Sven Isaksson

Earliest evidence for the use of pottery

Pottery was a hunter-gatherer innovation that first emerged in East Asia between 20,000 and 12,000 calibrated years before present (cal bp), towards the end of the Late Pleistocene epoch, a period of time when humans were adjusting to changing climates and new environments. Ceramic container technologies were one of a range of late glacial adaptations that were pivotal to structuring subsequent cultural trajectories in different regions of the world, but the reasons for their emergence and widespread uptake are poorly understood. The first ceramic containers must have provided prehistoric hunter-gatherers with attractive new strategies for processing and consuming foodstuffs, but virtually nothing is known of how early pots were used. Here we report the chemical analysis of food residues associated with Late Pleistocene pottery, focusing on one of the best-studied prehistoric ceramic sequences in the world, the Japanese Jōmon. We demonstrate that lipids can be recovered reliably from charred surface deposits adhering to pottery dating from about 15,000 to 11,800 cal bp (the Incipient Jōmon period), the oldest pottery so far investigated, and that in most cases these organic compounds are unequivocally derived from processing freshwater and marine organisms. Stable isotope data support the lipid evidence and suggest that most of the 101 charred deposits analysed, from across the major islands of Japan, were derived from high-trophic-level aquatic food. Productive aquatic ecotones were heavily exploited by late glacial foragers, perhaps providing an initial impetus for investment in ceramic container technology, and paving the way for further intensification of pottery use by hunter-gatherers in the early Holocene epoch. Now that we have shown that it is possible to analyse organic residues from some of the world’s earliest ceramic vessels, the subsequent development of this critical technology can be clarified through further widespread testing of hunter-gatherer pottery from later periods.

Assess as you go : The effect of continuous assessment on student learning during a short course in archaeology

A continuous classroom assessment technique, ‘Five‐minute’ essays, was applied during a short course called Scientific Methods in Archaeology—Applications and Problems, given at the Archaeological Research Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden. There was a strong positive and statistically significant correlation between the grades obtained by the students and time into the course. The results showed no significant difference based on gender but there might be a gender‐based difference in approach. The ‘Five‐minute’ essay was generally appreciated by the students even though some found it stressful. There was no significant difference in this appreciation based on gender. Several advantages of this assessment procedure in comparison with the more traditional final exam are presented.

Ancient lipids document continuity in the use of early hunter-gatherer pottery through 9,000 years of Japanese prehistory.

Significance Pottery has had a central role in human society for many millennia, but the reasons for the emergence and spread of this technology are poorly understood. First invented by groups of hunter–gatherers living in East Asia during the last glacial period, production only began to flourish with rising global temperatures in the Holocene, but the reasons for its uptake and spread are unknown. Through chemical analysis of their contents, we herein provide, to our knowledge, the first direct evidence of pottery use across this climatic transition. Contrary to expectations, ceramic vessels had a remarkably consistent use, predominantly for processing aquatic resources, indicating that cultural rather than environmental factors were most important for their widespread uptake. The earliest pots in the world are from East Asia and date to the Late Pleistocene. However, ceramic vessels were only produced in large numbers during the warmer and more stable climatic conditions of the Holocene. It has long been assumed that the expansion of pottery was linked with increased sedentism and exploitation of new resources that became available with the ameliorated climate, but this hypothesis has never been tested. Through chemical analysis of their contents, we herein investigate the use of pottery across an exceptionally long 9,000-y sequence from the Jōmon site of Torihama in western Japan, intermittently occupied from the Late Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene. Molecular and isotopic analyses of lipids from 143 vessels provides clear evidence that pottery across this sequence was predominantly used for cooking marine and freshwater resources, with evidence for diversification in the range of aquatic products processed during the Holocene. Conversely, there is little indication that ruminant animals or plants were processed in pottery, although it is evident from the faunal and macrobotanical remains that these foods were heavily exploited. Supported by other residue analysis data from Japan, our results show that the link between pottery and fishing was established in the Late Paleolithic and lasted well into the Holocene, despite environmental and socio-economic change. Cooking aquatic products in pottery represents an enduring social aspect of East Asian hunter–gatherers, a tradition based on a dependable technology for exploiting a sustainable resource in an uncertain and changing world.

Effects of Sleep or Food Deprivation During Civilian Survival Training on Cognition, Blood Glucose and 3-OH-butyrate

OBJECTIVES The study was designed to compare effects of food deprivation (FD) and sleep deprivation (SD) on cognition during survival training. METHODS In a cross-over design (n=12), the effects of FD (up to 66 hours followed by 500 kcal intake over 24 hours) and SD (up to 50 hours) on cognitive variables, blood glucose, and 3-OH-butyrate were studied. RESULTS Food deprivation and SD impaired attention-dependent tasks. The FD impairment of simple reaction time was independent of blood glucose levels, which were normalized by a 500 kcal intake over 24 hours while the reaction time was not. Sleep deprivation and FD impaired maze-solving performance on all variables except rule breaks, which were significantly occurring after 50 hours of SD. Delayed word recall was impaired by SD for 50 hours. On the Balloon Analogue Risk Task, SD was associated with reduced risk-taking. In a gambling task, both SD for 50 hours and FD for 66 hours were associated with a tendency to make early choices when presented with consecutive choices, but the risk-taking was not affected. CONCLUSIONS Sleep deprivation has multiple cognitive effects, including attention, memory, visual-spatial ability, and risk-taking. Food deprivation had no affect on risk-taking, while the other tasks were affected in a way similar to SD but were less pronounced. The FD effects on cognition did not appear to depend on blood sugar levels. The need to sleep should be prioritized in survival situations to avoid cognitive impairment.

