Biologia scheletrica e paleopatologia del gruppo umano dell'Età del Ferro di Polizzello (Mussomeli-CL)

Genetic aspects in hominid evolution

Genomic comparison between apes and humans have made important contributions to our understanding of human evolution. The modern period of karyological comparisons between humans and other primates began about forty years ago and has been marked by a series of technical revolutions. In the 1960s pioneering genetic and chromosomal comparisons of human and great apes suggested, as had Darwin a century before, that our closest relative were the African apes. Early immunological analyses placed human/apes divergence at about five million year ago. Acceptance of man’s late divergence from the African apes was delayed by the scarcity of paleontological evidence coupled with a fallacious Asiatic o…

Etruschi: Popolo o nazione ?

Cribra orbitaria and enamel Hypoplasia of the Iron-Age (IX-VII centuries b.C.) human group of Polizzello (Sicily).

Genetic database development for the characterisation of Sicilian sheep population

The most representative sheep in Sicily are Belicina, Comisana, Pinzirita, Barbarescaand the crossbred derived sheep from all this species. In this study, the allelic frequencies of the Sicilian sheep population were investigated. It currently represents the best way to determine the genetic identity and/or family even with limited amounts of sample or when the DNA is degraded. The aim of the study was to provide a reference data bank and to evaluate a microsatellite panel for pedigree analysis as suggested by the International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG). There are various studies on European sheep, but few datasets were developed on the population of Sicilian sheep. The reference d…

L'ANELLO MANCATO

MITOCONDRIAL DNA VARIATION IN ITALIAN BOS PRIMIGENIUS: NEW CLUES INTO THE CATTLE DOMESTICATION PROCESS.

LA CRIPTA DEI CAPPUCCINI DI PALERMO. UN LABORATORIO MULTIDISCIPLINARE

Prime indicazioni sulle biocenosi associate alle mummie delle Catacombe dei Cappuccini di Palermo

La fama del convento, costruito dai Cappuccini di Palermo nel 1533, è dovuta in gran parte alle famose "Catacombe". L’origine delle catacombe si fa risalire al 1599 circa, quando i frati, sfruttando una preesistente cavità naturale al di sotto dell’altare maggiore della chiesa, trasferirono le salme di 40 frati precedentemente sepolti presso il lato meridionale della chiesa stessa. I frati iniziarono ad ampliare le catacombe, scavando nel sottosuolo, in relazione al crescente numero di nuove salme che nel tempo si conservavano. Allo stato attuale le catacombe sono una sorta di cimitero sotterraneo, in uso nel XVII secolo, costituito da lunghe gallerie scavate nel tufo per un’estensione di c…

Paleogenetic and morphometric analysis of a Mesolithic individual from Grotta d'Oriente: An oldest genetic legacy for the first modern humans in Sicily

Abstract Grotta d’Oriente, a coastal cave located on the island of Favignana (Sicily, Italy) is a key site for the study of the early human colonization of Sicily. Inside the cave, during different field excavations, three burials attributable to the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic were found. The Mesolithic Oriente B individual, directly dated at 9,377 ± 25 uncal BP, was previously assigned to HV1 haplogroup using a traditional approach. However, it is well known that PCR based methods are prone to erroneous haplotype or haplogroup determination. In order to redefine the mitochondrial lineage of this Mesolithic hunter-gatherer and explore its phylogenetic position, we target-enriche…

PHYLOGENOMIC OF PROSIMIANS: A CLADISTIC APPROACH

Reconstructing the Phylogeny of the Human Chromosome 4 Synteny using Comparative Karyology and Genomic Data Analysis

Abstract This work focuses on the evolution of the architecture of human chromosome 4 (HSA4) through the analysis of chromosomal regions that have been conserved over time, and the comparison of regions that have been involved in different rearrangements in placental lineages. As with most elements of the human genome, HSA4 is considered to be evolutionarily stable. A more detailed analysis indicates that the syntenic association has been reshuffled by a series of rearrangements, yielding different chromosomes in various taxa. In its ancestral eutherian state, HSA4 has a syntenic association with HSA8p. We investigated the complex origin of this human chromosome using three different approa…

Bacteria, fungi and arthropod pests collected on modern human mummies

A survey of opportunistic biocenosis (macro and micro organisms) associated with a rest of human mummy samples was carried out to characterise the biocenosis and to detect the potential of biodeteriogens. The rests of the human modern mummies come from a hypogeic site. Since mummies are relevant from a historic-artistic-scientific point of view, an aspect of this study was the identification and characterization of the biological systems related with biodeterioration of organic matter. In a first step, different sampling methods, according to the taxa, were applied. Technological procedures were combined in order to have an interdisciplinary approach to the conservation actions for testing …

Le campagne di scavo presso il sito di Tell Shiyuk Tahtani. Syria, regione di Aleppo.

Cytogenetics of the land snails Cantareus aspersus and C. mazzullii (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pulmonata).

A cytogenetic study was carried out on the chromosomes and nuclear DNA contents of the land snails Cantareus aspersus and C. mazzullii (Gastropoda: Pulmonata). Chromosomes were studied using Giemsa staining, banding methods and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with three repetitive DNA probes [18S rDNA, (GATA)n and (TTAGGG)n]. Results were very similar in the two species both showing (1) 54 bi-armed chromosomes [submetacentrics (SM) C metacentrics (M) C subtelocentrics (ST)]; (2) 10 terminal NORs after sequential application of rDNA FISH and silver staining; (3) uniform DNA fluorescence with CMA3 and DAPI staining and (4) genomic composition considerably enriched both in highly- and…

NUOVI DATI SULLE SEPOLTURE DELLA GROTTA DELL'UZZO

STUDIO ANTROPOLOGICO SUL GRUPPO UMANO DI POLIZZELLO (MUSSOMELI-CALTANISSETTA)

Chromosome sorting and multi-directional painting in New World Primates.

Phylogenomics of species from four genera of New World monkeys by flow sorting and reciprocal chromosome painting

Abstract Background The taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships of New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) are difficult to distinguish on the basis of morphology and because diagnostic fossils are rare. Recently, molecular data have led to a radical revision of the traditional taxonomy and phylogeny of these primates. Here we examine new hypotheses of platyrrhine evolutionary relationships by reciprocal chromosome painting after chromosome flow sorting of species belonging to four genera of platyrrhines included in the Cebidae family: Callithrix argentata (silvered-marmoset), Cebuella pygmaea (pygmy marmoset), Callimico goeldii (Goeldi's marmoset) and Saimiri sciureus (squirrel monkey). This is t…

PROBLEMS OF DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS IN PALEOPATHOLOGY

This work discusses on the problems of the differential diagnosis in paleopathology, describing one case of intense modification observed in a skeletal sample from the archaelogical site of Baucina (Sicily, VI century BCE). Difficulties in this setting originate mainly from the aspecificity or absence of pathological markers on ancient bones and confounding features arising from clinical phenocopies or taphonomic artifacts. On the base of an in-depth morphological analysis of the find, with aid of CT scan imaging and wide revision of the medical and paleopathological literature, we arrived to a convincing diagnosis.

Correspondence re Piombino-Mascali et al on Mummy Research, Ethics and Editorial Comments

Variabilità morfometrica delle popolazioni della Sicilia occidentale, dal Mesolitico al Tardo Medioevo

THE PALERMO CAPUCHIN CATACOMBS PROJECT: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF A MODERN MUMMY COLLECTION (CA 1600-1900).

In this paper we present a multidisciplinary project for the study of the present conditions, history, bioanthropological features and conservation status of a large collection of modern human mummies, kept in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo (Sicily, Italy). Due to the large amount of spontaneously and anthropogenically mummified human bodies, and to an abundant presence of associated artefacts, this collection provides a unique opportunity to carry out a large multidisciplinary survey useful for a thorough biocultural understanding of these remains, a conservation plan, and testing of new restoration protocols.

Archaeogenetics and Landscape Dynamics in Sicily during the Holocene: A Review

The Mediterranean islands and their population history are of considerable importance to the interpretation of the population history of Europe as a whole. In this context, Sicily, because of its geographic position, represents a bridge between Africa, the Near East, and Europe that led to the stratification of settlements and admixture events. The genetic analysis of extant and ancient human samples has tried to reconstruct the population dynamics associated with the cultural and demographic changes that took place during the prehistory and history of Sicily. In turn, genetic, demographic and cultural changes need to be understood in the context of the environmental changes that took place…

LE MICROUSURE DENTARIE IN ALCUNI REPERTI UMANI PROVENIENTI DALLA GROTTA DI SAN TEODORO (MESSINA)

Human Peopling and Population Dynamics in Sicily: Preliminary Analysis of the Craniofacial Morphometric Variation from the Paleolithic to the Contemporary Age

The geographic position, isolation, and the long and dynamic history of colonization created a human context in Sicily that allows for a particular anthropological study; information about “migratory flow” and “population influx” could be investigated in the cranial morphology of a localized geographical region. The research goals are the identification of temporal trends in facial morphology in order to assess the adaptations and the microevolutionary trends and to verify if the cranial morphology of humans was modified by the various genetic contributions and more or less related to the intense and significant migratory flows. This work includes a diachronic morpho…

The hypothesis of a single near-eastern origin for the european cattle: lack of support from DNA sequences of 15.000 years old italian aurochs.

Gruppo umano di età ellenistica di Polizzi Generosa (PA). Antropologia e paleopatologia

Genomic approach in primate conservation

Exploring the effects of weaning age on adult infectious disease mortality among 18th-19th century Italians

Objectives: The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) hypothesis describes how early childhood stress affects morbidity and mortality later in life. The role of early childhood stress in mortality from infectious disease is understudied. Stressors in early childhood that weaken the immune system may result in increased susceptibility to infectious disease in adulthood. Weaning is one of the earliest potential periods of significant stress in early childhood. This research investigates the effect of weaning after ~6 months of age on cholera mortality among 18th-19th-century Italian populations by determining if earlier breastfeeding cessation is associated with earlier mortalit…

Primate Cytogenetics and Comparative Genomics

CAPITOLO 3. ELEMENTI DI ANTROPOLOGIA BIOLOGICA

Trend evolutivi in campioni archeologici della Sicilia: problemi metodologici e cambiamenti diacronici

Trauma cranico nel soggetto della necropoli "isolato 83", Messina, Sicilia.

Late Pleistocene Human Evolution in Sicily: Comparative morphometric analysis of grotta di San Teodoro craniofacial remains.

