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The aim of this paper is to present a series of discoveries attributed to the Turkic nomadic populations (11th– 12th centuries), resulting from archaeological research conducted in 2018 and 2019 in several burial mounds placed in the localities of Târgșoru Nou and Inotești from Prahova County, as well as Lunca from Buzău county. It includes descriptions of the investigated archaeological features, the results of the anthropological and archaeozoological determinations as well as those of the physico-chemical investigations of some metal artefacts, and absolute chronology dates. Given that artefacts were part of the archaeological features investigated, we briefly present information regarding their analogies and occurrence. These discoveries highlight a time period which is otherwise scarcely known in this region and at the same time add weight to other materials already published during past years

Archaeological beaver ( Castor fiber) remains from Romanian sites dating from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages are described in terms of their frequencies (based on the number of identified specimens), morphology and size. A summary of previous archaeozoological studies in the geographical and historical regionalization of the Romanian territory (i.e. Banat, Dobrudja, Moldavia, Muntenia, Oltenia and Transylvania) shows that temporal and regional variation characterizes the assemblages. The data also reveal that beaver hunting contributed little to local economies, although some spatial and temporal variations are apparent and are here compared with the evidence from the historical record. In addition, univariate, bivariate and geometric morphometric analyses are employed to examine different anatomical elements. Studies of the lower third molar (M3) reveal that there is a statistically significant intraspecific variability between the Neolithic and Iron Age populations, situated also in different regions, Muntenia and Moldavia, respectively. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Notwithstanding the fact that few avian osteological remains have been found in the settlements of the Cucuteni-Tripolye cultural complex, birds seem to have played an important role in Cucuteni-Tripolye imagery. The earliest representation dates from the Precucuteni I phase, an ornithomorphic protome (a sculptural ornament in the form of a bird) on a vessel lid. Several vessels, known as askoï, depicting ducks exist from the Precucuteni II-Tripolye A and ornithomorphic askoï, statuettes, figurines, vessels and protomes were used during all the Cucuteni-Tripolye cultural complex phases. Starting with the Cucuteni A-B-Tripolye CI-CII phase, three-dimensional representations are supplemented by painted ornithomorphic images. They became widespread from this moment on, eventually becoming the predominant form of representation. On the face of it, ornithomorphic representations seem to be rare, but the authors managed to identify over 150 statuettes, figurines, vessels, protomes and painted images. Most of them seem to relate to ritual practices or to have cosmogonic significance. Some of the representations, but not many, are realistic enough to permit approximate species-level taxonomic identification. Most of the ornithomorphic representations are fragmentary, but the breakage may be due to deliberate, ritualistic fragmenting. They were also particularly concerned with the meanings of the ornithomorphic imagery. Taking into account the discovery conditions, the fragmentation of the artefacts and the themes depicted, the authors consider that most of the Cucuteni-Tripolye ornithomorphic representations played a key role in certain religious rituals. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of the medieval Moldovan economy by evaluating animal resources (e.g., animal husbandry, hunting, fishing) based on the skeletal remains found in archaeologic sites from northeastern Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Animal remains, especially those from the urban settlement of the 14th-16th centuries from Târgu Neamţ (NE Romania), were described in terms of their frequencies (i.e., number of identified specimens and minimum number of individuals), morphometry, and livestock management (i.e., animal selection by age and sex). The results were compared with those obtained from other settlements-rural, urban, and fortress-from medieval Moldova. Correspondence analysis of the identified animals and settlements on the basis of the frequency values reveals associations between the two variables (animal species and settlement).

Background: This study aims to evaluate the dental variability and the phenetic relationships among archaeological human populations of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in North-Eastern Romania., Methods: The evaluation of phenotypic variability was performed using the 2D Geometric Morphometrics on the second molars (upper - M 2 , and lower - M 2 ) belonging to adult skeletons discovered in archaeological sites of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in North-Eastern Romania., Results: The size (Centroid Size, CS) and shape analysis of the second molar highlighted specific characteristics for each prehistoric period. The CS doesn't achieve any statistical significance for two of the comparison criterium used (i.e., period, archaeological site). Instead, statistically significant differences were recorded between males and females. The greater variability in the shape of M 2 compared to M 2 was noticed. The M 2 model of the Bronze Age is flattened mesiodistal compared to the Chalcolithic one, while differences in M 2 morphotypes are associated with the hypocone shape, particularly., Conclusion: This study of dental morphology provides new data that could contribute as evidence of interactions between biological human groups in different regional prehistoric contexts., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Dental macrowear is the non-pathological loss of hard tissues on the occlusal surface of the teeth. In archaeological contexts, the loss of tooth tissues is often correlated with lifestyles, habits, and with the physical properties of the consumed food - including preparation techniques. We report the first semiquantitative and quantitative assessment on dentine exposure of permanent second molars (M2) using the scale scoring technique, image analysis, and regression analysis on human teeth from Chalcolithic and Bronze Age archaeological populations discovered in North-Eastern Romania. We show an increase of dentine exposure percent (PDE) with the age-ranges, but no evidence of wear by sex were observed. In the linear regression analysis, the age and the dentine exposure percent, as variables, were correlated in 31% of the mandibular M2 molars and 49% in the maxillary ones ( p < 0.001). Moreover, the multiple regression analysis involving the dentine exposure and the three variables that could influence the dental wear (i.e., age, occlusal area, and period) revealed no differences in dental wear between Chalcolithic and Bronze Age, as well as between different cultures of Bronze Age (i.e., Monteoru Culture and Noua Culture). Therefore, apart from age, occlusal area, and period, there may be other factors including diet and food-processing techniques that could be also considered when discussing the loss of tooth tissues in archaeological populations, especially farmers.

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 bc, from Natufian hunter-gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a 'Basal Eurasian' lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter-gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter-gatherers of Europe to greatly reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those of Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia.