Animals and their roles in the medieval society of Sicily: from Byzantines to Arabs and from Arabs to Norman/Swabians

In this project, a number of faunal samples recovered from different site-types and dated to the medieval period in Sicily are analysed and compared. Zooarchaeological results reveal significant changes in the use of the main domesticates in the Byzantine-Arab and in the Arab-Norman/Swabian transitional periods. In the Arab period, the socio-cultural effects of the Islamisation of the island are attested by an overall dearth of pigs at most urban sites. By contrast, similarly to the Byzantine period, pigs continue to be represented at contemporary rural settlements, thus suggesting a higher resilience of rural communities toward the newly imposed socio-cultural and religious rules. Sheep become larger in Arab times; such phenomenon was likely driven by an interest to maximise outputs from caprine husbandry, and can be seen as part of the ‘Arab Green Revolution’. During the Norman/Swabian rule, changes in dietary practices with the previous period are noticed. Although caprines maintain an important economic role, pigs are again present at urban and military sites; such result might be an indicator of an ongoing ‘de-Islamisation’ of the island. At the same time, a further improvement of sheep size indicates a continuity in the Norman/Swabian period of animal husbandry strategies initiated by the Arabs

Time for a change? Investigating shifts in agricultural economies and food in southern‑central Norway (11th ‑16th c. AD)

Cattle and, to a lesser extent, sheep/goat and pigs, were crucial components of Norway’s socio-cultural and economic dynamics in the Middle Ages. Zooarchaeological analyses of faunal samples from different urban sites reveal that changes in cattle husbandry practices occurred in Norway over the medieval period, and especially in its early phases. This is clearly demonstrated in the case of medieval Oslo, where an in-depth zooarchaeological study provides the first comprehensive review of cattle husbandry strategies. In the first centuries of the medieval period (11th -mid 12th c. AD), cattle were mainly raised for milk and meat production, while fewer young and more numerous older individuals, most of which probably oxen, were present from mid 12th -13th c. AD onwards. This hypothesis is supported by biometrical analyses of cattle postcranial bones, indicating changes in the sexual composition of cattle herds over time. Therefore, from ca. mid 12th -13th c. AD onward, cattle seem to have been more used for ploughing and, only once old, to have been culled for their meat. In turn, this evidence suggests that more arable lands had to be ploughed, especially in eastern and central Norway. Here, demographic growth and settlement expansion would have led to an increase in food demand; at the same time, more favourable climatic conditions might have contributed to an increase in the availability of arable fields. This article suggests that medieval Norwegian farming was not static as historically thought, but rather connected to wider-scale agricultural innovations characterising other parts of medieval Europe.publishedVersio

Exploitation shifted trophic ecology and habitat preferences of Mediterranean and Black Sea bluefin tuna over centuries

During recent decades, the health of ocean ecosystems and fish populations has been threatened by overexploitation, pollution and anthropogenic-driven climate change. Due to a lack of long-term ecological data, we have a poor grasp of the true impact on the diet and habitat use of fishes. This information is vital if we are to recover depleted fish populations and predict their future dynamics. Here, we trace the long-term diet and habitat use of Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT), Thunnus thynnus, a species that has had one of the longest and most intense exploitation histories, owing to its tremendous cultural and economic importance. Using carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope analyses of modern and ancient BFT including 98 archaeological and archival bones from 11 Mediterranean locations ca. 1st century to 1941 CE, we infer a shift to increased pelagic foraging around the 16th century in Mediterranean BFT. This likely reflects the early anthropogenic exploitation of inshore coastal ecosystems, as attested by historical literature sources. Further, we reveal that BFT which migrated to the Black Sea–and that disappeared during a period of intense exploitation and ecosystem changes in the 1980s–represented a unique component, isotopically distinct from BFT of NE Atlantic and Mediterranean locations. These data suggest that anthropogenic activities had the ability to alter the diet and habitat use of fishes in conditions prior to those of recent decades. Consequently, long-term data provide novel perspectives on when marine ecosystem modification began and the responses of marine populations, with which to guide conservation policy

Sicily in Transition : Interim report of investigations at Castronovo di Sicilia 2016