Late Pleistocene human evolution in Sicily: comparative morphometric analysis of Grotta di San Teodoro craniofacial remains. D'Amore G, Di Marco S, Tartarelli G, Bigazzi R, Sineo L. Source Laboratorio di Archeoantropologia, Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana, Via dei Rossi 26/A, 50018 Scandicci, Firenze, Italy. Abstract The paleoanthropological remains from Grotta di San Teodoro near Acquedolci (province of Messina, Italy) represent the oldest and largest skeletal collection yet found documenting human settlement of Sicily. The sample, attributed to the Late Epigravettian (between 14,000 and 10,000 years B.P.), consists of seven variously complete adult individuals (San Te…

Il popolamento umano della Sicilia: una revisione interdisciplinare

Riassunto — La questione del popolamento umano pleistocenico della Sicilia e delle coste del Mediterraneo occidentale implica la ricostruzione delle rotte migratorie seguite dall’uomo e dalle faune e delle complesse dinamiche geologiche del bacino del Mediterraneo centrale. Anche se la più accreditata via di migrazione comune di faune e uomo è quella settentrionale, che prevede il superamento dell’area dello stretto di Messina, diversi autori, sulla base di dati archeologici, hanno ipotizzato un popolamento precoce ed una direttrice meridionale, dall’Africa, attraverso momenti di percorribilità del Canale di Sicilia. Questa ipotesi è stata più volte esplorata per poi essere accantonata, anc…

Paleogenetic analysis and radiocarbon dating on skeletal remains from the Roman necropolis of Contrada Diana (Lipari Island, Sicily)

Lipari, the largest of the Aeolian Islands, is located in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. Archeological evidence suggests an early human occupation starting from the Neolithic period. The island, favored by its volcanic history, was an important crossroads of cultures and commerce exchanges during prehistory up to Greek and Roman dominations. In this study, we present multidisciplinary analysis results on four skeletal remains from the necropolis of Contrada Diana attributed to the Roman period. By using Next Generation Sequencing technology we identified the biological sex and reconstructed the complete mitochondrial genome for two individuals. We retrieved the first ancient L3e5a lineage tha…

The reconstructed brain of Homo cepranensis: a reasoned description

I resti umani della grotta di S. Teodoro Acquedolci: nuovi dati

The Arrival of Steppe and Iranian Related Ancestry in the Islands of the Western Mediterranean

A series of studies have documented how Steppe pastoralist-related ancestry reached central Europe by at least 2500 BCE, while Iranian farmer-related ancestry was present in Aegean Europe by at least 1900 BCE. However, the spread of these ancestries into the western Mediterranean where they have contributed to many populations living today remains poorly understood. We generated genome-wide ancient DNA from the Balearic Islands, Sicily, and Sardinia, increasing the number of individuals with reported data from these islands from 3 to 52. We obtained data from the oldest skeleton excavated from the Balearic islands (dating to ∼2400 BCE), and show that this individual had substantial Steppe p…

UN CIMITERO RUPESTRE DI EPOCA TARDOANTICA IN SICILIA: STUDIO INTERDISCIPLINARE DELL’AMBIENTE E DEI REPERTI ARCHEOLOGICI.

Museum primatological collections: a valuable source of ancient DNA

What can chromosomes tell us about the origin of primates?

Il Pool genetico umano nel Mediterraneo

Alia: Antropologia di una comunità dell'entroterra siciliano

In the spring of 1995, during works for the rehabilitation of a wall that closed the grotto of the Old Cemetery in the Sicilian village of Alia, the skeletal remains of the victims of the cholera outbreak of 1837 that had been rapidly interred here were brought to light. From that moment on, the Alia project was developed without interruption, analysing the biological evolution of the local population by exploiting study methods characteristic of different anthropological disciplines, such as skeletal biology, population genetics and biodemography. The book renders account of research completed and in progress carried out by academics from the Universities of Florence, Palermo, Parma, Cagli…

STUDIO SU ALCUNI RESTI UMANI ENEOLITICI PROVENIENTI DAL SITO DI MAREDOLCE SAN CIRO (PALERMO)

The discovery of a Mycenaean-type tholos tomb in the Bronze Age necropolis of the Gazzi buried floodplain (Messina, Southern Italy): new geological and anthropological data

This paper deals with a monument that is, up to this date, unique in Sicily and in the Italian peninsula: the Mycenaean-type tholos tomb of the Gazzi necropolis in Messina. A recent excavation in the alluvial deposits revealed extensive traces of a funerary area with a tholos tomb and several enchytrismos tombs with skeletal remains, presumably dated back to the end of the Early or the initial stage of the Middle(?) Bronze Age. The present multi-disciplinary investigation has been developed to analyse new data related to sediments, building stones and skeletal remains of this funerary area. The stratigraphic succession hosting the necropolis was formed by overbank sediments deposited on the…

The Descent of Man a 150 anni dalla prima edizione

Introduzione al Volume

Late Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in the Central Mediterranean: New archaeological and genetic data from the Late Epigravettian burial Oriente C (Favignana, Sicily)

AbstractGrotta d’Oriente, a small coastal cave located on the island of Favignana (Sicily, Italy) is a key site for the study of the early human colonization of Sicily. The individual known as Oriente C was found in the lower portion of an anthropogenic deposit containing typical local Late Upper Palaeolithic (Late Epigravettian) stone assemblages. Two radiocarbon dates on charcoal from the deposit containing the burial are consistent with the archaeological context and refer Oriente C to a period spanning about 14,200-13,800 cal. BP. Anatomical features are close to those of Late Upper Palaeolithic populations of the Mediterranean and show strong affinity with Palaeolithic individuals of S…

Distribution of Interstitial Telomeric Sequences in Primates and the Pygmy Tree Shrew (Scandentia).

It has been hypothesized that interstitial telomeric sequences (ITSs), i.e., repeated telomeric DNA sequences found at intrachromosomal sites in many vertebrates, could be correlated to chromosomal rearrangements and plasticity. To test this hypothesis, we hybridized a telomeric PNA probe through FISH on representative species of 2 primate infraorders, Strepsirrhini (<i>Lemur catta, Otolemur garnettii, Nycticebus coucang</i>) and Catarrhini (<i>Erythrocebus patas, Cercopithecus petaurista, Chlorocebus aethiops, Colobus guereza</i>), as well as on 1 species of the order Scandentia, <i>Tupaia minor</i>, used as an outgroup for primates in phylogenetic recon…

PROCESSI DI DOMESTICAZIONE: UN CONTRIBUTO DALLE ANALISI DEL DNA MITOCONDRIALE DI ANTICHI REPERTI SCHELETRICI BOVINI (BOS PRIMIGENIUS 19.000 BP)

An execution in medieval Sicily: Computerised tomography scan analysis and 3D reconstruction of an ancient forensic context

The bioarchaeological and forensic approach is increasingly applied in the study of funerary contexts in archaeology. Here, we present a case of an atypical medieval burial recently discovered in Piazza Armerina (Sicily), in which the integrated use of traditional bioarchaeological and forensic anthropology methods was crucial. The skeleton was lying in a prone position and was characterised by a peculiar injury pattern. We recorded six clear stab wound marks on the posterior surface of the sternum. The use of computerised tomography scan and 3D modelling techniques has made it possible to obtain a reliable reconstruction of the cause and modality of death, pointing to the execution of the …

Single locus chromosome mapping in primates.

La Bioarcheologia umana: problematiche e prospettive

la domesticazione dei bovidi italiani: ipotesi suggerite dallo studio paleogenetico di antichi reperti di Bos primigenius

Identificazione tassonomica di Aotus (Platyrrhinae) mediante la citogenetica

Exploring Evolution in Ceboidea (Platyrrhini, Primates) by Williams-Beuren Probe (HSA 7q11.23) Chromosome Mapping

The ancestral platyrrhine karyotype was characterised by a syntenic association of human 5 and a small segment of human 7 orthologues. This large syntenic association has undergone numerous rearrangements in various phylogenetic lines. We used a locus-specific molecular cytogenetic approach to study the chromosomal evolution of the human 7q11.23 orthologous sequences (William-Beuren syndrome, WS) in various Ceboidea (Platyrrhini) species. The fluorescent in situ hybridisation of the WS probe revealed a two-way pattern of chromosomal organisation that suggests various evolutionary scenarios. The first pattern (seen in Callimico and Saimiri ) includes a fairly simple disruption of the 7/5 syn…

Reciprocal chromosome painting on C. argentata, C. pygmaea, C. goeldii, and S. sciureus strongly supports the molecular based Cebidae Family grouping

Biogeography of Tertiary Primates: Discussion over an updated Data Base

A preliminary taxonomic evaluation of the Tertiary Primate fossil record of the Old World is presented. The dataset has been compiled using the information and the structure presented by the NOW database (Neogene Mammalian of the Old World; Academy of Finland, 2007), strongly updated with the additional information derived from different literature sources. A quantitative methodology for compilation and analysis of the data has been applied following the methodology described in Petruso et al. (2008). The adopted numerical treatment of data is particularly effective in synthesizing and analyzing the large amount of information contained in the data set. This analysis gives a synthetic pictu…

Analisi morfometrica su un cranio neolitico rinvenuto nella grotta Abisso del Vento (Isnello, Palermo).

Prospezione speleoarcheologica della falesia «Piana di Sopra» a San Vito lo Capo (TP)

The northern coast of Trapani is characteristed by a series of phenomena linked to Quaternary glaciations. These phenomena have modeled esplanades, terraces, cliffs, leaf grooves and caves of great natural beuaty. The extreme strip of the Peninsula of S. Vito lo Capo, the Piana di Sopra, is made up of parareciphal limestones with Orbitoline and Rudist from the Cretaceous. This area has a strong density of cavities of marine origin estimated at four cavities per kilometer. These cavities are an important anthropological testimonly to a continual human presence from deep prehistory onwards. A fundamental prerequisite for a study of the prehistory of an area is its geomorphologic description w…

The primatological collection of the Doderlein Museum in Palermo, Italy

Fatal cranial injury in an individual from Messina (Sicily) during the times of the Roman Empire.

