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Ancient biomolecules have become an increasingly important part of archaeological investigations interested in understanding population movements and health. Despite their ability to elucidate historically-attested contexts of human mobility and interaction between different cultural groups, biomolecular techniques are still underutilized in certain historical and archaeological contexts. One such context is the Roman Imperial limes, or border zone, along the lower reaches of the Danube, which saw more than five hundred years of migration, conflict, and accommodation among a wide range of populations, from Mediterranean settlers to steppe pastoralists. In this region, more than a century of archaeological investigation has unearthed the remains of tens of thousands of Roman-era individuals. However, only a limited number of contexts have undergone biomolecular analyses. While these deceased humans may offer an untapped reservoir of biomolecular information, many were collected during a period when the standard precautions and protocols for ancient biomolecular research were not yet established. Because contamination is a major barrier for successfully recovering ancient DNA and proteins, conducting a pilot study to assess bimolecular preservation of a small representative dataset of human remains before embarking on a more extensive research program may prevent unnecessary sampling. This study applies ancient DNA and paleoproteomic techniques to human remains from a Roman-period cemetery at Histria, a site located just south of the Danube at the edge of the Roman province of Moesia Inferior. The individuals from whom we sampled dentin and dental calculus were excavated between the 1940s and 1980s and were housed at the Francisc J. Rainer Institute since. Our results suggest that both microbial and human ancient DNA is preserved in the dental calculus and dentin samples. We also successfully recovered sex-specific amelogenin peptides in tooth enamel from three individuals, including a juvenile. In conclusion, our results are encouraging, signifying the feasibility of future aDNA and paleoproteomic research for this skeletal collection. Our analyses also showcase how sex estimation with genomic and proteomic methods may contradict traditional osteological approaches. These findings not only offer deeper insights into the lives of these individuals but also show promise for the investigation of broader anthropological questions, such as the impact of Roman annexation in this region. 

The accelerating pace of emerging zoonotic diseases in the twenty-first century has motivated cross-disciplinary collaboration on One Health approaches, combining microbiology, veterinary and environmental sciences, and epidemiology for outbreak prevention and mitigation. Such outbreaks are often caused by spillovers attributed to human activities that encroach on wildlife habitats and ecosystems, such as land use change, industrialized food production, urbanization and animal trade. While the origin of anthropogenic effects on animal ecology and biogeography can be traced to the Late Pleistocene, the archaeological record—a long-term archive of human–animal–environmental interactions—has largely been untapped in these One Health approaches, thus limiting our understanding of these dynamics over time. In this review, we examine how humans, as niche constructors, have facilitated new host species and ‘disease-scapes’ from the Late Pleistocene to the Anthropocene, by viewing zooarchaeological, bioarchaeological and palaeoecological data with a One Health perspective. We also highlight how new biomolecular tools and advances in the ‘-omics’ can be holistically coupled with archaeological and palaeoecological reconstructions in the service of studying zoonotic disease emergence and re-emergence.

 

Incomplete documentary evidence, variable biomolecular preservation, and limited skeletal responses have hindered assessment of acute infections in the past. This study was initially developed to explore the diagnostic potential of dental calculus to identify infectious diseases, however, the breadth and depth of information gained from a particular individual, St. Louis Individual (St.LI), enabled an individualized assessment and demanded broader disciplinary introspection of ethical research conduct. Here, we document the embodiment of structural violence in a 23-year-old Black and/or African American male, who died of lobar pneumonia in 1930s St. Louis, Missouri. St.LI exhibits evidence of systemic poor health, including chronic oral infections and a probable tuberculosis infection. Metagenomic sequencing of dental calculus recovered three pre-antibiotic era pathogen genomes, which likely contributed to the lobar pneumonia cause of death (CoD):Klebsiella pneumoniae(13.8X);Acinetobacter nosocomialis(28.4X); andAcinetobacter junii(30.1X). Ante- and perimortem evidence of St.LI’s lived experiences chronicle the poverty, systemic racism, and race-based structural violence experienced by marginalized communities in St. Louis, which contributed to St.LI’s poor health, CoD, anatomization, and inclusion in the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection. These same embodied inequalities continue to manifest as health disparities affecting many contemporary communities in the United States.

 

We synthesize how the tools of molecular anthropology, integrated with analyses of skeletal material, can provide direct insights into the context-specific experiences of racial structural violence in the past. Our work—which is emblematic of how biological anthropologists are increasingly interested in exploring the embodied effects of structural and race-based violence—reveals how anthropology can illuminate past lived experiences that are otherwise invisible or inscrutable. This kind of integrative research is exposing the legacies of structural violence in producing anatomical collections and the embodied effects of structural violence evident within individuals in those collections. 

Abstract Historical ecology has revolutionized our understanding of fisheries and cultural landscapes, demonstrating the value of historical data for evaluating the past, present, and future of Earth’s ecosystems. Despite several important studies, Indigenous fisheries generally receive less attention from scholars and managers than the 17th–20th century capitalist commercial fisheries that decimated many keystone species, including oysters. We investigate Indigenous oyster harvest through time in North America and Australia, placing these data in the context of sea level histories and historical catch records. Indigenous oyster fisheries were pervasive across space and through time, persisting for 5000–10,000 years or more. Oysters were likely managed and sometimes “farmed,” and are woven into broader cultural, ritual, and social traditions. Effective stewardship of oyster reefs and other marine fisheries around the world must center Indigenous histories and include Indigenous community members to co-develop more inclusive, just, and successful strategies for restoration, harvest, and management.