Study of Hunter-Gatherer Teeth Tracks Changes in Ice Age Europe

Archaeology Magazine ^ | August 23, 2024 | editors / unattributed / U of Tubingen

[SunkenCiv]

According to a statement released by the University of Tübingen, an international team of researchers has studied the effects of climate change on hunter-gatherers living in Europe between 47,000 and 7,000 years ago by analyzing their teeth with a machine learning algorithm called Pheno-ABC. "This has allowed us to collect an unprecedented dataset [including some 450 prehistoric humans from all over Europe] that is significantly larger than previous skeletal and genetic datasets," said Hannes Rathmann of the University of Tübingen. The researchers focused on inheritable features of teeth, such as their shape, the ridge and groove patterns on the chewing surfaces, and the presence or absence of wisdom teeth to track relationships among Ice Age peoples. The study suggests that between 47,000 and 28,000 years ago, the populations of Western and Eastern Europe were genetically well connected, said Judith Beier of the University of Tübingen. Europe’s steppe landscape likely favored contact between groups of hunter-gatherers, she explained. But for the period between 28,000 and 14,700 years ago, the study detected no connection between the populations of Western and Eastern Europe. In fact, the size of the populations in both regions shrank, which led to a loss of genetic diversity... Populations in the West are thought to have gone extinct and were later replaced by migrants from Eastern Europe as temperatures rose, Beier added.

[SunkenCiv]

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• Malocclusion and dental crowding arose 12,000 years ago with earliest farmers [02/07/2015]
• Hunter-gatherer diet caused tooth decay [01/12/2014]
• Dental Detectives Reveal Diet If Ancient Human Ancestors [11/09/2006]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Beowulf9]

The news is so dismal I am distracting myself with reading about teeth. Hunter-gatherer teeth.

[SunkenCiv]

“I’m a gatherer.”

“What about hunting.”

“I’m a hunter and a gatherer.”

[Beowulf9]

😆

[SunkenCiv]

The Göbekli Tepe to Stonehenge Podcast

In the process of developing and making Göbekli Tepe to Stonehenge, we're lifting the corner of the carpet on all sorts of aspects to do with the Neolithic period that we perhaps would not have otherwise.

And so it is with the topic of this discussion - obsidian: we had absolutely no idea how crucial this 'black stuff' was to the spread of farming from Anatolia and the fertile crescent into Europe until really examining the narrative of how the early pioneers first ventured out in to the Aegean and crossed to mainland Greece.

Our research has turned up all sorts of surprises and we hope you all enjoy this brief overview of the power of the trade in obsidian.

NEOLITHIC OBSIDIAN: Did it fuel the expansion of farming 7,000 B.C.? | 42:21
The Prehistory Guys | 87.1K subscribers | 11,647 views | February 2, 2024

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PREHISTORY POD - Digging Deeper with the Prehistory Guys

"The first Neolithic boats in the Mediterranean: The settlement of La Marmotta", an academic paper published in PLOS ONE has just been release detailing the excavations of the La Marmotta Neolithic settlement near Rome. Amazingly, work here has been ongoing since the early 1990s and it is extraordinary that the site is not more well-known. Archaeologists discovered the remains of 5 ancient canoes amongst the settlement buildings and it seems they hold clues about how the Mediterranean Sea may have been navigated during the early years of the expansion of farming during the early Neolithic.

7,000 YEAR OLD CANOES are evidence of ancient seafaring in the Mediterranean. | 19:40
The Prehistory Guys | 87.1K subscribers | 9,463 views | March 28, 2024

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• Colin Renfrew Obsidian Trade [Brave search]
• Bronze Age Burial Excavated in Southwestern England | Archaeology Magazine | August 21, 2024
• 'Stunning' burial chamber unearthed on Dartmoor | BBC | August 19, 2024

[SunkenCiv]

We can be denture that ethnic replacement bites, and has been going on for a long time. It’s nice to see research filling in the gaps.

[norwaypinesavage]

It seems obvious that human civilization would die back during the glacial period, and then begin to flourish during the warm Holocene interglacial that followed, starting some 12000 years ago. It’s funny that the Climate Change crowd doesn’t understand this.

[Be Careful]

Thank you so much for posting this detailed and well curated list of information. I find it highly fascinating

[Adder]

In fact, the size of the populations in both regions shrank, which led to a loss of genetic diversity.

Which led to a wailing and gnashing of teeth...as evidenced by the groove patterns...etcetera, of course...

[AZJeep]

Population and life in general tends to thrive during Earth warm episodes, and tend to diminish during the cold ones.
Population in Europe obviously died out over the huge area covered by glaciers, but even the adjacent areas of western, central and southern Europe were so cold, that humans could not live there.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

[Flag_This]

"an international team of researchers has studied the effects of climate change on hunter-gatherers living in Europe between 47,000 and 7,000 years ago"

Wait...the climate actually changed pre-SUVs? Inconceivable!

[Larry Lucido]

“I clam and scallop”

[SunkenCiv]

That does explain the mud.

[Islander7]

Anyone who thinks we aren’t still hunter / gatherers hasn’t visited a Walmart lately.