Forensic and archaeological examinations of human skeletons can provide us with evidence of violence. In this paper, we present the patterns of two cranial lesions found on an adult male (T173) buried in a grave in the necropolis ‘Isolato 96’, Messina, Sicily, dating back to the Roman Empire (1st century BC - 1st century AD). The skull reveals two perimortem traumatic lesions, one produced by a sharp object on the right parietal bone and the other one on the left parietal bone, presumably the result of a fall. The interpretation of fracture patterns found in this cranium are an illustration of how forensic approaches can be applied with great benefit to archaeological specimens. 2013 Elsevi…

The last of the large-sized tortoises of the Mediterranean islands

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya Altres ajuts: Operational Programme Research, Development and Education Project (CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_027/0008360) Archaeological investigations carried out in the cave Zubbio di Cozzo San Pietro, Bagheria, Sicily, revealed the presence of a few skeletal elements of a large-sized tortoise in a funerary area dating to the Copper/Bronze Age. The tortoise has been AMS-dated revealing an age of 12.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP and therefore it pre-dates the funerary activities. The morphology of the retrieved skeletal elements differs from that of the only native tortoise currently living in Sicily, Testudo hermanni. The tortoise's size significantly exc…

Exploring prenatal and neonatal life history through dental histology in infants from the Phoenician necropolis of Motya (7th–6th century BCE)

The biological life history of infants from archaeological contexts can provide a unique insight into past human populations. Dental mineralized tissues contain a permanent record of their growth that can provide access to the prenatal and early infant life, and mortality, of human skeletons. This study focuses on the histomorphometric analysis of deciduous teeth from the ‘Archaic Necropolis’ of Motya (7th–6th century BCE, Sicily–Italy). The histomorphometric analysis is conducted on prenatal and postnatal enamel of eight anterior deciduous teeth from seven individuals from this Phoenician population to estimate their chronological age-at-death, health, and enamel growth parameters. Proteom…

CYTOGENETICS OF THE SNAILS CANTAREUS ASPERSUS AND C. MAZZULLII (MOLLUSCA: GASTROPODA: PULMONATA)

THE PRIMATES OF THE DODERLAINE COLLECTION

The evolution of human synteny 4 by mapping sub-chromosomal specific probes in Primates

Comparative cytogenetic data concerning the orthologue to human chromosome 4 in primates shows that this chromosome is conserved between humans and non-human primates. However, the degree of conservation is not as high as previously estimated. In primates it is as a rule a large submetacentric chromosome but many exceptions are known especially in taxa characterized by a high level of chromosomal rearrangements. The rearrangements that have been visualized by chromosome painting so far, which are mostly interchromosomal changes, are in fact only a fraction of the actual chromosomal changes that have occurred during evolution. Intrachromosome changes can be analysed through classical cytogen…

Dedication

A LABORATORY AT THE "CONVENTO DEI CAPPUCCINI" OF PALERMO

KARYOTYPE EVOLUTION IN PRIMATES AND RODENTS. PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIP AND CHROMOSOMAL SIGNATURES BY COMPARATIVE CYTOGENETIC APPROACHES

A multidisciplinary approach to reveal the Sicily Climate and Environment over the last 20 000 years

Abstract We present a thorough review of the knowledge on the climate and environment in Sicily over the last 20 000 years, taking into account results of several studies carried using terrestrial and marine records. We obtain a coherent framework of the most important changes succeeded in the island, even if some points need further investigation. All the reconstructions of surface temperatures of the seas and the air surrounding Sicily point out severe climatic conditions during the last glacial period. The steppe- and semisteppe-like vegetation pattern testifies, together with additional evidence from geochemical data of lacustrine evidence, markedly arid conditions. Fi-nally, significan…

LE SEPOLTURE DELLA GROTTA D'ORIENTE (FAVIGNANA)

Una nuova sepoltura mesolitica al Riparo dell'Uzzo (Trapani)

LOOKING FOR CYTOGENETIC SIGNATURES WITHIN EUARCHONTOGLIRES SUPER-CLADE BY ZOO-FISH COMPARATIVE CHROMOSOME PAINTING AND PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS

BIOGEOGRAPHY OF TERTIARY PRIMATES: DISCUSSION OF AN UPDATED DATABASE

Presenza di Osteoartrite in un campione scheletrico proveniente da una necropoli paleocristiana di Marsala (Italia)

The study of familial migratory network: An inquiry whithin the help center A. Chiara (Palermo)

The present paper proposes a synthetic methodology in order to give a more exhaustive picture of the migratory phenomenon by the use of different instructive sources. In particular we suggest a socio-demographic analysis of the procreative behaviour and familiar strategies. For this purpose a socio-sanitarian centre in Palermo, as a place of observation of the migratory realities, offers the possibility to investigate the process under different facets. The use of a non-institutional centre allows a direct contact with the “less visible” migrants which enables the researcher to get more complete information. This survey has adopted the questionnaire as main tool of investigation, in order t…

The population structure of Arbereshe fron genetic and cultural evidence: a paternal perspective

More data on ancient human mitogenome variability in Italy: new mitochondrial genome sequences from three Upper Palaeolithic burials.

BACKGROUND: Recently, the study of mitochondrial variability in ancient humans has allowed the definition of population dynamics that characterised Europe in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Despite the abundance of sites and skeletal remains few data are available for Italy. - AIM: We reconstructed the mitochondrial genomes of three Upper Palaeolithic individuals for some of the most important Italian archaeological contexts: Paglicci (South-Eastern Italy), San Teodoro (South-Western Italy) and Arene Candide (North-Western Italy) caves. - SUBJECTS AND METHODS We explored the phylogenetic relationships of the three mitogenomes in the context of Western Eurasian ancient and modern va…

TAFONOMIA E ANTROPOLOGIA FORENSE SU REPERTI SCHELETRICI RINVENUTI SULL'ISOLA DELLE FEMMINE (PALERMO-ITALIA)

Study of phylogenetic relationship in platyrrhinae by single locus probe mapping

TENDENZA ALLA GRACILIZZAZIONE NEI GRUPPI UMANI SICILIANI ARCAICI

Identification of subspecies and parentage relationship by means of DNA fingerprinting in two exemplary of Pan troglodytes (Blumenbach, 1775) (Mammalia Hominidae)

Four chimpanzee subspecies (Mammalia Hominidae) are commonly recognised: the Western Chimpanzee, P. troglodytes verus (Schwarz, 1934), the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee, P. troglodytes ellioti, the Central Chimpanzee, P. troglodytes troglodytes (Blumenbach, 1799), and the Eastern Chimpanzee, P. troglodytes schweinfurthii (Giglioli, 1872). Recent studies on mitochondrial DNA show the incorporation of P. troglodytes schweinfurthii in P. troglodytes troglodytes, suggesting the existence of only two subspecies: P. troglodytes troglodytes in Central and Eastern Africa and P. troglodytes verus-P. troglodytes ellioti in West Africa. The aim of the present study is twofold: first, to identify the cor…

A paleoimaging study of human mummies held in the Mother Church of Gangi, Sicily:Implications for mass casualty methodology

Correspondence

TRE SITI MINORI DEL PANORAMA PREISTORICO DELLA SICILIA OCCIDENTALE. GROTTA DEL PORCOSPINO (VILLAFRATI, PA), GROTTA DEL FERRARO (MONTE PELLEGRINO, PA), ABISSO DEL VENTO (ISNELLO, PA).

Born and Rise of human chromosome 7 syntenies.

La phylogénie des cercopithecinés encore en costruction.

Les cercopithecines (guenons et autres taxa corrélées) sont un groupe de singes africains qui se composent d'environ 36 réelles espèces avec une évolution et une phylogénie três difficile à reconstruire. L’approche scolaire a la tendance à proposer la clusterisation du groupe en question en deux: strictement arboricoles et terrestres. Avec la présente, nous analysons de façon critique les différentes reconstructions phylogénétiques proposées aujourd’hui tout en conduisant une analyse sur la base des aspects moléculaires, chromosomiques et écologiques des espèces incluses dans le "groupe d'espèces" actuellement reconnu. Cette approche multidisciplinaire inclue la morphologie, l'écologie régi…

Nuove indagini morfometriche sui resti umani della grotta di S. Teodoro.

Nuove indagini morfometriche sui resti umani nella grotta di San Teodoro

Genome complexity and evolution in primates: the case of human chromosome 7

HUMAN ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION IN ANCIENT SICILY ANALYSED BY BONE STRESS MARKERS

The origin of european cattle: Evidence from modern and ancient DNA.

The origin of European cattle: evidence from modern and ancient DNA. Beja-Pereira A, Caramelli D, Lalueza-Fox C, Vernesi C, Ferrand N, Casoli A, Goyache F, Royo LJ, Conti S, Lari M, Martini A, Ouragh L, Magid A, Atash A, Zsolnai A, Boscato P, Triantaphylidis C, Ploumi K, Sineo L, Mallegni F, Taberlet P, Erhardt G, Sampietro L, Bertranpetit J, Barbujani G, Luikart G, Bertorelle G. Source Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO-UP) and Secção Autónoma de Engenharia de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal. Abstract Cattle domestication from wild aurochsen was among the most important innovations during the Neolithic agricultural revol…

LA collezione Primatologica dell'Università di Palermo

Genetic structure and differentiation from early bronze age in the mediterranean island of sicily: Insights from ancient mitochondrial genomes

Sicily is one of the main islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and it is characterized by a variety of archaeological records, material culture and traditions, reflecting the history of migrations and populations’ interaction since its first colonization, during the Paleolithic. These deep and complex demographic and cultural dynamics should have affected the genomic landscape of Sicily at different levels; however, the relative impact of these migrations on the genomic structure and differentiation within the island remains largely unknown. The available Sicilian modern genetic data gave a picture of the current genetic structure, but the paucity of ancient data did not allow so far to make p…

Le mummie moderne in Sicilia. L'ipogeo di S. Nicola di Gangi

Mapping genomic rearrangements in titi monkeys by chromosome flow sorting and multidirectional in-situ hybridization.

