Eileen Murphy

Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and establishment of the insular Atlantic genome

Significance Modern Europe has been shaped by two episodes in prehistory, the advent of agriculture and later metallurgy. These innovations brought not only massive cultural change but also, in certain parts of the continent, a change in genetic structure. The manner in which these transitions affected the islands of Ireland and Britain on the northwestern edge of the continent remains the subject of debate. The first ancient whole genomes from Ireland, including two at high coverage, demonstrate that large-scale genetic shifts accompanied both transitions. We also observe a strong signal of continuity between modern day Irish populations and the Bronze Age individuals, one of whom is a carrier for the C282Y hemochromatosis mutation, which has its highest frequencies in Ireland today. The Neolithic and Bronze Age transitions were profound cultural shifts catalyzed in parts of Europe by migrations, first of early farmers from the Near East and then Bronze Age herders from the Pontic Steppe. However, a decades-long, unresolved controversy is whether population change or cultural adoption occurred at the Atlantic edge, within the British Isles. We address this issue by using the first whole genome data from prehistoric Irish individuals. A Neolithic woman (3343–3020 cal BC) from a megalithic burial (10.3× coverage) possessed a genome of predominantly Near Eastern origin. She had some hunter–gatherer ancestry but belonged to a population of large effective size, suggesting a substantial influx of early farmers to the island. Three Bronze Age individuals from Rathlin Island (2026–1534 cal BC), including one high coverage (10.5×) genome, showed substantial Steppe genetic heritage indicating that the European population upheavals of the third millennium manifested all of the way from southern Siberia to the western ocean. This turnover invites the possibility of accompanying introduction of Indo-European, perhaps early Celtic, language. Irish Bronze Age haplotypic similarity is strongest within modern Irish, Scottish, and Welsh populations, and several important genetic variants that today show maximal or very high frequencies in Ireland appear at this horizon. These include those coding for lactase persistence, blue eye color, Y chromosome R1b haplotypes, and the hemochromatosis C282Y allele; to our knowledge, the first detection of a known Mendelian disease variant in prehistory. These findings together suggest the establishment of central attributes of the Irish genome 4,000 y ago.

Scurvy in the Great Irish Famine: evidence of vitamin C deficiency from a mid-19th century skeletal population.

Scurvy has increasingly been recognized in archaeological populations since the 1980s but this study represents the first examination of the paleopathological findings of scurvy in a known famine population. The Great Famine (1845–1852) was a watershed in Irish history and resulted in the death of one million people and the mass emigration of just as many. It was initiated by a blight which completely wiped out the potato—virtually the only source of food for the poor of Ireland. This led to mass starvation and a widespread occurrence of infectious and metabolic diseases. A recent discovery of 970 human skeletons from mass burials dating to the height of the famine in Kilkenny City (1847–1851) provided an opportunity to study the skeletal manifestations of scurvy—a disease that became widespread at this time due to the sudden lack of Vitamin C which had previously almost exclusively been provided by the potato. A three-scale diagnostic reliance approach has been employed as a statistical aid for diagnosing the disease in the population. A biocultural approach was adopted to enable the findings to be contextualized and the etiology and impact of the disease explored. The results indicate that scurvy indirectly influenced famine-induced mortality. A sex and stature bias is evident among adults in which males and taller individuals displayed statistically significantly higher levels of scorbutic lesions. The findings have also suggested that new bone formation at the foramen rotundum is a diagnostic criterion for the paleopathological identification of scurvy, particularly among juveniles. Am J Phys Anthropol, 148:512–524, 2012.

New radiocarbon dates and a review of the chronology of prehistoric populations from the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia, Russia

The results are presented of a new program of radiocarbon dating undertaken on 88 human skeletons. The individuals derived from Eneolithic to Early Iron Age sites?Afanasievo, Okunevo, Andronovo (Fedorovo), Karasuk, and Tagar cultures--in the Minusinsk Basin of Southern Siberia. All the new dates have been acquired from human bone, which is in contrast to some of the previous dates for this region obtained from wood and thus possibly unreliable due to old-wood effects or re-use of the timber. The new data are compared with the existing 14C chronology for the region, thereby enabling a clearer understanding to be gained concerning the chronology of these cultures and their place within the prehistory of the Eurasian steppes.

Archaeological evidence for the first Mesolithic occupation of the Western Isles of Scotland

The examination of eroding coastal dunes at the prehistoric site of Northton, Harris, has produced the first archaeological evidence of Mesolithic activity in the Western Isles in the form of two midden-related deposits. The first phase of Mesolithic activity is dated to 7060-6650 cal. BC based on AMS dating of charred hazelnut shells. This discovery appears to validate the frequent pollen-based inferences of Mesolithic impact for the area and, as predicted, allows the Atlantic fringe of Scotland to become part of the European Mesolithic mainstream. A detailed pedological analysis also suggests that these early midden layers may have been amended during the Neolithic period as part of a possible phase of cultivation.

