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The Red Sea was witness to important events during human history, including the first long steps in a trade network (the spice route) that would drive maritime technology and shape geopolitical fortunes for thousands of years. Punt was a pivotal early node in the rise of this enterprise, serving as an important emporium for luxury goods, including sacred baboons (Papio hamadryas), but its location is disputed. Here, we use geospatial variation in the oxygen and strontium isotope ratios of 155 baboons from 77 locations to estimate the geoprovenance of mummified baboons recovered from ancient Egyptian temples and tombs. Five Ptolemaic specimens of P. anubis (404-40 BC) showed evidence of long-term residency in Egypt prior to mummification, consistent with a captive breeding program. Two New Kingdom specimens of P. hamadryas were sourced to a region that encompasses much of present-day Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, and portions of Somalia and Yemen. This result is a testament to the tremendous reach of Egyptian seafaring during the 2nd millennium BC. It also corroborates the balance of scholarly conjecture on the location of Punt.

Much of the fascination surrounding Egyptian civilization is linked to the practice of mummification. In fact, to ensure the preservation of the body, the ancient Egyptians mummified both human and animal subjects. However, mummified animal remains are less well studied, although they represent a significant part of the material culture and history of ancient Egypt. The introduction of non-invasive imaging methods has allowed researchers to study the material hidden within the wrappings of mummies. In this article, the cat mummy currently exhibited at the Museo Etnologico Missionario di San Francesco di Fiesole (Florence, Italy), originating from Luxor and legally acquired during an expedition in the 20th century, was analyzed using computed tomography (CT). The CT enabled the identification of the casing content, showing the presence of an entire cat skeleton. The cat had several fractures, some of which were identified in the cervical region, possibly related to the cause of death. Furthermore, the zooarcheological analysis allowed the identification of the age at death of the cat, providing further information about the story of the mummy. This research provides a further contribution to the analysis of mummies, with a case study of a cat mummy that emphasizes the importance of CT scans in humanistic studies and museum environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used to project how species distributions may vary over time, particularly in response climate change. Although the fit of such models to current distributions is regularly enumerated, SDMs are rarely tested across longer time spans to gauge their actual performance under environmental change. Here, we utilise paleozoological presence/absence records to independently assess the predictive accuracy of SDMs through time. To illustrate the approach, we focused on modelling the Holocene distribution of the hartebeest, Alcelaphus buselaphus, a widespread savannah‐adapted African antelope. We applied various modelling algorithms to three occurrence datasets, including a point dataset from online repositories and two range maps representing current and 'natural' (i.e. hypothetical assuming no human impact) distributions. We compared conventional model evaluation metrics which assess fit to current distributions (i.e. True Skill Statistic, TSSc, and Area Under the Curve, AUCc) to analogous 'paleometrics' for past distributions (i.e. TSSp, AUCp, and in addition Boycep, F2‐scorep and Sorensenp). Our findings reveal only a weak correlation between the ranking of conventional metrics and paleometrics, suggesting that the models most effectively capturing present‐day distributions may not be the most reliable to hindcast historical distributions, and that the choice of input data and modelling algorithm both significantly influences environmental suitability predictions and SDM performance. We thus advocate assessment of model performance using paleometrics, particularly those capturing the correct prediction of presences, such as F2‐scorep or Sorensenp, due to the potential unreliability of absence data in paleozoological records. By integrating archaeological and paleontological records into the assessment of alternative models' ability to project shifts in species distributions over time, we are likely to enhance our understanding of environmental constraints on species distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turtles are important barometers of human impact on marine biodiversity. Very little, however, is known about the deep history of human-turtle interactions and whether this is reflected in the present-day vulnerability of Mediterranean turtle populations. Here, the authors critically assess the zooarchaeological evidence for the nature and intensity of past human interactions with green, loggerhead turtles and Nile soft-shell turtles in the Eastern Mediterranean. Species and sex identifications, estimates of relative abundance, and size reconstructions at five coastal archaeological sites demonstrate the variety in interactions, from turtle capture to processing, and allow informative comparisons with present-day distributions of these species across the region. Keywords: Mediterranean, Bronze Age, Iron Age, marine biodiversity, turde exploitation, Introduction The Eastern Mediterranean represents an area of intense archaeological interest. It is also home to rich yet vulnerable marine biodiversity. Archaeological sites along the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean [...]

The ancient Egyptians carried out mummification, the artificial preservation of the body, to ensure the survival of the body after death. They believed that the dead body could be reanimated by the ka (spiritual essence) and that the destruction of the body threatened the survival of the soul and the individual’s identity for eternity. Mummification was used primarily by elites from the early Old Kingdom on, with variations becoming available for those of lesser social and economic standing over time. The word “mummy” is derived from the Persian and Arabic word “mum”, meaning liquid pitch, asphalt, or bitumen, a substance that the Arabs mistakenly thought was used to make mummies and responsible for their dark coloring.