We developed chromosome painting probes for Callicebus pallescens from flow-sorted chromosomes and used multidirectional chromosome painting to investigate the genomic rearrangements in C. cupreus and C. pallescens. Multidirectional painting provides information about chromosomal homologies at the subchromosomal level and rearrangement break points, allowing chromosomes to be used as cladistic markers. Chromosome paints of C. pallescens were hybridized to human metaphases and 43 signals were detected. Then, both human and C. pallescens probes were hybridized to the chromosomes of another titi monkey, C. cupreus. The human chromosome paints detected 45 segments in the haploid karyotype of C.…

Ancient and recent admixture layers in Sicily and Southern Italy trace multiple migration routes along the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean shores stretching between Sicily, Southern Italy and the Southern Balkans witnessed a long series of migration processes and cultural exchanges. Accordingly, present-day population diversity is composed by multiple genetic layers, which make the deciphering of different ancestral and historical contributes particularly challenging. We address this issue by genotyping 511 samples from 23 populations of Sicily, Southern Italy, Greece and Albania with the Illumina GenoChip Array, also including new samples from Albanian-and Greek-speaking ethno-linguistic minorities of Southern Italy. Our results reveal a shared Mediterranean genetic continuity, extending from Sicily to Cypru…

Inferences on Sicilian Mesolithic subsistence patterns from cross-sectional geometry and entheseal changes

International audience; Using cross-sectional geometry (CSG), entheseal changes (ECs), and presence of external auditory meatus exostosis (EAE), this study tests hypothesis-bases on isotopic and zooarchaeological evidence-that in the Sicilian Mesolithic terrestrial rather than marine resources were predominantly exploited, in substantial continuity with previous Epigravettian hunters. Results show similarities in the general frequency of ECs-a rough proxy for overall activity-with Late Pleistocene hunters, in contrast with Mesolithic coastal foragers or Neolithic herders/farmers. Yet, CSG suggests that this possible continuity in the type of resources exploited was accompanied by a behavior…

Ripetive DNA analysed using banding techniques, single-and double-colour FISH in the slug Milax nigricans (Mollusca: Pulmonata)

New perspectives on the human occupation of the Gulf of Palermo during the Metal Ages: the funerary cave of Zubbio di Cozzo San Pietro (Bagheria) and the necropolis of Viale Venere (Mondello, Palermo)

Abstract The Archaeological Superintendency of Palermo (Sicily), with the chair of Anthropology at the University of Palermo, carried out a preliminary investigation in the Zubbio of Cozzo San Pietro (Bagheria) – a cave known so far only from a speleological point of view - which proved to be a funerary cave dating to the Copper/Bronze Age. In the course of archaeological work during the installation of the electricity grid in the Mondello area (Palermo), part of a necropolis consisting of three oven-shaped tombs was exposed. The tombs multiple depositions, whose remains were found in a very bad state of preservation. Based on the type of funerary structures and the equipment found in them,…

The Still under Construction Cercopithecinae Phylogeny

Within the symbolic world of the prehistoric hunters: A GIS-based and 3D model analysis of sites with complexes of linear incisions in western Sicily

Abstract The prehistoric peopling of Sicily has left scattered traces of symbolic activities through well-known rock art expressions in caves and rock shelters located all around the island (among the most significant, the sites of Addaura, Racchio and Genovese). A peculiar phenomenon is the incision of linear signs, often grouped on the same rocky walls, hidden in fissures or placed at the entrance of the underground chambers of caves. In this report, we investigate a sample of these graphic expressions from a spatial and technical point of view. A GIS-based approach presents the territorial pattern providing insight, on a macroscale, into the intentional positioning of the sign complexes.…

CRIBRA ORBITALIA AND ENAMEL HYPOPLASIA OF THE IRON-AGE (IX-VII CENTURIES B.C.) HUMAN GROUP OF POLIZZELLO (SICILY)

Study on the evolution of Human Chromosome 7 by Single Gene Mapping in Non human Primates.

Studio delle relazioni filogenetiche nell’infraordine Plathyrrinae attraverso l’approccio del Multidirectional Painting

Ambiente e clima della Sicilia durante gli ultimi 20 mila anni

Environment and Climate in Sicily over the last 20, 000 years. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2010). A series of recent studies shed light on the central Mediterranean, and Sicily, climate and environment, starting from the last glacial maximum (about 20 ka cal BP). In the present paper, we examine most of these works, in order to unravel environmental changes of the past, mainly in terms of temperature, atmospheric pattern, precipitation, vegetation and faunal associations. The climate of the last glacial maximum was characterised by very low temperature and by repeated northerlies penetration, even during summer. Low precipitation values led to a steppe- or semisteppe-like vegetation pattern, domina…

Upper Palaeolithic humans in Mediterranean islands: multivariate approach to the study of San Teodoro Cave (Sicily) specimens.

I CAPPUCCINI DI PALERMO: STRATEGIE E METODOLOGIE PER LO STUDIO E LA CONSERVAZIONE DI UN INSIEME COMPLESSO DI BENI CULTURALI

Diet and brain evolution: qualitative and quantitative data in primates

19th Meeting of the Italian Primatological Association

A Mediterranean melting pot. Excavating uni-parental genetic strata in Sicily and Southern Italy

Explorative 3D geometric morphometrics on crania and mandibles of Cercopithecini (1024 specimens)

A dataset of crania and mandibles from Old World primates was investigated through the use of 3D Geometric Morphometrics. We focused the attention on the tribe Cercopithecini, sampling 1024 specimens preserved in 9 different museums and related to a total of 31 species. Other 102 specimens belonging to 10 species of the same family Cercopithecidae were added as outgroup. Our sampling campaign was carried on with a 3D-digitizer Microscribe G2X and the data were processed through the softwares Morphologika and MorphoJ. We conducted both PCA and CVA analyses to investigate the power of resolution of the morphometric method and to understand the role of a-priori groups in the discrimination of …

Nuovi dati sulla paleoecologia del sito pleistocenico di San Teodoro (Acquedolci, Messina)

La Grotta di San Teodoro (ST) è uno dei siti preistorici più importanti del Mediterraneo cen-trale. Da pochi anni il sito è oggetto di una ripre-sa delle attività di analisi stratigrafica, geologica, geochimica e paleontologia, alla luce di una colla-borazione tra il Parco Archeologico di Tindari e l’Università degli Studi di Palermo.

The spread of steppe and Iranian-related ancestry in the islands of the western Mediterranean

Steppe-pastoralist-related ancestry reached Central Europe by at least 2500 bc, whereas Iranian farmer-related ancestry was present in Aegean Europe by at least 1900 bc. However, the spread of these ancestries into the western Mediterranean, where they have contributed to many populations that live today, remains poorly understood. Here, we generated genome-wide ancient-DNA data from the Balearic Islands, Sicily and Sardinia, increasing the number of individuals with reported data from 5 to 66. The oldest individual from the Balearic Islands (~2400 bc) carried ancestry from steppe pastoralists that probably derived from west-to-east migration from Iberia, although two later Balearic individ…

NEW ANTHROPOLOGICAL DATA FROM THE ARCHAIC CEMETERY AT MOTYA

The archaic necropolis at Motya has been long recognized as a site of great interest for the study of Phoenician burial customs in the West. Since its discovery by Joseph Whitaker more than a century ago, over 300 burials have been brought to light - mainly dating to the late 8th-7th century BC. Burials are characterized by jars used as urns and box-shaped stone cists containing the ashes and burnt bones of the dead. These are indeed secondary cremations, a very common funerary ritual of the Iron Age in the Phoenician homeland and in the colonies overseas. Despite the relevant bearing of this cemetery on historical and cultural grounds, anthropological analysis unfortunately has been mostly…

The Evolution of Human Chromosome 7 Syntenies in Eutheria, with Special Attention to Primates

Genetic and cytogenetic comparison in between man and non-human primates has largely contributed to the knowledge of the evolution of the Order Primates, and in particular of man. Recently, the "Chromosome painting" approach indicated a strong conservation of syntenies in Eutheria. At present, a more precise identification of breakpoints and evolutionary related rearrangements can be obtained by BAC and locus specific in situ hybridi- sation. In spite to this situation the evolutionary history of different human autosomes remains a dilemma; at the same time, high resolution banded chromosome analysis confirms to be a valuable tool for the preliminary detection of fine rearrangements. This r…

Petrographic characterization of quartzite tools from the Palaeolithic site of San Teodoro cave (Sicily): Study on the provenance of lithic raw materials

A petrographic characterization has been used here, for the first time, in the study of lithic raw materials exploited in prehistoric Sicily. Our research interests one of the oldest archaeological sites with evidence of the early human peopling of the island (∼15kyr ago): San Teodoro Cave, in northeastern Sicily. Two geological Formations, Numidian and Monte Soro Flysch gave origin to well-rounded pebbly quartzite elements scattered in the marine terraces surrounding the cave and likely exploited as one of the sources of the raw materials for the production of lithic tools by the Epigravettian communities having settled the place. The preference for one of the two qualities of quartzite is…

Ecology, morphometry, and genetics of the Palaeo-Mesolithic human remains of Grotta d'Oriente, Favignana (Italy)

New data on Sicilian prehistoric and historic evolution in a mountain context, Vallone Inferno (Scillato, Italy)

Vallone Inferno rock-shelter is an archaeological site located in the Madonie mountain range in Sicily. Archaeological excavation and research have provided a long prehistoric and historic sequence from the Neolithic to the medieval period, this being the most complete work in this area at present. In this paper we present the preliminary data provided by a multidisciplinary study based on pottery, lithic, human, faunal and plant remains. Stratigraphic studies have identified four complexes, of which complex 3 has provided almost all the archaeological remains. 14C AMS dates, obtained from four samples, place the human activities between 2601 cal BC and 644 cal AD. These dates are coherent …

Conservation activities for southern muriqui in brazil's atlantic forest

Analisi archeozoologica di due contesti della città antica di Palermo: la Gancia e i Sili di via Imera (Palermo, IX-X secolo D.C.)

Dati preliminari sui reperti umani di Montepetroso, Palermo (Collezione Correnti)

localizzazione cromosomi ed analisi delle dinaniche evolutive del locus HSA7q11.23 William Beuren nei primati

Archeobiologia: studio di reperti antropologici, zoologici e botanici

L’analisi dei contesti archeologici si avvale sempre più del contributo di scienziati di estrazione biologica per lo studio dei materiali organici rinvenuti nel contesto di scavo e per l’interpretazione di una serie di dati antropologici, faunistici e botanici, utili nella ricostruzione dei paleoambienti. In questa relazione vengono discusse criticamente le evidenze “biologiche” di un sito archeologico medioevale urbano della città di Palermo, che, efficacemente investigate, permettono una sorprendente interpretazione ecologica del sito, che conforta e soprattutto integra le evidenze topografiche, archeologiche e storico-artistiche deducibili con l’analisi archeologica.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS OF THE BEHAVIOUR IN TWO CAPTIVE CHIMPANZEES (PAN TROGLODYTES) AT BIOPARCO (CARINI, PALERMO)

Progetto per uno studio diacronico del popolamento umano della Sicilia attraverso l'analisi di parametri paleobiologici.

