Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets.
Human-mediated biological exchange has had global social and ecological impacts. In sub-Saharan Africa, several domestic and commensal animals were introduced from Asia in the pre-modern period; however, the timing and nature of these introductions remain contentious. One model supports introduction...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2017-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5560628?pdf=render |
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| author | Mary E Prendergast Michael Buckley Alison Crowther Laurent Frantz Heidi Eager Ophélie Lebrasseur Rainer Hutterer Ardern Hulme-Beaman Wim Van Neer Katerina Douka Margaret-Ashley Veall Eréndira M Quintana Morales Verena J Schuenemann Ella Reiter Richard Allen Evangelos A Dimopoulos Richard M Helm Ceri Shipton Ogeto Mwebi Christiane Denys Mark Horton Stephanie Wynne-Jones Jeffrey Fleisher Chantal Radimilahy Henry Wright Jeremy B Searle Johannes Krause Greger Larson Nicole L Boivin |
| author_facet | Mary E Prendergast Michael Buckley Alison Crowther Laurent Frantz Heidi Eager Ophélie Lebrasseur Rainer Hutterer Ardern Hulme-Beaman Wim Van Neer Katerina Douka Margaret-Ashley Veall Eréndira M Quintana Morales Verena J Schuenemann Ella Reiter Richard Allen Evangelos A Dimopoulos Richard M Helm Ceri Shipton Ogeto Mwebi Christiane Denys Mark Horton Stephanie Wynne-Jones Jeffrey Fleisher Chantal Radimilahy Henry Wright Jeremy B Searle Johannes Krause Greger Larson Nicole L Boivin |
| author_sort | Mary E Prendergast |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human-mediated biological exchange has had global social and ecological impacts. In sub-Saharan Africa, several domestic and commensal animals were introduced from Asia in the pre-modern period; however, the timing and nature of these introductions remain contentious. One model supports introduction to the eastern African coast after the mid-first millennium CE, while another posits introduction dating back to 3000 BCE. These distinct scenarios have implications for understanding the emergence of long-distance maritime connectivity, and the ecological and economic impacts of introduced species. Resolution of this longstanding debate requires new efforts, given the lack of well-dated fauna from high-precision excavations, and ambiguous osteomorphological identifications. We analysed faunal remains from 22 eastern African sites spanning a wide geographic and chronological range, and applied biomolecular techniques to confirm identifications of two Asian taxa: domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) and black rat (Rattus rattus). Our approach included ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis aided by BLAST-based bioinformatics, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) collagen fingerprinting, and direct AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) radiocarbon dating. Our results support a late, mid-first millennium CE introduction of these species. We discuss the implications of our findings for models of biological exchange, and emphasize the applicability of our approach to tropical areas with poor bone preservation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T00:29:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8032c6786e364a2e82e4e29b796babe0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T00:29:58Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-8032c6786e364a2e82e4e29b796babe02022-12-21T23:24:54ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01128e018256510.1371/journal.pone.0182565Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets.Mary E PrendergastMichael BuckleyAlison CrowtherLaurent FrantzHeidi EagerOphélie LebrasseurRainer HuttererArdern Hulme-BeamanWim Van NeerKaterina DoukaMargaret-Ashley VeallEréndira M Quintana MoralesVerena J SchuenemannElla ReiterRichard AllenEvangelos A DimopoulosRichard M HelmCeri ShiptonOgeto MwebiChristiane DenysMark HortonStephanie Wynne-JonesJeffrey FleisherChantal RadimilahyHenry WrightJeremy B SearleJohannes KrauseGreger LarsonNicole L BoivinHuman-mediated biological exchange has had global social and ecological impacts. In sub-Saharan Africa, several domestic and commensal animals were introduced from Asia in the pre-modern period; however, the timing and nature of these introductions remain contentious. One model supports introduction to the eastern African coast after the mid-first millennium CE, while another posits introduction dating back to 3000 BCE. These distinct scenarios have implications for understanding the emergence of long-distance maritime connectivity, and the ecological and economic impacts of introduced species. Resolution of this longstanding debate requires new efforts, given the lack of well-dated fauna from high-precision excavations, and ambiguous osteomorphological identifications. We analysed faunal remains from 22 eastern African sites spanning a wide geographic and chronological range, and applied biomolecular techniques to confirm identifications of two Asian taxa: domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) and black rat (Rattus rattus). Our approach included ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis aided by BLAST-based bioinformatics, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) collagen fingerprinting, and direct AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) radiocarbon dating. Our results support a late, mid-first millennium CE introduction of these species. We discuss the implications of our findings for models of biological exchange, and emphasize the applicability of our approach to tropical areas with poor bone preservation.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5560628?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Mary E Prendergast Michael Buckley Alison Crowther Laurent Frantz Heidi Eager Ophélie Lebrasseur Rainer Hutterer Ardern Hulme-Beaman Wim Van Neer Katerina Douka Margaret-Ashley Veall Eréndira M Quintana Morales Verena J Schuenemann Ella Reiter Richard Allen Evangelos A Dimopoulos Richard M Helm Ceri Shipton Ogeto Mwebi Christiane Denys Mark Horton Stephanie Wynne-Jones Jeffrey Fleisher Chantal Radimilahy Henry Wright Jeremy B Searle Johannes Krause Greger Larson Nicole L Boivin Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets. PLoS ONE |
| title | Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets. |
| title_full | Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets. |
| title_fullStr | Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets. |
| title_short | Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets. |
| title_sort | reconstructing asian faunal introductions to eastern africa from multi proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5560628?pdf=render |
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