0000000000658970
AUTHOR
Miriam Noël Haidle
Survival of a multiple skull trauma: the case of an early neolithic individual from the LBK enclosure at Herxheim (Southwest Germany)
The Early Neolithic enclosure of Herxheim yielded the human remains of more than 450 individuals mainly represented by cranial vaults and numerous fractured cranial and post- cranial bones. The skulls were shaped post-mortem into skull caps by intentional separation of the cranial base and facial bones. One of these calottes revealed four ante-mortem traumatic lesions and additional cut marks.The defects of this individual were analysed in detail to obtain information on the chronology and consequences of the traumata and manipulations and their probable intention. Four marks could be attributed to at least two violent incidents because of their different stages in the healing process. Ther…
Genetic discontinuity between local hunter-gatherers and central Europe's first farmers.
Cultivating Farmers Were the ancestors of modern Europeans the local hunter-gatherers who assimilated farming practices from neighboring cultures, or were they farmers who migrated from the Near East in the early Neolithic? By analyzing ancient hunter-gatherer skeletal DNA from 2300 to 13,400 B.C.E. Bramanti et al. (p. 137 , published online 3 September) investigated the genetic relationship of European Ice Age hunter-gatherers, the first farmers of Europe, and modern Europeans. The results reject the hypothesis of direct continuity between hunter-gatherers and early farmers and between hunter-gatherers and modern Europeans. Major parts of central and northern Europe were colonized by incom…