THE ANCIENT DNA APPROACH IN THE CULTURAL HERITAGE STUDY AND MANAGEMENT

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF PASTORALISM IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA: THE CASE OF VALLONE INFERNO, SCILLATO (PALERMO), SICILY

Intrachromosomal Telomeric Sequences Distribution in Ceboidea Can Reveal Insights into the Chromosomal Evolution in New World Primates

CAN ANCIENT DNA DOCUMENT THE LOSS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN PYGMY CHIMPANZEES? A RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON HISTORIC SAMPLES IN ITALIAN PRIMATOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS

The evolution of human chromosome 4 sinteny by mapping bacs probe on non human primates

Early human peopling of Sicily: Evidence from the Mesolithic skeletal remains from Grotta d'Oriente

The site of Grotta d'Oriente, Island of Favignana, Sicily has yielded the complete skeleton of an adult female (OB) dated to the Mesolithic age. The cranial morphometry of this individual can provide us with some useful information about the peopling of Sicily in the Early Holocene period.Morphological affinities of OB and other Sicilian Mesolithic specimens were assessed to verify hypotheses concerning the early peopling of Sicily.Craniofacial metric data were employed in a comparative analysis with European Upper Palaeolithic (UP), Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Copper/Bronze age samples, and contemporary Italians. Both a model-free and a model-bound approach were used not only to calculate c…

The selective advantage of cystic fibrosis heterozygotes tested by aDNA analysis: A preliminary investigation

Recently a heterozygote advantage was suggested to explain the high incidence (1:25 carrier individuals in Europeans) of the cystic fibrosis gene. This selective advantage was speculated to be due to a high resistance to chloride-secreting diarrhea, including cholera. Up to now the major efforts to test directly this hypothesis have been limited to animal models.

Le mummie delle catacombe dei Cappuccini di Palermo

Origin and Diet of the Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers on the Mediterranean Island of Favignana (Ègadi Islands, Sicily)

Hunter-gatherers living in Europe during the transition from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene intensified food acquisition by broadening the range of resources exploited to include marine taxa. However, little is known on the nature of this dietary change in the Mediterranean Basin. A key area to investigate this issue is the archipelago of the Ègadi Islands, most of which were connected to Sicily until the early Holocene. The site of Grotta d'Oriente, on the present-day island of Favignana, was occupied by hunter-gatherers when Postglacial environmental changes were taking place (14,000-7,500 cal BP). Here we present the results of AMS radiocarbon dating, palaeogenetic and isotopic ana…

Biomolecular study of the human remains from tomb 5859 in the Etruscan necropolis of Monterozzi Tarquinia (Vitarbo, Italy)

Abstract Archaeological excavation in an Etruscan room tomb, from the Monterozzi necropolis in Tarquinia led to the recovery of four individuals. It was hypothesized that they could be members of a single family group. As both archaeological data and classical anthropological analysis provided little information in this direction, ancient DNA (aDNA) was extracted from bone and tooth fragments of the individuals. For each subject HVR-I of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was cloned and sequenced. To identify the sex of the individuals, amelogenine and SRY genes were analysed. Short tandem repeat (STR) characterization was also performed. DNA studies were preceded by the evaluation of amino acid…

SKELETAL BIOLOGY AND PALAEODEMOGRAPHY OF THE IRON-AGE HUMAN GROUP OF POLIZZELLO (MUSSOMELI-CL)

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Acknowledgements: The authors thank G. Marciani and O. Jöris for comments on archaeology; C. Jeong, M. Spyrou and K. Prüfer for comments on genetics; M. O’Reilly for graphical support for Fig. 5 and Extended Data Fig. 9; the entire IT and laboratory teams at the Department of Archaeogenetics of MPI-SHH for technical assistance; M. Meyer and S. Nagel for support with single-stranded library preparation; K. Post, P. van Es, J. Glimmerveen, M. Medendorp, M. Sier, S. Dikstra, M. Dikstra, R. van Eerden, D. Duineveld and A. Hoekman for providing access to human specimens from the North Sea (The Netherlands); M. D. Garralda and A. Estalrrich for providing access to human specimens from La Riera (S…

Le sepolture della grotta d’oriente (Favignana)

Multi-directional painting in loriform prosimians

Miosite traumatica ossificante e suo valore diagnostico in un caso di Antropologia forense.

il volto della morte: le maschere funerarie della sepoltura dei preti morti di Gangi

riassunto — Le mummie moderne e il signifcato recondito della doppia sepoltura nelle culture mediterranee moderne sono da tempo ampiamente dibattuti. In questo lavoro si discute di una particolare “collezione” di corpi di ecclesiastici, mummifcati ed esposti in un comune montano madonita della Sicilia, Gangi. I corpi, principalmente risalenti al XIX secolo, mummifcati per colatura come nella tradizione del tempo e vestiti degli abiti talari, sono esposti nel piano sottostante della Chiesa Madre, in quella che nella tradizione è detta la “fossa dei parrini” (fossa dei preti). Le mummie, a differenza di altri siti siciliani e mediterranei, sono altresì corredate di sonetto commemorativo e di …

L’ibridazione interspecifica: evidenze e limiti di un fenomeno ancora da comprendere

L’interesse per l’aspetto evoluzionistico dell’ibridazione interspecifica è cresciuto negli ultimi anni, a giudicare dalla mole di articoli e review pubblicati sull’argomento. Fili conduttori di questi lavori sono la considerazione dell’ibridazione avvenuta e la conseguente ricerca delle evidenze che la dimostrano, siano esse morfologiche o genetiche: quasi mai l’evento di ibridazione viene messo in discussione, neppure quando le specie coinvolte sono caratterizzate da sbilanciamenti aneuploidi molto forti. Generalmente, l’ibridazione tra specie riconosciute come distinte è impedita dall’innescarsi di meccanismi d’isolamento pre e postzigotici. Questa incompatibilità ci porta a mettere in d…

Analisi multivariate su un cranio proveniente dal sito di Cozzo scavo - S. Caterina di Villarmosa (CL)

Comparative Genomics and Primate Radiation

Evolution of the Human chromosome 7: new information from the mapping of William-Breuren locus on non human primates chromosomes.

Human chromosome 7 (HSA7) derives, by a pericentric inversion and a paracentric inversion, from an ancestral chromosome homologous to chromosome 10 of Pongo pygmaeus (the Asiatic Orang-Utan). Nevertheless the genesis of this autosome during primates evolution is not clear. Even if chromosome painting shows that HAS 7 synteny is highly conserved, GTG-banding comparison in Hominoidea and Cercopithecoidea indicates the probable occurrence of complex rearrangements during the evolution. In this study we used a single locus FISH approach, a powerful tool to detect fine rearrangements, in order to investigate the evolution of HAS 7. We report the chromosome mapping of Williams-Beuren syndrome loc…

Anthropology and Genetics of Coeliac Disease.

ANALISI METRICA E MORFOMETRICA DI UN CAMPIONE DI CRANI DELLE CATACOMBE DEI CAPPUCCINI DI PALERMO

Ancient DNA polymorphisms analysis to investigate scrapie susceptibility in Sicilian sheep remains from medieval archaeological sites

Encephalopathy in sheep was at first described in Ireland in 1732 and was called “scrapie“ because the animals tend to tear their hair. Historically it seems to be the result of an incestuous union as breeding practice in old farms. In Sicily the animal bones found in association with the human skeletal remains from the tombs or city-sites, comprised a broad range of domestic. Usually, species included in the collected bones are domestic animals commonly eaten as sheep or goats, cattle, pigs, chickens and a small partridge. In this contest, the assemblage and the species identification is often difficult. Based on DNA barcoding, all the investigated bones were confirmed as belonging to the …

Gli inumati di Cozzo Sorbo. Nota Paleobiologica

The Phylogenetic position of Daubentonia madagascariensis (Gmelin, 1788; primates, Strepsirhini) as revealed by chromosomal analysis

One of the major topics in primate evolution is the phylogenetic position of the bizarre Daubentonia madagascariensis (DMA, aye-aye). The principal points that have been discussed for many decades are whether the aye-aye is: (i) the sister group of primates; (ii) the sister group of strepsirhines; or (iii) the sister group of lemurs. Very little is known about Daubentonia evolution, particularly on the chromosomal background. The present report focuses on the chromosomal history of this species. We used available chromosome painting data as the main source to identify conserved chromosomes, chromosomal segments and syntenic associations that have characterized the aye-aye karyotype. The dat…

CAN ANCIENT DNA APPROACH DOCUMENT THE LOSS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN PYGMY CHIMPANZEES? A RESEARCH PROGRAM ON HISTORIC SAMPLES OF EUROPEAN PRIMATOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS.

AN UNUSUAL CASE OF COMMINGLED HUMAN REMAINS FROM ISOLA DELLE FEMMINE (PALERMO, ITALY)

Preliminary data on cytogenetics and cytotaxonomy of cercopithecus albogularis labiatus (Samango monkey)

La malattia celiaca. Aspetti genetici e Antropologici

Evoluzione del cromosoma 4 umano mediante mappaggio di sonde sub cromosomiche in Platyrrhinae, Primates

italiano

The utility of 3D medical imaging techniques for obtaining a reliable differential diagnosis of metastatic cancer in an Iron Age skull.

Abstract In this report we present a case of neoplastic disease affecting an Iron Age skull that provides some of the earliest evidence of metastatic cancer (MC) in Western Europe. The cranium comes from the indigenous site of Baucina (Palermo, Sicily) and was recovered in a multiple burial context dated to the 6th–5th centuries BCE. The skull was attributed to an adult female and was characterized by numerous perforating lytic lesions. CT and 3D imaging analyses were crucial for obtaining a diagnosis of MC. Based on the morphology of the lytic lesions and the biological profile of our specimen, we can tentatively suggest breast carcinoma as the primary origin of the clinical manifestations…

The evolutionary history of HSA7/16 synteny in vertebrates: a critical interpretation of comparative cytogenetic and genome sequence data

The current work is an in silico study of data from previous publications and genome browsers, on the origin of the human synteny HSA7a/16p. The molecular composition of the chromosomal segments identified as HSA7a/16 and 7b (free or differently associated) is not yet clear. This means that a syntenic association 7/16, which can be detected by an in situ hybridization (FISH) method in different taxa, may not necessarily correspond to those of the same association in different lineages. In silico research, together with comparative cytogenetics, have been applied in order to define the composition of the 7/16 syntenic association. These results allow a confident reconstruction of the synteni…

Une base de donnée sur les primates du Miocene

La recherche porte l’attention sur la question complexe liée à la cohérence des évaluations quantitatives de l'ancien record des fossiles des primates du Miocène. L'ensemble des données ici présentés a été rempli avec les informations et le format de la base de données propre à NOW (Néogène mammifères de l'Ancien Monde), ainsi que avec les informations supplémentaires auprès de sources diverses. La compilation et l'analyse des données a été conduite avec une méthode quantitative. Le traitement numérique des données adoptées a été particulièrement efficace dans la synthèse et l'analyse de la grande quantité d'informations contenues dans la base de données. Cette recherche montre une image sy…

Chromosome Painting in Cercopithecus petaurista (Schreber, 1774) Compared to Other Monkeys of the Cercopithecini Tribe (Catarrhini, Primates)