Exploring the emergence of an 'Aquatic' Neolithic in the Russian Far East: organic residue analysis of early hunter-gatherer pottery from Sakhalin Island

Abstract The Neolithic in north-east Asia is defined by the presence of ceramic containers, rather than agriculture, among hunter-gatherer communities. The role of pottery in such groups has, however, hitherto been unclear. This article presents the results of organic residue analysis of Neolithic pottery from Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. Results indicate that early pottery on Sakhalin was used for the processing of aquatic species, and that its adoption formed part of a wider Neolithic transition involving the reorientation of local lifeways towards the exploitation of marine resources.

A Novel Method to Analyze Social Transmission in Chronologically Sequenced Assemblages, Implemented on Cultural Inheritance of the Art of Cooking

Here we present an analytical technique for the measurement and evaluation of changes in chronologically sequenced assemblages. To illustrate the method, we studied the cultural evolution of European cooking as revealed in seven cook books dispersed over the past 800 years. We investigated if changes in the set of commonly used ingredients were mainly gradual or subject to fashion fluctuations. Applying our method to the data from the cook books revealed that overall, there is a clear continuity in cooking over the ages – cooking is knowledge that is passed down through generations, not something (re-)invented by each generation on its own. Looking at three main categories of ingredients separately (spices, animal products and vegetables), however, disclosed that all ingredients do not change according to the same pattern. While choice of animal products was very conservative, changing completely sequentially, changes in the choices of spices, but also of vegetables, were more unbounded. We hypothesize that this may be due a combination of fashion fluctuations and changes in availability due to contact with the Americas during our study time period. The presented method is also usable on other assemblage type data, and can thus be of utility for analyzing sequential archaeological data from the same area or other similarly organized material.

The impact of environmental change on the use of early pottery by East Asian hunter-gatherers

Significance The motivations for the widespread adoption of pottery is a key theme in world prehistory and is often linked to climate warming at the start of the Holocene. Through organic residue analysis, we investigated the contents of >800 ceramic samples from across the Japanese archipelago, a unique assemblage that transcends the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary. Against our expectations, we found that pottery use did not fundamentally change in the Early Holocene. Instead, aquatic resources dominated in both periods regardless of the environmental setting. Nevertheless, we found that a broader range of aquatic foods was processed in Early Holocene vessels, corresponding to increased ceramic production, reduced mobility, intensified fishing, and the start of significant shellfish gathering at this time. The invention of pottery was a fundamental technological advancement with far-reaching economic and cultural consequences. Pottery containers first emerged in East Asia during the Late Pleistocene in a wide range of environmental settings, but became particularly prominent and much more widely dispersed after climatic warming at the start of the Holocene. Some archaeologists argue that this increasing usage was driven by environmental factors, as warmer climates would have generated a wider range of terrestrial plant and animal resources that required processing in pottery. However, this hypothesis has never been directly tested. Here, in one of the largest studies of its kind, we conducted organic residue analysis of >800 pottery vessels selected from 46 Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites located across the Japanese archipelago to identify their contents. Our results demonstrate that pottery had a strong association with the processing of aquatic resources, irrespective of the ecological setting. Contrary to expectations, this association remained stable even after the onset of Holocene warming, including in more southerly areas, where expanding forests provided new opportunities for hunting and gathering. Nevertheless, the results indicate that a broader array of aquatic resources was processed in pottery after the start of the Holocene. We suggest this marks a significant change in the role of pottery of hunter-gatherers, corresponding to an increased volume of production, greater variation in forms and sizes, the rise of intensified fishing, the onset of shellfish exploitation, and reduced residential mobility.

Effects of Food or Sleep Deprivation During Civilian Survival Training on Clinical Chemistry Variables

OBJECTIVE To describe clinical chemistry and weight changes after short-term food or sleep deprivation or multiple deprivations during civilian survival training. METHODS Data from one baseline-controlled two-period crossover study designed to compare sleep deprivation for up to 50 hours with food deprivation for up to 66 hours (n = 12) and data from regular multiple-deprivations survival training comparing participants (n = 33) with nondeprived instructors (n = 10). RESULTS Food deprivation was associated with decreased body weight, blood glucose, serum triglycerides, sodium, chloride, and urine pH, and there were increases in blood and urine ketones and serum free fatty acids. Sleep deprivation was associated with a minor decrease in hemoglobin and erythrocyte particle count and volume fraction and an increase in leukocytes. CONCLUSIONS The clinical chemistry and body weight changes associated with food deprivation were qualitatively similar to those observed in fasting obese patients but developed quicker in the survival training setting. Sleep deprivation had few effects on the clinical chemistry profile except for hematological variables. Physicians evaluating clinical chemistry data from patients subjected to short-term food or sleep deprivation should take the physiological state into account in their assessment.