La città di Castronovo di Sicilia (PA) e i suoi dintorni sono attualmente oggetto di ricerche archeologiche condotte dalle università di York, Roma e Lecce in collaborazione con la Soprintendenza per i Beni culturali e ambientali di Palermo e con il sostegno del Comune di Castronovo. Quattro diversi insediamenti sono stati indagati per mezzo di prospezioni e scavi. Sul Monte Kassar, interpretabile, allo stato attuale delle ricerche, come una fortezza bizantina dell’ VIII–IX secolo, nel 2015 sono state individuate strutture con funzione abitativa all’interno e in appoggio alle fortificazioni, mentre nel 2016 sono stati scavati i resti di una “casaforte” (la cosiddetta “casermetta"). Sul Colle San Vitale, i ruderi delle strutture medievali ancora in piedi sono stati oggetto di una prospezione di alta precisione, come anche la città vecchia di Castronovo, dove anche sono stati individuate e cartografate le acque sotterranee e un sistema di irrigazione. Infine, a Casale San Pietro, nella pianura vicino a Castronovo e sulle rive del fiume Platani, un insediamento esteso di epoca tardoromana e bizantina (orientativamente dei secoli V–VII secolo) è stato parzialmente identificato attraverso prospezioni geofisiche, raccolte di superficie e sondaggi. Nel 2015 e 2016 è stato possibile dimostrare in un’area di scavo (Int 5) che l’insediamento di epoca bizantina (la cosiddetta agro-town) è stato rioccupato da uno di epoca islamica e normanna (IX–XII secolo). L’attuale campagna di ricerche sul Medioevo nel Comune di Castronovo di Sicilia (PA) è stata avviata nel 2014 e proseguita nel 2015. Nel corso del 2016, queste indagini hanno assunto un ruolo centrale nel progetto più ampio finanziato dall’European Research Council (SICTRANSIT). L’obiettivo centrale di questo progetto è di comprendere il carattere delle trasformazioni economiche, ambientali e sociali dell’intera Sicilia tra il VI e il XIII secolo . La relazione che segue presenta i risultati ottenuti nel 2016 a Castronovo nei quattro insediamenti principali e una breve descrizione delle ricerche in corso sulla ceramica, la fauna, e i reperti particolari effettuata dai responsabili delle loro analisi. Infine, si conclude con una valutazione del significato della campagna del 2016 e uno sguardo alle prossime tappe del progetto

Ancient DNA suggests a historical demographic decline and genetic erosion in the Atlantic bluefin tuna

Overexploitation has depleted fish stocks during the past century; nonetheless, its genomic consequences remain poorly understood for most species. Characterizing the spatiotemporal patterns of these consequences may provide baseline estimates of past diversity and productivity to aid management targets, help predict future dynamics, and facilitate the identification of evolutionary factors limiting fish population recovery. Here, we evaluate human impacts on the evolution of the iconic Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), one of the longest and most intensely exploited marine fishes, with a tremendous cultural and economic importance. We sequenced whole genomes from modern (n = 49) and ancient (n = 41) specimens dating up to 5,000 y ago, uncovering several findings. First, we identify temporally stable patterns of population admixture, as bluefin tuna caught off Norway and in the eastern Mediterranean share a greater degree of ancestry with Gulf of Mexico bluefin tuna than western and central Mediterranean bluefin tuna. This suggests that Atlantic spawning areas are important mixing grounds for the genetic diversity of Mediterranean bluefin tuna. We model effective population size to show that Mediterranean bluefin tuna began to undergo a demographic decline by the year 1900 to an extent not observed across the previous millennia. Coinciding with this, we found that heterozygosity and nucleotide diversity were significantly lower in modern (2013 to 2020) than ancient (pre-1941) Mediterranean bluefin tuna, suggesting that bluefin tuna underwent a genetic bottleneck. With this work, we show how ancient DNA provides unique perspectives on ecological complexity with the potential to inform the management and conservation of fishes

Five millennia of mitonuclear discordance in Atlantic bluefin tuna identified using ancient DNA

Mitonuclear discordance between species is readily documented in marine fishes. Such discordance may either be the result of past natural phenomena or the result of recent introgression from previously seperated species after shifts in their spatial distributions. Using ancient DNA spanning five millennia, we here investigate the long-term presence of Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) and albacore (Thunnus alalunga) -like mitochondrial (MT) genomes in Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), a species with extensive exploitation history and observed shifts in abundance and age structure. Comparing ancient (n = 130) and modern (n = 78) Atlantic bluefin MT genomes from most of its range, we detect no significant spatial or temporal population structure, which implies ongoing gene flow between populations and large effective population sizes over millennia. Moreover, we identify discordant MT haplotypes in ancient specimens up to 5000 years old and find that the frequency of these haplotypes has remained similar through time. We therefore conclude that MT discordance in the Atlantic bluefin tuna is not driven by recent introgression. Our observations provide oldest example of directly observed MT discordance in the marine environment, highlighting the utility of ancient DNA to obtain insights in the long-term persistence of such phenomena