The Cercopithecini tribe includes terrestrial and arboreal clades whose relationships are controversial, with a high level of chromosome rearrangements. In order to provide new insights on the tribe’s phylogeny, chromosome painting, using the complete set of human syntenic probes, was performed in Cercopithecus petaurista, a representative species of the Cercopithecini tribe. The results show C. petaurista with a highly rearranged karyotype characterized by the fission of human chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, and 12. These results compared with the literature data permit us to confirm the monophyly of the Cercopithecini tribe (fissions of chromosomes 5 and 6), as previously proposed by ch…

Geochemistry of phosphatic nodules as a tool for understanding depositional and taphonomical settings in a paleolithic cave site (San teodoro, Sicily)

Interpreting depositional settings of cave sites is generally problematic, especially in absence of palaeontological/archaeological evidence. This is the case of some deposits at San Teodoro Cave (Sicily), a key site for the Mediterranean Palaeolithic. In a stratigraphic level interrupted by a carbonatic concretion, phosphatic nodules are present only in the part enclosed between the concretion and the cave wall. The discovery of these nodules combined with the punctual lack of fossils had initially suggested an erosion phenomenon and subsequent formation of nodules at a vadose level. Here we show the usefulness of an integrated, geochemical-palaeoecological approach in defining stratigraph…

The Paleolithic Site of San Teodoro

Description of the Second Stop in The Excursion at the SanTeodoro Cave

GENETIC DISTINCTIVENESS OF ITALIAN AUROCHS: NEW INSIGHT NTO CATTLE DOMESTICATION PROCESS

The genomic history of Southern Europe

Farming was first introduced to southeastern Europe in the mid-7th millennium BCE - brought by migrants from Anatolia who settled in the region before spreading throughout Europe. However, the dynamics of the interaction between the first farmers and the indigenous hunter-gatherers remain poorly understood because of the near absence of ancient DNA from the region. We report new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 204 individuals-65 Paleolithic and Mesolithic, 93 Neolithic, and 46 Copper, Bronze and Iron Age-who lived in southeastern Europe and surrounding regions between about 12,000 and 500 BCE. We document that the hunter-gatherer populations of southeastern Europe, the Baltic, and the Nor…

Repetitive DNAs in the slug Milax nigricans: association of ribosomal (18S–28S and 5S rDNA) and (TTAGGG)n telomeric sequences) in the slug M. nigricans (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pulmonata)

Spermatocyte chromosomes of the slug Milax nigricans (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pulmonata) were studied using silver staining (Ag-NOR) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with four repetitive DNA probes [18S rDNA, 5S rDNA, (TTAGGG)n and (GATA)n]. Silver impregnation was inadequate to localize the chromosome sites of nucleolus organizer regions (NORs) since no silver dots occurred on the chromosomes at spermatogonial metaphase and a diffuse silver stainability could be observed on the bivalents at metaphase-I. Unlike silver staining, single-colour rDNA FISH consistently mapped major ribosomal sites (18S-28S rDNA) on two small-sized chromosomes in spermatogonial cells and on the correspo…

Shared language, diverging genetic histories: high-resolution analysis of Y-chromosome variability in Calabrian and Sicilian Arbereshe.

The relationship between genetic and linguistic diversification in human populations has been often explored to interpret some specific issues in human history. The Albanian-speaking minorities of Sicily and Southern Italy (Arbereshe) constitute an important portion of the ethnolinguistic variability of Italy. Their linguistic isolation from neighboring Italian populations and their documented migration history, make such minorities particularly effective for investigating the interplay between cultural, geographic and historical factors. Nevertheless, the extent of Arbereshe genetic relationships with the Balkan homeland and the Italian recipient populations has been only partially investi…

IL SITO PREISTORICO DELLO ZUBBIO DI COZZO SAN PIETRO S.I.C. RUPI DI CATALFANO E CAPO ZAFFERANO

All’interno del S.I.C, “Rupi di Catalfano e Capo Zafferano”, alcune delle grotte presenti sono state frequentate dall’uomo fin dalla preistoria. Mettendo a confronto la genesi delle cavità e la loro ubicazione topografica, è evidente che la scelta dei siti consoni a essere usati dall’uomo è marcatamente strategica e ponderata. L’indagine è stata condotta dapprima individuando e raggiungendo i siti noti in bibliografia, dai quali si è cercato di elaborare un modello per individuare nuovi siti che potessero presentare evidenze di frequentazione umana risalenti alla preistoria, soprattutto recente. All’interno di una grotta, Zubbio di Cozzo San Pietro, ubicata ad una quota di 300 m s.l.m sul v…

A detailed method for creating digital 3D models of human crania: an example of close‑range photogrammetry based on the use of Structure‑from‑Motion (SfM) in virtual anthropology

AbstractPhotogrammetry is a survey technique that allows for the building of three-dimensional (3D) models from digitized output data. In recent years, it has been confirmed as one of the best techniques to build 3D models widely used in several fields such as life and earth sciences, medicine, architecture, topography, archaeology, crime scene investigation, cinematography, and engineering. Close-range photogrammetry, in particular, has several applications in osteological studies allowing to create databases of 3D bone models available for subsequent qualitative and quantitative studies. This work provides a step-by-step guide of the photo acquisition protocol and the photogrammetric work…

I resti scheletrici della grotta di S. Teodoro presso il Museo Gemmellaro di Palermo: il nuovo restauro conservativo di ST2

The work describes the restoration of the cranium ST2 of the Epipalaeolithic site of S. Teodoro, Sicily. This restoration has been conducted in accordance to modern criteria of conservation limiting the integrative and reconstructive interpretation to the minimum. After the restauration ST2 has been morphologically described and measured. The fortuitous recovery of a left incus bone allowed its morphological and metrical description.

Population dynamic of the extinct European aurochs: genetic evidence of a north-south differentiation pattern and no evidence of post-glacial expansion

International audience; Abstract Background The aurochs ( Bos primigenius ) was a large bovine that ranged over almost the entirety of the Eurasian continent and North Africa. It is the wild ancestor of the modern cattle ( Bos taurus ), and went extinct in 1627 probably as a consequence of human hunting and the progressive reduction of its habitat. To investigate in detail the genetic history of this species and to compare the population dynamics in different European areas, we analysed Bos primigenius remains from various sites across Italy. Results Fourteen samples provided ancient DNA fragments from the mitochondrial hypervariable region. Our data, jointly analysed with previously publis…

Nuove indagini sul cranio mesolitico di Molara 2 (Palermo, Sicilia): Analisi multivariate e Tomografia assiale compurterizzata (TAC)

A Phylogenetic Analysis of Human Syntenies Revealed by Chromosome Painting in Euarchontoglires Orders

To search for cytogenetic signatures that can help to clarify evolutionary affinities among the five orders within the Euarchontoglires clade, we focused on associations of conserved syntenic blocks that have been accumulated in the karyotypes of Primates (Strepsirhini and Haplorhini), five families of Rodentia, Scandentia (Tupaia belangeri), Dermoptera (Galeopterus variegatus) and Lagomorpha (Oryctolagus cuniculus). We examined available chromosome painting data to identify conserved chromosomes and chromosomal segments, and syntenic associations likely to have characterized the ancestral eutherian karyotype. The data set includes 161 characters that have been subjected to a concatenated a…

Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer subsistence in Mediterranean coastal environments: an isotopic study of the diets of earliest directlyt-dated humans from Sicily

Abstract The subsistence of hunter-gatherers in the Mediterranean Basin has been the object of few studies, which have not fully clarified the role of aquatic resources in their diets. Here we present the results of AMS radiocarbon dating and of isotope analyses on the earliest directly-dated human remains from Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The radiocarbon determinations show that the Upper Palaeolithic (Epigravettian) humans from Grotta di San Teodoro (15 232–14 126 cal. BP) and Grotta Addaura Caprara (16 060–15 007 cal. BP) date to the Late-glacial and were possibly contemporary. The diets of these individuals were dominated by the protein of large terrestrial mamma…

REPETITIVE DNAs IN THE SLUG MILAX NIGRICANS: ASSOCIATION OF RIBOSOMAL AND TELOMERIC SEQUENCES IN THE SLUG M. NIGRICANS (MOLLUSCA: GASTEROPODA: PULMONATA)

Peoples / Popoli

EARLY HOLOCENE HUMAN DISPERSAL IN SICILY, ANALYSIS OF CRANIAL REMAINS FROM FAVIGNANA (EGADI ISLANDS)

OLD WORLD NEOGENE PRIMATES: DISCUSSION OVER AN UPDATED DATABASE

Le comunità bizantine in Sicilia. Aspetti antropologici

Susceptibility to Mycobacterium tubercolosis: importance of multiple key genes in human and nonhuman primates

First evidence of Pleistocene ochre production from bacteriogenic iron oxides. A case study of the Upper Palaeolithic site at the San Teodoro Cave (Sicily, Italy)

Abstract The use of iron pigments is well documented in the archaeological horizons of the different parts of the world since the Middle Pleistocene. The mineralogical and chemical composition of the pigments allowed defining, in most cases, their inorganic origin, which were then used after a limited transformation and manipulation. The use of a biogenic ochraceous pigment and its manipulation has recently been described in a late Holocene archaeological horizon of the American continent. Here we describe the earliest case of archaeological use of ferrous pigment produced by iron-oxidising bacteria (FeOB), the first identified in a European Epigravettian (late Upper Palaeolithic) layer, at…

Beckett RG et al. A Paleoimaging study of human mummies held in the mother church of Gangi, Sicily: Implications for mass casualty methodology

Paleoecologia dei gruppi umani preistorici, protostorici e storici della Sicilia centro occidentale

Primate Cytogenetics and Comparative Genomics

This volume is a collection of contributions of a Florentine post congress symposium on "Primate Cytogenetics and Comparative Genomics" held on occasion of the XX International Primatological Congress (Turin in 2004). Comparative Molecular Cytogenetics and Genomics are two rapidly expanding fields. Researchers from Italy, Germany, Spain, United States and Japan meet in Florence to discuss over a two day period recent advances and summarize the current state of the science.

phylogeny of Cercopithecini (Primates): new data from mapping locus specific Williams Beuren (HSA7q11.23)probe on Cercopithecus neglectus

A mitogenome sequence of an Equus hydruntinus specimen from Late Quaternary site of San Teodoro Cave (Sicily, Italy)

Abstract Equus hydruntinus was a small equid that ranged from the Iberian Peninsula to Middle East. In Italy it has been considered present from the Middle Pleistocene to its extinction in the Middle-Late Holocene. E. hydruntinus shares plesiomorphic traits with other known Pleistocene equids. As a consequence, its classification has always been problematic. Genetic analyses on few fossil remains from Iran and Crimea have revealed that E. hydruntinus was more closely related to extant hemiones. To further investigate its systematic position, using target-enrichment capture and next-generation sequencing, we reconstructed a near complete mitogenome of a specimen from San Teodoro Cave from Si…

Una cerva nella grotta del Tuono a Marettimo. Recupero, analisi e significato scientifico

The Egadi archipelago includes three islands: Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo. The island of Favignana is the closest to Sicily, about 7 km from the mainland coast and about 13 km from Trapani. Levanzo and Marettimo are roughly 13 and 36 km from Trapani, respectively. During the last glacial, Favignana and Levanzo were reachable by land since they were joined to the mainland as a result of glacial marine regression. On the other hand, Marettimo was never connected to Sicily, even during the last glacial maximum, due to a sea channel about 1.8 km wide and very deep. According to the most recent and reliable reconstructions, the island of Favignana was separated from Sicily around 7.35 thous…

Faces and Identities: is it possible measuring the reliability of the 3D craniofacial approximations

The craniofacial approximation (CFA) is largely used in forensic identification of unknown skeletonized bodies. Despite numerous forensic reports have proved successful in identifying a cadaver, it is very hard to assess the reliability of CFA methods. The present work aims to evaluate the accuracy of CFAs through the comparison of a blind facial approximation with a simultaneous faces array test. The blind CFA was made following the Manchester’s protocol. In our test the CFA was compared with a photographic array of ten faces, included the photo of the individual whom belonged the skull. The positive recognition was evaluated by a total of 320 unfamiliar assessors. During the test a survey…

The diverse genetic origins of a Classical period Greek army.

Trade and colonization caused an unprecedented increase in Mediterranean human mobility in the first millennium BCE. Often seen as a dividing force, warfare is in fact another catalyst of culture contact. We provide insight into the demographic dynamics of ancient warfare by reporting genome-wide data from fifth-century soldiers who fought for the army of the Greek Sicilian colony of Himera, along with representatives of the civilian population, nearby indigenous settlements, and 96 present-day individuals from Italy and Greece. Unlike the rest of the sample, many soldiers had ancestral origins in northern Europe, the Steppe, and the Caucasus. Integrating genetic, archaeological, isotopic, …

La decodificazione del genoma umano: aspetti etici

Eight million years of maintained heterozygosity in chromosome homologs of cercopithecine monkeys

In the Cercopithecini ancestor two chromosomes, homologous to human chromosomes 20 and 21, fused to form the Cercopithecini specific 20/21 association. In some individuals from the genus Cercopithecus, this association was shown to be polymorphic for the position of the centromere, suggesting centromere repositioning events. We set out to test this hypothesis by defining the evolutionary history of the 20/21 association in four Cercopithecini species from three different genera. The marker order of the various 20/21 associations was established using molecular cytogenetic techniques, including an array of more than 100 BACs. We discovered that five different forms of the 20/21 association w…

NEW ANTHROPOLOGICAL DATA FROM THE ARCHAIC NECROPOLIS AT MOTYA (2013 EXCAVATION SEASON)

In this paper we present the most recent anthropological study on bones of the archaic tombs of Motya (Sicily, Italy), where a large necropolis has been brought to light since the first excavations of Joseph Whitaker. The newly acquired data suggest that this portion of the Motya archaic cemetery was not exclusively devoted to the incineration of particular classes of age but the urns and cists could contain multiple burials of very different ages. .

APPLICAZIONI DELLA TC SPIRALE MULTIDETECTORE ALLO STUDIO DI REPERTI SCHELETRICI E DI CORPI MUMMIFICATI

3D Geometric morphometrics to investigate Cercopithecini evolution

3D Geometric Morphometrics has been used on a preliminary dataset of 163 crania and 148 mandibles of primates. We sampled 27 species from Cercopithecidae and Hominidae, collected in 7 different museums. Our sampling campaign was carried on with the use of a 3D-digitizer Microscribe G2X and the data were processed through the software Morphologika. The preliminary PCA analyses on crania highlight the presence of two different groups, which distinguish some Chlorocebus and Unknown Cercopithecus samples from all the others. Regarding on mandibular shape analyses, we found a light cluster of Cercopithecus samples. The “Sex” variable does not affect the reliability of the analysis, probably beca…

Comparative molecular cytogenetics and genomics redefines phylogenetic and taxonomic relationship of new world monkeys.

IL SITO DI SHIYUK TAHTANI: DATI ANTROPOLOGICI DALLA CAMPAGNA DI SCAVO 2009

Study of the Evolution of locus HSA7q11.23 by mapping the William-Beuren probe on Platyrrine (Primates)

Analisi paleogenetica dei cacciatori-raccoglitori della Sicilia: nuovi dati sul primo popolamento dell’isola

The first undisputed colonization of the island has been linked to Late or Final Epigravettian groups after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), as evidenced by the fossil record. Two significant sites to investigate this issue are the Grotta di San Teodoro (Acquedolci, Messina) and the Grotta d’Oriente (Favignana island). The Grotta di San Teodoro has yielded the oldest and largest human skeletal sample yet found in Sicily. Inside the cave, during field excavations carried out in the 1937-1947 years, seven human adults have been discovered (ST1-ST7). In the Grotta d’Oriente four prehistoric burials assigned to Late Upper Paleolithic (Oriente A and C) and Mesolithic (Oriente B and X) were uneart…

Archivio per l’Antropologia e la Etnologia

This paper describes the study of human fibrocartilaginous entheses in a multiple indigenous sicanian Sicilian burial dated between VI and V century BC. The tomb, a cave burial, was altered by grave robbers. From the collected osteologic material it was possible to perform the sorting method and to extrapolate the NMI. The research was focused on the scoring and on the analysis of the Entheseal Changes (EC) of the long bones of upper limb and calcaneus; to extrapolate likely patterns of muscle activity according to the approach of the MSM applied in literature we have utilized the Coimbra Method. This method is a new record method who intends to replace Hawkey and Merbs already-established …

Mapping the Wolf-Hirschhorn (wp 4p16.3) Locus on non-human primates

Evidence of a chromosomal polymorphism unique to Cercopithecini. A key factor in the Tribe definition ?

MOLECULAR CYTOGENETIC APPROACH BY WOLF-HIRSCHHORN PROBE-MAPPING AND OTHERS BAC PROBES TO STUDY GENOME EVOLUTION IN PRIMATES

Cytogenetics studies in the New Word Monkeys.

Chromosomal distribution of interstitial telomeric sequences in nine neotropical primates (Platyrrhini): possible implications in evolution and phylogeny

To localize interstitial telomeric sequences (ITSs) and to test whether their pattern of distribution could be linked to chromosomal evolution, we hybridized telomeric sequence probes (peptide nucleic acid, PNA) on metaphases of New World monkeys: Callithrix argentata, Callithrix jacchus, Cebuella pygmaea, Saguinus oedipus, Saimiri sciureus, Aotus lemurinus griseimembra, Aotus nancymaae (Cebidae), Lagothrix lagotricha (Atelidae) and Callicebus moloch (Pithecidae), characterized by a rapid radiation and a high rate of chromosomal rearrangements. Our analysis of the probe signal localization allowed us to show in all the species analysed, as normally, the telomeric location at the terminal en…

Il reperto cranico umano del Riparo della Rossa. Srra San Quirico (Ancona) nel contesto della variabilità morfometrica delle popolazioni neolitiche italiane ed europee

DALLA NATURA ALLA CULTURA. PRINCIPI DI ANTROPOLOGIA BIOLOGICA E CULTURALE

The Katane CRSN-IRSAC Centre in Eastern Congo: A Patrimony for Sciences

The evolution of the Cercopithecini: a (post)modern synthesis.

The Cercopithecini, or African guenon monkeys, are one of the most diverse clades of living primates and comprise the most species-rich clade of Catarrhini. Species identity is announced by flamboyant coloration of the facial and genital regions and, more cryptically, by vigorous chromosomal rearrangements among taxa. Beneath the skin, however, these animals are skeletally conservative and show low levels of genetic sequence divergence consonant with recent divergence between congeneric species. The guenons clearly demonstrate that morphological, cytogenetic, and reproductive differentiation proceed at different rates during speciation. We review diverse kinds of data in an effort to unders…

New Insights Into Mitochondrial DNA Reconstruction and Variant Detection in Ancient Samples

Ancient DNA (aDNA) studies are frequently focused on the analysis of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is much more abundant than the nuclear genome, hence can be better retrieved from ancient remains. However, postmortem DNA damage and contamination make the data analysis difficult because of DNA fragmentation and nucleotide alterations. In this regard, the assessment of the heteroplasmic fraction in ancient mtDNA has always been considered an unachievable goal due to the complexity in distinguishing true endogenous variants from artifacts. We implemented and applied a computational pipeline for mtDNA analysis to a dataset of 30 ancient human samples from an Iron Age necropolis in Poliz…

A cladistic approach to testing phylogenomic evolution in Strepsirhines

Ecologia, morfometria e genetica dei reperti paleo-mesolitici di Grotta D'Oriente (Favignana, TP)

Testing the uncertain phylogenetic position of Daubentonia madagascariensis (Strepsirhines) using chromosomes

Guenon Radiation is Enriched by a New Species that Demonstrates an Evolutionary Complexity with Which we are yet to Become Familiar

th September described this discovery to the scientific community (1). As is becoming increasingly frequent these days, given the high number of scientific articles, the media news reached us faster than the scientific information. The area known as TL2, a few hundred km as the crow flies south- west from the city of Kisangani, famous for its manufacturing, and important port on the Zaire river, is still uncontaminated and houses several important endemisms. This new species, studied in the area since 2007, on the basis of first sightings by the inhabitants of the zone and local hunters, has been named Cercopithecus lomamiensis. C.lomamiensis (CLO) is a tree-dweller and has been described i…

Chromosomal dynamics in platyrrhinae by mapping bacs probes

molecular cytogenetics, cloned DNA probe, new evolutionary centromere, human synteny 4, phylogeny

Patologie dentali durante la transizione tra la tarda età del bronzo e l'età del ferro nel gruppo umano indigeno di Polizzello (CL, Sicilia)

ODONTOMETRY AND SEX DETERMINATION: A TEST ON ANCIENT SICILIAN HUMAN REMAINS

1809-2009, duecento anni di evoluzionismo

ASPETTI GEOLOGICI, GEOMORFOLOGICI E ANTROPOLOGICI DE LA MONTAGNOLA (SAN GIOVANNI GEMINI, AGRIGENTO): PROPOSTA DI UN GEOSITO