Prehistoric Old World Scalping: New Cases from the Cemetery of Aymyrlyg, South Siberia

Evidence for three definitive cases of scalping have been identified among the corpus of human skeletal remains excavated from the Iron Age south Siberian cemetery of Aymyrlyg in Tuva. The osteological evidence for scalping that is apparent in these individuals is presented here, as are the results of a recent reexamination of a previously known south Siberian case from the royal burial in Kurgan 2 at Pazyryk. These four Iron Age Siberian cases of scalping are important in part because they support the literary references pertaining to the practice contained in Herodotuss Histories, written in the fifth century B.C. Osteological evidence for scalping in prehistoric Old World contexts, including cases previously reported only in German and Russian publications, is also reviewed.

Child Bioarchaeology: Perspectives on the Past 10 Years

ABSTRACT This article aims to provide an overview of some of the more important developments in the bioarchaeology of childhood over the past decade. Analysis of publication trends in the major osteoarchaeology and physical anthropology journals demonstrated a rise in research papers dealing with skeletal remains of children, with dietary and palaeopathological studies especially predominant. Innovations in these areas are discussed in more detail, together with some important developments in theoretical frameworks for using skeletal evidence to situate children in past societies. Among these latter is the life course approach, in which childhood is considered within the context of the trajectory of the entire life course. The integration of studies of child skeletal remains with those of adults helps to provide a more complete picture of communities in the past.

Medieval and Post-Medieval Butchered Dogs from Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland

Abstract Large quantities of animal bones were recovered from Medieval and Post-Medieval contexts during recent archaeological excavations in the historic town of Carrickfergus in Co. Antrim. A notable proportion of the dog bones present in this corpus of material displayed clear evidence for butchery and/or skinning. This is an unusual occurrence since it is generally the case that only the occasional dog bone in an archaeological assemblage will display cutmarks. The location of the cutmarks on the bones and the possible motivational factors behind their occurrence will be discussed.

I Am Not Dead, but Do Sleep Here: The Representation of Children in Early Modern Burial Grounds in the North of Ireland

Abstract The nature of burial practices relating to children within formal ecclesiastical burial grounds in the period from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century has, to date, been largely ignored by archaeologists. Even a preliminary survey of such memorials, however, indicates that gravestones erected in the memory of children form a substantial component of the overall corpus of memorials within individual graveyards or cemeteries. A child from a wealthy background might be buried with an elaborately inscribed gravestone, while others were buried anonymously within their family plot, with only a brief reference to their short lives recorded on the memorial. In contrast, many un-named victims of epidemics or famine were buried in common pits, whilst unbaptised children denied burial in consecrated ground were laid to rest in the local childrens burial ground or cillín, without formal burial rites by the Roman Catholic church. This study examines the commemoration of children in four case study graveyards in the north of Ireland which date to between the later seventeenth century and the end of the nineteenth century. A survey of the number of memorials and the inscriptions they carry enables a more complete picture of the lives and deaths of the children they commemorate to become apparent.

A Possible Case of Hydrocephalus in a Medieval Child from Doonbought Fort, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland

Hydrocephalus is a condition that is rarely found in the palaeopathological record. It has been demonstrated in a modern study of untreated cases of hydrocephalus that 50 per cent of children suffering from the disease die within the first 18 months of life. It is probable that the situation was the same in archaeological populations and that the delicate nature of neonatal and infant crania accounts for the paucity of palaeopathological evidence. As far as the author is aware there are approximately 30 possible cases of hydrocephalus known in the archaeological record throughout the world and only two of these cases originated in the British Isles. The following report presents evidence of a case of possible hydrocephalus in a 6–7-year-old juvenile from Northern Ireland. The skeleton was recovered from a post-thirteenth century context during excavations at the secular medieval fort of Doonbought, Co. Antrim. The diagnosis of hydrocephalus has been made on the basis of the abnormal and enlarged morphology and increased cranial capacity of the cranium. The only other palaeopathological lesion present in the remains was cribra orbitalia.

Tales Out of School – The ‘Hidden Curriculum’ in National Schools in the North of Ireland During the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Abstract The paper addresses the possibility of the existence of a ‘hidden curriculum’ in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century National Schools by comparing working practices evident from an analysis of a sample of schools from two case study areas in the north of Ireland – Derry City and the rural area of Boho/Derrygonnelly in western County Fermanagh. The relationship between the placement of the school buildings and variations in their external appearances are examined in respect to their relationships with different churches. The possible significance of this relationship is scrutinised given that the primary aim of the National School system was joint secular education in a religiously divided society. Both the external and internal architecture of the buildings are also examined for the purposes of reconstructing aspects of the intentions and practices that governed their use. In particular, the relationship between allocated space and the categories of age and gender are studied by means of an access analysis of the floor plans of a representative sample of primary schools from both case study areas. Information derived from oral history accounts, archived material from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and school registers is used to supplement the findings obtained from the architectural analyses.