Berthet, D. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2024

High δ15N values in Predynastic Egyptian archeological remains: A potential indicator for localised soil fertilisation practices in extreme conditions

Predynastic Egypt arose around 5700 BC when nomadic people settled in the Nile Valley. Without voluntary practice related to anthropic mummification, as will be seen with the Egyptian Dynastic empires, human remains from this period were naturally mummified because of the natural environmental conditions, possibly enveloped in plant mats and animal skins. This study focuses on four mummies from the Natural History Museum of Musee des Confluences in Lyon (France). The geographic origin of the mummies and climatic conditions at that time were deduced from o18O measurements on teeth and bones. These measurements confirm that the primary source of drinking water was the Nile, and that one mummy of unknown origin also originated from Upper Egypt like the other three. The diet and life habits of these individuals were inferred from carbon (o13C), nitrogen (o15N) and sulfur (o34S) isotope compositions of their skins and bone collagens. Our study is of particular interest as we were able to analyse the animal skins and plant material enveloping the mummies using the same isotopic systems. The mean o15N values obtained in human skins (17.9{+/-}2.4{per thousand}, AIR) were found to be high, and consistent with the values measured in animal skins (16.0{+/-}2.9{per thousand}, AIR). The analysed plants have even higher values, with an average of 22.1{+/-}2.2{per thousand}, AIR. The most probable explanation for the markedly elevated {delta}15N values observed in all the materials investigated is localised soil amendment practices. This is corroborated by the consistent nitrogen isotopic signatures across all the examined tissues, with a notable prevalence in plant tissues.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Adulis and the transshipment of baboons during classical antiquity

Adulis, located on the Red Sea coast in present-day Eritrea, was a bustling trading centre between the first and seventh centuries CE. Several classical geographers--Agatharchides of Cnidus, Pliny the Elder, Strabo--noted the value of Adulis to Greco-Roman Egypt, particularly as an emporium for living animals, including baboons (Papio spp.). Though fragmentary, these accounts predict the Adulite origins of mummified baboons in Ptolemaic catacombs, while inviting questions on the geoprovenance of older (Late Period) baboons recovered from Gabbanat el-Qurud ("Valley of the Monkeys"), Egypt. Dated to ca. 800-540 BCE, these animals could extend the antiquity of Egyptian-Adulite trade by as much as five centuries. To explore this possibility, we analysed complete mitochondrial genomes from a mummified baboon from Gabbanat el-Qurud and 14 museum specimens with known provenance together with published georeferenced mitochondrial sequence data. Phylogenetic assignment connects the mummified baboon to modern populations of Papio hamadryas in Eritrea and eastern Sudan. This result, assuming geographical stability of phylogenetic clades, suggests that present-day Eritrea, and by extension Adulis, was a source of baboons for Late Period Egyptians. It also establishes geographic continuity with baboons from the fabled Land of Punt (Dominy et al., 2020), giving weight to speculation that Punt and Adulis were essentially the same trading centres separated by a thousand years of history.

zoology↗