Nuovi dati sulle sepolture della Grotta dell’Uzzo

WILLIAMS-BEUREN MAPPING IN CALLITHRIX ARGENTATA, CALLICEBUS CUPREUS AND ALOUATTA CARAYA INDICATES DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF CHROMOSOMAL REARRANGEMENTS IN NEOTROPICAL PRIMATES

Human chromosome 7 has a complex syntenic origin. It was divided into two segments in both the ancestral primate karyotype and in Platyrrhini. Apparently, a small segment in the ancestral platyrrhine karyotype was associated with HSA5 and the remainder formed a middle-sized submetacentric. We tested the dynamics of platyrrhine chromosomes by hybridizing the locus specific Willams-Beuren probe (7q 11.23, 450 kb) to chromosomes of representative species from the three families of the New World monkeys recently proposed by molecular genomics: Cebidae, Callithrix argentata (bare ear marmoset or silvery marmoset, 2n = 44); Pitheciidae, Callicebus cupreus [red titi monkey, or coppery monkey, 2n =…

HUMAN PEOPLING OF SICILY DURING QUATERNARY

ABSTRACT The early human peopling of Sicily and Western Mediterranean shores is one of the debated topic in the archaeological and anthropological literature over the twentieth century. This discussion involves not only the specific issue of the peopling of the continental island, but fundamentally the reconstruction of human migration routes and dispersals across the Mediterranean area during Early and Middle Pleistocene. Even if the common route of faunal and human movement is considered from North, and relative to the Messina strait crossing, several authors, on the base of archaeological evidences, hypothesized an early peopling and an African provenance through the Sicilian Channel. Th…

Phylogenetic Relationship Between Primates And Scadentia By Flow Sorting And Reciprocal Chromosome Painting

TRANSIZIONE PALEOLITICO-NEOLITICO IN ITALIA: UN CONTRIBUTO DELL'ANTROPOLOGIA MOLECOLARE

Novel Sources of Biodiversity and Biomolecules from Bacteria Isolated from a High Middle Ages Soil Sample in Palermo (Sicily, Italy)

: The urban plan of Palermo (Sicily, Italy) has evolved throughout Punic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, and Norman ages until it stabilized within the borders that correspond to the current historic center. During the 2012 to 2013 excavation campaign, new remains of the Arab settlement, directly implanted above the structures of the Roman age, were found. The materials investigated in this study derived from the so-called Survey No 3, which consists of a rock cavity of subcylindrical shape covered with calcarenite blocks: it was probably used to dispose of garbage during the Arabic age and its content, derived from daily activities, included grape seeds, scales and bones of fish, small animal bon…

In silico and in vitro comparative analysis to select, validate and test SNPs for human identification.

Abstract Background The recent advances in human genetics have recently provided new insights into phenotypic variation and genome variability. Current forensic DNA techniques involve the search for genetic similarities and differences between biological samples. Consequently the selection of ideal genomic biomarkers for human identification is crucial in order to ensure the highest stability and reproducibility of results. Results In the present study, we selected and validated 24 SNPs which are useful in human identification in 1,040 unrelated samples originating from three different populations (Italian, Benin Gulf and Mongolian). A Rigorous in silico selection of these markers provided …

Primi dati zooarcheologici dal santuario della Malophoros a Selinunte (TP). Firts Results from the Archaeozoological Study at the Sanctuary of Malophoros in Selinunte (TP)

Gli aspetti religiosi ricoprivano un ruolo essenziale nella vita degli antichi greci. Tale ritualità si esprimeva attra- verso un’articolazione multiforme e diversif icata, spesso di diff icile lettura per gli archeologi. Tuttavia, è possibile identif icare all’interno di queste pratiche religiose un denominatore comune nella presenza degli animali come principale offerta sacrif icale. Il presente lavoro riguarda i primi dati zooarcheologici provenienti dalle recenti ricerche che hanno interessato l’area del santuario della Malophoros a Selinunte. La nostra indagine si pone come obiettivo principale l’esplora- zione delle modalità sacrif icali utilizzate dagli antichi frequentatori del sant…

PrP Gene Polymorphism in Medieval Remains of Sicilian Sheep

Encephalopathy in sheep was at first described in Ireland in 1732 and was called scrapie. Ancient DNA in archaeogenetics represents an effective method to evaluate the ancestral pedigree of living animals and track evolutionary changes occurred between the past and the present day. Since several point mutations are today widely described in modern scrapie, no data about both sequence and frequency are still available for the prion protein (PrP) gene in ancient breeds. In order to evaluate whether the haplotypes distribution in ancient sheep differed from those of the modern population we evaluated polymorphism at four well know codons of the Prp Open Reading Frame. In the present work, we c…

A CASE OF BIPARTITE PATELLA IN A PALEOCHRISTIAN NECROPOLIS IN MARSALA (ITALY)

A Revised Sex Assessment of the Epigravettian Human Remain ST1 from San Teodoro Cave (Messina, Sicily)

Bias in skeletal sexing is well known and depends upon the completeness of the skeletal remains. The problem is very hard concerning prehistorical remains. We applied ‘Visual methods’ and ‘Probabilistic Sex Diagnosis’ (DSP) on the coxal bones on the Epigravettian skeleton (ST1) from San Teodoro (Messina, Sicily). On the basis of cranial characters and the overall robustness of the postcranial skeleton, it was suggested, since the time of the discovery, a male sex for ST1. This determination was later modified on the basis of the pelvic girdle morphology, and the skeleton was attributed the female sex for many years by large consensus. Our results indicate without ambiguity that ST1 is a mal…

Reciprocal painting and Fission Breakpoints to analyse the phylogenetic relationshi among Titi monkeys.

Evidences for the reconstruction of Chromosome HSA7 evolutionary dynamics

IL RESTAURO E LA NUOVA RICOSTRUZIONE DEL CRANIO N.5 DELLA GROTTA DI S. TEODORO (ACQUEDOLCI, MESSINA)

HUMAN CHROMOSOME 4 SYNTENIC ASSOCIATIONS IN PLACENTAL MAMMALS

Human Remains and Funerary Rites in the Phoenician Necropolis of Motya (Sicily)

New Data from Pleistocene deposit of S. Ciro cave

Quaternary fossil sites in Sicily have been known for a long time and all of them have a common story of human predation and manipulation. Hence, we illustrate the first electrical tomography applied to the study of a fossiliferous deposit in a cave in Sicily. The site investigated is the deposit inside the cave of San Ciro-Maredolce, near Palermo. This study aims to answer the following questions: is the geoelectric survey applicable to quaternary deposit of caves? is the deposit still existing or has been completely emptied? Here we show a ERT model (Electrical Resistivy Tomography) of deposit and possible anthropogenic interactions (presence of historic and\or illegal excavations) with t…

MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ANCIENT GRAPE SEEDS FROM A SINK IN THE MIDDLE-AGE TOWN OF PALERMO

The archaeological excavations in Piazza della Vittoria, in the Roman-Middle Age town of Palermo (Sicily) put in light a sink 3.20 m deep and 1 square m. large, partially filled by thin organic sediments. Grape seeds (grape-stones), fish scales and few vertebrate bones have been found in specific strata sealed under a stratum chronologically attributed to Islamic Middle-Age period (a post-quem limit). The finding of well preserved grape seeds is peculiar and their study opens the opportunity to improve the actual knowledge about evolution, cultivation, use and trade of Vitis L. in the Mediterranean area. This preliminary work focuses on morphologic and morphometric analysis of the ancient g…

From sepulchre to butchery-cooking: Facies analysis, taphonomy and stratigraphy of the Upper Palaeolithic post burial layer from the San Teodoro Cave (NE Sicily) reveal change in the use of the site

Abstract The San Teodoro Cave is considered the most significant witness of the first, Epigravettian, human colonization of Sicily from the Italian continent. Furthermore the site is a paradigmatic horizon in the Pleistocene faunal record, demonstrating a progressive transition from mega faunas to smaller-sized, Boreal, faunas. The site has been repeatedly studied and excavated, with different aims and approaches, leading to an interpretation of Epigravettian burial site and daily attendance. Here we propose a reappraisal of the study of the stratigraphy of the site, and in particular of the bone-rich layer (PAL) accumulated over the red ochre layer that apparently sealed all the different …

More data on ancient human mitogenome variability in Italy: new mitochondrial genome sequences from three Upper Palaeolithic burials

Recently, the study of mitochondrial variability in ancient humans has allowed the definition of population dynamics that characterised Europe in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Despite the abundance of sites and skeletal remains few data are available for Italy. We reconstructed the mitochondrial genomes of three Upper Palaeolithic individuals for some of the most important Italian archaeological contexts: Paglicci (South-Eastern Italy), San Teodoro (South-Western Italy) and Arene Candide (North-Western Italy) caves. We explored the phylogenetic relationships of the three mitogenomes in the context of Western Eurasian ancient and modern variability. Paglicci 12 belongs to sub-hapl…

Preliminary data on cytogenetics and cytotaxonomy of Cercopithecus albogoularis labiatus (Samango monkey)

Preliminary data on cytogenetics and cytotaxonomy of Cercopithecus albogoularis labiatus (Samango monkey) L. Sineo1, M. Roccella1, B. Picone1, R. Stanyon2, F. Genin3 and J. Masters 3 1Dipartimento di Biologia animale, Università di Palermo, Italia; 2Dipartimento di Biologia evoluzionistica, Università di Firenze, Italia; 3Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa The systematic status and phylogenetic relationships of the C. mitis “species group” are contentious. The species group effectively includes very different species (C. nictitans, C. mitis, and C. albogularis) with wide, reciprocally remote distribution in Africa, and high regional variabilit…

Più complicate del previsto le differenze genetiche tra scimpanzè e umani

What can chromosomes tell us about the origins of primates?

What can chromosomes tell us about the origins of primates? Barbara Picone1, Luca Sineo1, Daniele Silvestro2,3, Massimiliano DelPero4 and Judith Masters5 1 Dipartimento di Biologia Animale “G. Reverberi”, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Via Archirafi 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy; 2 Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany ; 3 Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Frankfurt am Main, Germany;4 Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell’Uomo, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10124 Torino, Italy; 5Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa; Our study investigated the usefulness…

Mithocondrial DNA phylogeography in Italian Bos primigenius specimens: new insight into cattle domestication process

Abstract 318 - section Bioarcaeology - ISA 2008 Siena 12th-16th may 2008 A CURA DI Fondazione Monte de'Paschi, Siena # 37th International Symposium on Archaeometry (ISA 2008)

Dieta e sviluppo cerebrale: considerazioni qialitative e quantitative nei primati

Antropologia scheletrica dei reperti della grotta del Porcospino, Villafrati, Palermo