The UCD Archaeological Research Seminar highlighted diverse ongoing research, including health patterns in early medieval Ireland, palaeolithic occupation, and ancient genomics of early modern humans. Presenters discussed various topics but struggled with time constraints during their 15-minute slots, limiting the depth of their presentations. The document also includes specific research findings from excavations, indicating the complexities of ancient populations and their health challenges.

1. People and Their Worlds | UCD Archaeological Research Seminar | Part I
Originally posted online on 29 October 2014 at rmchapple.blogspot.com
(http://rmchapple.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/people-and-their-worlds-ucd_29.html)
Part II | Part III >
It all started innocently enough. I received an ostensibly ordinary email from Conor
McDermott at UCD to let me know that their Archaeological Research Seminar People
and Their Worlds would be happening on May 1st. The brochure was certainly
promising:
This year's UCD School of Archaeology Research Seminar will include a range of
presentations from staff, researchers and PhD students, showcasing ongoing and
new research being carried out at University College Dublin. Topics will include
reconstructing health patterns in the early medieval Irish community; Palaeolithic
occupation and ancient genomics of early modern humans; Reconstructing living
conditions in early medieval Ireland; UCD School of Archaeology’s contributions to
Southeast Asian prehistory; Loughmoe Castle and the end of the middle ages; Early
medieval Ireland in northwest Europe; and lots more!
I suppose, like most people, I get sent so many of these invitations that it’s impossible
to be enthusiastic about them all, let alone have the time, finances, and energy to
attend. This one just seemed a little different and something must have clicked in my
head as I decided that I was definitely going to be there. I’ll spare you all the details of
my preparation … save one. I don’t know the University College Dublin campus at
Belfield at all … I think I’ve been there twice in the last two decades … and one of those
was in the company of my brother … when a number of pints were had … so it doesn’t
really count! To counteract my lack of knowledge, I resolved to find and print out a
small collection of maps to bring me safely from Dublin City Centre out to Belfield. In
applying the power of Google to my problem, I discovered that there was a free map of
the UCD campus to be found on Apple’s App Store. In my haste to embrace technology,
I neglected to notice that it was a different UCD … University of California, Davis! I did
rather wonder when my map was showing me Interstate 80, rather than where the 39a
bus stopped. Thankfully, the campus is not as bewilderingly huge as I had feared and
a couple of polite enquiries saw me on my way.
Right … from here on in, I’ve got nothing but the height of praise for the organisers
and the presenters. It was an exceptional experience and I came away with a great view
of the types of cutting edge research that’s happening right now in UCD. For all that,
I’m going to start with a criticism – 15 minutes for a presentation of this type is simply
too short! Some may take the opinion that if a presenter is given 15 minutes to deliver
a presentation, they are obliged to tailor their material to the time available. I have
much sympathy with this position, but on the day, it did seem that most presenters
were forced to gallop through their slides. I felt that this was detrimental to the
presentation of their research. It was certainly detrimental to the condition of the
tendons, ligaments, and whatever else is housed in my hand, wrist, and forearm as I
struggled to take notes and keep pace with the presenters. By the end of the day, my
wrist was just a dull, pulsating thud and all hope of taking coherent notes was long
past. If there are plans to run this event in 2015 (and I sincerely hope there are!), I’d
advise giving a little extra time to the presenters … even five minutes would make a

2. huge difference! I’d suggest, perhaps, starting slightly earlier (if I can get from Belfast
to Belfield with over an hour to spare, anyone who cares to be there can make it for
10am) or not trying to pack in as many speakers … though I’d be loath to do that one!
For these reasons, the following account is somewhat ‘patchy’ … I’ve relied on my
hastily scribbled notes where I have them, and shamelessly augmented them with
extracts from the official abstracts, where I have not. However, all inaccuracies that
remain are mine alone. With all these caveats in mind, we’ll begin …
Omey Island Excavation (Source)
First to the speaker’s podium was Prof Ron Pinhasi, who welcomed all the attendees.
He promised that we would witness an interesting combination of papers that
adequately reflected the diversity of the research undertaken at UCD. He also
underlined the interconnectedness of that research in investigating common questions
through shared techniques, including the use of DNA and advanced techniques of
genetic sequencing, etc. The first session was to concentrate on Morphological
variation, genetics, health and diet and it began with Dr Mario Novak (IRC
Fellowship) to talk about Reconstructing health patterns in the early medieval Irish
community: osteoarchaeological study of the Omey Island skeletal collection. This
presentation is but a small part of his current research project: Analyses of the quality
of life in Europe during the Early Middle Ages (AD 500-1100) - Comparisons between
human skeletal series from Ireland and Croatia based on bioarchaeological, ancient
DNA, and stable isotope data. