows, which split it into several parts (Fig 5). There are no signs of healing–the traumas were obviously fatal. Fig 5. Principal drawing of the cranium with indications of eight impact lesions and radiating fracture lines. Parts that have been available for the present study are shown in grey. * indicate hit points. Lines in bold red represent fully completed fractures, whereas stippled red lines indicate incomplete fractures. Graphic drafted by Marie Louise Jørkov, Anders Fischer and Sidsel Wåhlin, graphically finalised by Rich Potter, University of Gothenburg. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297032.g005No marks on the bones from cutting up the dead body are observed. We, therefore, understand the lack of trunk and limb bones to be the result of (post-)depositional circumstances. Fragments of the mistreated body may from the start have been deposited in a dispersed manner, or upon decomposition may have floated apart. Incomplete recovery of bones actually present in the peat dig should also be considered (SI.1 in S1 File). The impact lesions on the skull are characterised by oval fractures (Fig 6) with larger radiating fracture lines (Figs 1 and 5). Such damages are described in the forensic anthropological literature on skeletal traces of fatal violence—e.g., [23] - and are known from other Neolithic human skeletons [24–26]. They suggest blunt force caused by contact with an object made of more resilient material than the skull bone, possibly with a rounded surface and a diameter of a minimum of 2 cm. The wooden club found next to the skeletal remains (SI.1 in S1 File) would have been a weapon likely to produce these fractures.
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Post by Admin on Mar 23, 2024 20:56:07 GMT
Fig 6. Areas of impact with oval fractures, the maximum dimensions of which are c. 2 cm. Photos: Stephen Freiheit. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297032.g006Analytical methods and results An array of bioarchaeological methods has been applied to the skeletal remains of Vittrup Man for the purpose of gaining insight into his chronological position, genetic and geographic origin, and dietary life-history. As clarified below for each of the proxies, most of the presented data are exclusive to this study, whereas some derive from previously published data [1], that are being re-analysed and re-interpreted here to uncover new important details. Whether initially presented herein or elsewhere these analyses all presupposed destructive sampling. We have, however, been able to limit the interventions to a degree that the skeletal remains still appear complete to the eyes of visitors at Vendsyssel Historical Museum (Denmark), where the bones of this person are currently on display. The two teeth that were sacrificed to intensive sampling for DNA, AMS and isotopic analyses were documented in high-resolution photos. In addition, one of these teeth was run through a high-resolution 3D scan (SI.4 in S1 File) before cutting it up for incremental δ13C and δ15N analysis. The bones of aurochs and domestic cattle mentioned below and presented in detail in Supplementary Information (SI.5 in S1 File) were likewise photo-documented before destructive sampling for AMS dating and isotopic analysis. Due to the scarcity of skeletal elements available from Vittrup Man we have imposed upon ourselves a modesty in sampling, which may very well have prevented us from further, interesting details of his unique life-history. AMS dates An AMS date with associated dietary isotope values from the human skeletal remains of Vittrup Man has already been published [1]. As part of the present project, additional six 14C dates have been produced, based on human and animal bones from the locality (Table 1). In between the dates of human remains no statistically significant differences are seen. We, therefore, assume they all derive from one and the same individual. Taking contemporaneity for granted, the best estimate on the age of the skeleton is 4513±19 BP (uncal).
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Post by Admin on Mar 25, 2024 21:59:37 GMT
Before turning this date into calibrated calendar years, we have to consider if a marine reservoir effect is at play. Estimating this we use a simple linear relation between the δ13C end-point values of -21 ‰ (terrestrial) and -10 ‰ (marine), based on many measurements on local Stone Age fauna, already published. Using the recently calculated value of 273±18 years for the marine reservoir offset at a Neolithic site in the Danish archipelago coeval to Vittrup Man, our rough estimate on marine reservoir effect for the Vittrup Man combined AMS date is 22 years. Calibrated with OxCal v4.4 and the Intcal20 calibration curve, the absolute age is 3340–3097 cal. BC, 95.4%. If we instead use the standard value for the north Atlantic, i.e. 400 years, we arrive at a reservoir correction of 33 years. This gives a calibrated date of 33455–3029 cal. BC (95.4%), with 89.4% of the probability within the 3345–3082 cal. BC interval. Since the Vittrup site faces the North Sea, this latter date is used here. Consequently, Vittrup Man belongs to the epoch of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture (FBC), which in Denmark spans the interval of time c. 3900–2800 cal. BC.
Genetic ancestry Genomic ancient DNA data from Vittrup Man was published in [1], where it was shown to share close ancestry with roughly coeval Hunter-Gatherer (HG) individuals of Pitted Ware Culture (PWC) association from the Swedish island of Gotland. This contrasted to the findings from the majority of Danish Neolithic individuals from the FBC epoch, which display the typical Early European Farmer ancestry with minor proportions of admixture from Western European Hunter-Gatherer groups (conventional geneticist terminology, no a priori connotation as to actual mode of subsistence) [1]. To contribute further nuances and details on his ancestry, we re-analysed genomic data from Vittrup Man along with the genome of the Svinninge Vejle male (SI.12 in S1 File), in the context of 16 Gotlandic PWC associated individuals published in Coutinho et al. 2020 and not included in [1].
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) based on previously published genomic data from 288 ancient European Hunter-Gatherer and Farmer individuals shows (Fig 7, adapted from Allentoft et al. [1]) that both Vittrup Man and Svinninge Vejle cluster closely with Mesolithic age Norwegian and Swedish Hunter-Gatherers. The Gotlandic PWC associated individuals also fall close to the Norwegian and Swedish HGs and Vittrup Man, but with a shift towards the Neolithic Farmers—consistent with previously reported presence of Early European Farmer ancestry in those individuals [2].
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Post by Admin on Mar 29, 2024 20:57:57 GMT
Fig 7. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) projecting Vittrup Man, Svinninge Vejle and PWC individuals onto a reference panel of 288 ancient individuals from European Hunter-Gatherer and Neolithic Farmer groups. The Vittrup and Svinninge Vejle individuals cluster with humans of Mesolithic age, found in Norway and Sweden. Results from a model-based clustering analysis (ADMIXTURE) mirror those from the PCA. The Vittrup and Svinninge Vejle individuals show most similar ancestry proportions to Mesolithic age Norwegian and Swedish Hunter-Gatherers, but distinct from the local Western European HGs present in Denmark during the preceding millennia (Fig 8). The Gotlandic PWC individuals carry a similar composition of Hunter-Gatherer ancestry, but with an increased contribution from a component that is maximised in Early European Farmer individuals. The minor ‘grey’ ancestry contributions to the Vittrup and Svinninge Vejle individuals, seen in Fig 8, could indicate potential gene flow from a local farmer population. We investigated this question using D-statistics in the form of D (Swedish HG, Vittrup/Svinninge Vejle; Early European Farmers, YRI), showing no evidence of significant levels of Farmer ancestry. Therefore, we can at least rule out the possibility of recent genetic admixture between the ancestors of Vittrup and Svinninge Vejle and Farmers with Anatolian ancestry. The larger grey contributions in the Gotlandic humans of PWC association represent genuine admixture with Scandinavian Neolithic Farmers (Fig SI.6.2 in S1 File). In summary, the genetic results suggest that the Vittrup and Svinninge Vejle individuals migrated to Denmark from a region not affected by Neolithic Farmer ancestry, presumably an area to the north of the known distribution of the Funnel Beaker Culture. Fig 8. Ancestry proportions for Vittrup Man and Svinninge Vejle (the two leftmost bars) in a context of 288 ancient individuals from European Hunter-Gatherers and Neolithic Farmers, inferred using ADMIXTURE with K = 3 ancestral components.
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Post by Admin on Apr 2, 2024 2:59:44 GMT
Polygenic trait predictions We aimed to use polygenic score predictions to obtain approximate inferences of physical appearance and physiology of Vittrup Man (SI.7 in S1 File). However, low genome coverage prevents us from deriving meaningful inferences for this individual. Instead, we obtained the polygenic scores for the chronologically and genetically closely-related individual from Svinninge Vejle, as computed in [1, 27]. Here, a high DNA preservation quality (genome coverage ~1X) allows–after imputation [1] –to produce polygenic scores for skin, hair and eye colour, height and basal metabolic rate. The scoring method is based on using a gene-trait association study of present-day inhabitants of the United Kingdom (UK Biobank, [28]). The considerable distance in time and ancestry between the present-day panel and the ancient individual implies that polygenic trait inferences can only be made with large reservations (SI.7 in S1 File). When comparing the polygenic scores of Svinninge Vejle with his contemporaneous individuals from Denmark [27], we find that—based on these scores alone—he may not have appeared remarkably different from them. As can be seen from Fig 9A, upper panel, he is predicted to have had somewhat darker skin, but his predicted genetic height and relatively dark hair colour appear to have been within the range of those predicted for his local European Neolithic Farmer contemporaries (Fig SI.7.2 in S1 File). He is also predicted to have probably had blue eyes (Fig 9B) and a relatively high basal metabolic rate—equivalent to the amount of energy that the human body needs to perform its most basic functions. Thus, polygenic score predictions indicate that the Svinninge Vejle individual would have looked somewhat different from the majority of historic period or present-day Scandinavians, particularly in being relatively short and having darker skin and hair. Fig 9. Polygenic trait predictions for the Svinninge Vejle individual (figure computed using polygenic scores obtained from [1]). A: Polygenic scores for the Danish samples ordered chronologically, for four traits of interest: hair colour, basal metabolic rate (BMR), height and skin colour. B: Probability of having blue vs. brown vs. intermediate eye colour (green/hazel/grey). The Svinninge Vejle individual is highlighted via inserted probability values. The error bars denote 95% credible intervals.
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