New insights into early medieval Islamic cuisine : Organic residue analysis of pottery from rural and urban Sicily

Sicily, during the 9th-12th century AD, thrived politically, economically, and culturally under Islamic political rule and the capital of Palermo stood as a cultural and political centre in the Mediterranean Islamic world. However, to what extent the lifeways of the people that experienced these regimes were impacted during this time is not well understood, particularly those from lesser studied rural contexts. This paper presents the first organic residue analysis of 134 cooking pots and other domestic containers dating to the 9th -12th century in order to gain new insights into the culinary practices during this significant period. Ceramics from three sites in the urban capital of Palermo and from the rural town of Casale San Pietro were analysed and compared. The multi-faceted organic residue analysis identified a range of commodities including animal products, vegetables, beeswax, pine and fruit products in the ceramics, with a complex mixing of resources observed in many cases, across all four sites and ceramic forms. Alongside the identification of commodities and how they were combined, new light has been shed on the patterning of resource use between these sites. The identification of dairy products in calcite wares from the rural site of Casale San Pietro and the absence of dairy in ceramics from the urban centre of Palermo presents interesting questions regarding the role of rural sites in food consumption and production in Islamic Sicily. This is the first time organic residue analysis of ceramics has been used to explore foodways in a medieval multi-faith society and offers new pathways to the understanding of pottery use and resources that were prepared, consumed and combined, reflecting cuisine in different socio-economic environments within the pluralistic population of medieval Sicily

Sicily in transition : new research on early medieval Sicily, 2017-2018

Il testo che segue riguarda la nostra ricerca archeologica sulla Sicilia bizantina, islamica e normanno-sveva e in particolare riporta le ultime scoperte a Castronovo di Sicilia, che includono il riconoscimento di una chiesa del XII-XIII secolo sul Monte Kassar, la continuazione dello scavo a Casale San Pietro e una sintesi delle nuove ricognizioni nelle sue vicinanze. Quest’ultimo sito rimane il focus principale del Progetto ERC sictransit, ma in questa sede diamo anche conto dei primi risultati di un’indagine più ampia, che include una grossa quantità di reperti che provengono da tutta la Sicilia da siti scavati in precedenza (Fig 1). Questi reperti consistino in ceramiche, metalli e vetri assieme a resti umani, animali e vegetali, che vengono analizzati nei laboratori delle università partner del progetto: York, Roma e Lecce. I principali metodi scientifici applicati sono: analisi tipologiche, petrografiche e del contenuto organico delle ceramiche da cucina e da trasporto; degli isotopi stabili e del DNA antico sui resti umani e animali per determinare la dieta e l’ascendenza genetica; infine la identificazione tassonomica e la caratterizzazione isotopica degli insiemi di resti botanici per comprendere le loro relazioni con il clima e con le diverse fasi storiche. Sictransit combina quindi ricerche archeologiche, bioarcheologiche e biomolecolari in un unico progetto integrato. Gli obiettivi attesi sono stati suddivisi, per comodità e chiarezza, in tre principali aree di studio, vale a dire: agricoltura (e cibo), scambi e demografia. Infine concludiamo con una valutazione della ricerca svolta sul campo e delle prospettive di indagine dei tre laboratori

Exploitation shifted trophic ecology and habitat preferences of Mediterranean and Black Sea bluefin tuna over centuries

During recent decades, the health of ocean ecosystems and fish populations has been threatened by overexploitation, pollution and anthropogenic-driven climate change. Due to a lack of long-term ecological data, we have a poor grasp of the true impact on the diet and habitat use of fishes. This information is vital if we are to recover depleted fish populations and predict their future dynamics. Here, we trace the long-term diet and habitat use of Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT), Thunnus thynnus, a species that has had one of the longest and most intense exploitation histories, owing to its tremendous cultural and economic importance. Using carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope analyses of modern and ancient BFT including 98 archaeological and archival bones from 11 Mediterranean locations ca. 1st century to 1941 CE, we infer a shift to increased pelagic foraging around the 16th century in Mediterranean BFT. This likely reflects the early anthropogenic exploitation of inshore coastal ecosystems, as attested by historical literature sources. Further, we reveal that BFT which migrated to the Black Sea–and that disappeared during a period of intense exploitation and ecosystem changes in the 1980s–represented a unique component, isotopically distinct from BFT of NE Atlantic and Mediterranean locations. These data suggest that anthropogenic activities had the ability to alter the diet and habitat use of fishes in conditions prior to those of recent decades. Consequently, long-term data provide novel perspectives on when marine ecosystem modification began and the responses of marine populations, with which to guide conservation policy