Posted on 04/10/2023 8:45:59 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
People have inhabited the Andes mountains of South America for more than 9,000 years, adapting to the scarce oxygen available at high altitudes, along with cold temperatures and intense ultraviolet radiation. A new genomic study published in the journal iScience suggests that Indigenous populations in present-day Ecuador also adapted to the tuberculosis bacterium, thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans...
"We found that selection for genes involved in TB-response pathways started to uptick a little over 3,000 years ago," says Sophie Joseph, first author of the paper. "That's an interesting time because it was when agriculture began proliferating in the region. The development of agriculture leads to more densely populated societies that are better at spreading a respiratory pathogen like TB."
The investigators had originally set out to investigate how the Indigenous people of Ecuador adapted to living at high altitude.
"We were surprised to find that the strongest genetic signals of positive selection were not associated with high altitude but for the immune response to tuberculosis," says John Lindo, senior author of the study. "Our results bring up more questions regarding the prevalence of tuberculosis in the Andes prior to European contact."
Previously published research found evidence of the tuberculosis bacterium in the skeletal material of 1,400-year-old Andean mummies, contradicting some theories that TB did not exist in South America until the arrival of Europeans 500 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
upcoming GGG topics for the rest of this week:
Fragment of a 1,750-year-old New Testament translation discovered
https://phys.org/news/2023-04-fragment-year-old-testament.html
1,100-year-old ‘ceremonial’ Viking shields were actually used in battle, study suggests
https://www.livescience.com/1100-year-old-ceremonial-viking-shields-were-actually-used-in-battle-study-suggests
Egypt:
Researchers use 21st century methods to record 2,000 years of ancient graffiti in Egypt
https://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2023/03/researchers-use-21st-century-methods-to-record-2-000-years-of-an.html
A Pit of Severed Hands Could Be The Remains of a Grisly Ancient Egyptian Ceremony
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-pit-of-severed-hands-could-be-the-remains-of-a-grisly-ancient-egyptian-ceremony
https://www.science.org/content/article/severed-hands-unearthed-ancient-egyptian-site-may-have-been-battle-trophies
See the oldest human ever found in Egypt in stunning new facial approximation
https://www.livescience.com/see-the-oldest-human-ever-found-in-egypt-in-stunning-new-facial-approximation
Mummies provide the key to reconstruct the climate of the ancient Mediterranean
https://phys.org/news/2023-04-mummies-key-reconstruct-climate-ancient.html
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/04/ancient-mummy-labels-help-to-reconstruct-climate-of-roman-egypt/146786
Precolumbian/Postcolumbian Americas
New, exhaustive study probes hidden history of horses in the American West
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230330172129.htm
First Evidence of Sabertoothed Cat Inhabiting the State of Iowa
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/04/first-evidence-of-sabertoothed-cat-inhabiting-the-state-of-iowa/146797
Diet and Cuisine:
New clues to the behavioral variability of Neanderthal hunting parties
https://www.cenieh.es/en/press/news/new-clues-behavioral-variability-neanderthal-hunting-parties
Ancient Humans Cooked And Ate Giant Land Snails Around 170,000 Years Ago
https://www.iflscience.com/ancient-humans-cooked-and-ate-giant-land-snails-around-170000-years-ago-68292
Neolithic Farmers Processed Cow, Goat and Sheep Milk
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/04/neolithic-farmers-processed-cow-goat-and-sheep-milk/146792
Yak milk consumption among Mongol Empire elites
https://news.umich.edu/yak-milk-consumption-among-mongol-empire-elites/
Possible, although something like it may have been posted a while back:
A Look Inside the Roman Brothels of Ancient Pompeii
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MImUfavTBSc
https://ninetymilesfromtyranny.blogspot.com/2013/06/are-pornographic-coins-of-ancient-rome.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spintria
Yak milk consumption among Mongol Empire elites..........
Makes sense, else the Spanish invasion would have quickly killed them all.................
He died waaaay too early......................
Got ‘em all posted! Yay me!
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