Same Old Economy
Economic Change in the Mediterranean between the Principate and Late Antiquity
Paulina Komar
European Journal of Archaeology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article uses amphora quantification and regression analysis to trace economic changes in the Mediterranean between the Principate (27 BC to AD 284) and Late Antiquity. It indicates that, during the Principate, there was a clear pattern of amphora distribution across the Mediterranean, which can be explained by the predominance of market forces among the factors governing trade. In contrast, the weak correlation between exports and prices observed in Late Antiquity suggests a significant shift in the underlying principles of trade during this period.
Hominin Population Structure, Mating Systems, and Intrasexual Competition: Implications for Craniofacial Robusticity and the Self-Domestication Hypothesis
Grant McCall
Human Nature, June 2025, Pages 307-335
Abstract:
The self-domestication hypothesis has made significant contributions to our thinking about hominin evolution and ecology. It has struggled, however, to find compelling and testable causes of reductions in hominin aggression and violent behavior. This paper examines variability among hominin mating systems and imbalances in operation sex ratios (OSRs) as a potential factor influencing levels of aggression resulting from male intrasexual competition, i.e., male-male competitive aggression. This paper uses multivariate generalized linear modeling (GLM) to examine data from modern hunter-gatherer societies having to do with the causes and consequences of OSR imbalances (as reflected by levels of polygamy) and male intrasexual competition. This paper focuses especially on the role of population density as a potential source of OSR variability. This paper shows that population density correlates strongly with hunter-gatherer OSRs and that this relationship remains strong when controlling for the effects of other potentially intercorrelated variables. This paper shows that, among modern hunter-gatherers, lower population densities lead to greater imbalances in terms of OSRs and therefore higher levels of male-male aggression. This implies high levels of male intrasexual competition among early hominins given likely conditions of very low population densities. The paper closes by proposing some strategies for investigating hominin demographic patterning prehistorically and predicting OSR imbalances, as well as intrasexual competition, based on that information.
Monumental rock art illustrates that humans thrived in the Arabian Desert during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition
Maria Guagnin et al.
Nature Communications, September 2025
Abstract:
Dated archaeological sites are absent in northern Arabia between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and 10,000 years ago (ka), signifying potential population abandonment prior to the onset of the Holocene humid period. Here we present evidence that playas became established in the Nefud desert of northern Arabia between ~16 and ~13 ka, the earliest reported presence of surface water following the hyper-aridity of the LGM. These fresh water sources facilitated human expansions into arid landscapes as shown by new excavations of stratified archaeological sites dating to between 12.8 and 11.4 ka. During the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, human populations exploited a network of seasonal water bodies -- marking locations and access routes with monumental rock engravings of camels, ibex, wild equids, gazelles, and aurochs. These communities made distinctive stone tool types showing ongoing connections to the late Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic populations of the Levant.
Long-Distance Obsidian Conveyance During the Neolithic: A Critical Analysis of Three Obsidian Blades Found in Poland
Richard Hughes et al.
European Journal of Archaeology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In this article, the authors contend that three blades, archaeometrically identified as made of obsidian from the Nemrut Dağ source in eastern Anatolia, were recovered from bona fide archaeological contexts at two sites in Poland. This is supported by somewhat contentious contextual evidence, which is thoroughly reviewed. If the findspots are accepted as genuine, these artefacts would mark the furthest western distribution of Nemrut Dağ obsidian, approximately 2200 km away from the source, more than three times the previously recorded western distribution of this material. The known history of recovery and curation of these artefacts, their techno-typological features, and their raw material source (based on EDXRF analysis) are assessed, and an interpretation of this unusual material is offered.
Costs of Early Stone Toolmaking cannot Establish the Presence of Know-how Copying
Claudio Tennie, William Snyder & Ronald Planer
Human Nature, June 2025, Pages 180-218
Abstract:
Compared to other apes, humans show a distinctive capacity for the cultural learning and transmission of know-how: we extract know-how from other individuals and artifacts in ways that regularly give rise to forms of know-how that no single individual could realistically invent on their own. Such a capacity is plausibly foundational to humans’ striking cultural prowess and hence all that goes with it (e.g., symbolic language, religion). In this article, we critically examine attempts to date the transformation of know-how copying in the hominin lineage through an estimation of the costs of stone toolmaking. More specifically, we take as our target the idea that the costs inherent in making early stone tools, that is, Oldowan and Early Acheulean tools, already likely reflect a meaningful upgrade in hominin know-how copying abilities. Our survey of potentially relevant costs of stone toolmaking is generous, covering: (i) the risks and dangers of toolmaking; (ii) the time, energy, and opportunity costs of toolmaking; and finally (iii) the material costs of toolmaking. Ultimately, we find that, based on current evidence pertaining to these costs, the case for inferring know-how copying abilities in Oldowan or even Early Acheulean stone toolmakers is weak. This skeptical conclusion, combined with independent evidence that the design of stone tools during this period likely remained within the range of what the relevant hominins could invent without know-how copying, points to a later date for the establishment of this crucial human skill.
The discovery of adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) in eastern China during the 9th millennium BP and its domestication in East Asia
Xuexiang Chen et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 30 September 2025
Abstract:
Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) is a key legume widely cultivated in East Asia, prized for both its nutritional value and nitrogen-fixing properties. This paper presents one of the oldest directly dated archaeological finds of adzuki bean, recovered from the Xiaogao site in Shandong, China, and dated to 8985-8645 and 8032-7939 cal. BP -- predating previously known Chinese records by at least 4,000 y (approximately 6,000 y considering published directly dated evidence alone). The evidence suggests that adzuki beans formed part of an Early Neolithic multicropping system alongside millet, rice, and soybean in a well-established agricultural tradition in the Lower Yellow River region. Morphometric analysis of adzuki beans from 41 archaeological sites across East Asia reveals a gradual increase in seed size over time when regional data are aggregated, yet highlights distinct regional trajectories. These patterns reflect complex, multiregional domestication processes shaped by both cultural practices and ecological conditions. Notably, the marked differences in bean sizes observed between the Neolithic Yellow River and Jomon-period Japan could be contingent on the distinctions in dietary regimes and associated selective pressures.
Pigs, pannage, and the solstice: Isotopic insights from prehistoric feasting at Newgrange
Eric Guiry et al.
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, forthcoming
Abstract:
Newgrange, the Neolithic monument and centerpiece of the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage complex, is a high-profile example of prehistoric societies’ observation of, and reverence for, solar events. Comparatively little is known about how these concepts were remembered by those using Newgrange over subsequent millennia. While excavations have uncovered large quantities of later material culture, debate continues about what these subsequent activities represent. We combine zooarchaeological, radiocarbon, and isotopic evidence to assess the nature and seasonality of human–animal–environment relationships at Newgrange. Results show a concentration of feasting activity, focused on pigs, dating to 2600–2450 BC and indicate that most pigs were slaughtered shortly after a period of rapid, pannage-fueled weight gain. This seasonal specificity indicates feasting likely occurred in the weeks around the winter solstice and suggests that, centuries after passage tomb construction ended, practices at Newgrange continued to focus on the general winter solstice timeframe. We also connect a unique isotopic signature for mast (tree nuts) with pannage husbandry, a pattern that should allow for reinterpretation of archaeological pig diets and human–woodland relationships across Europe.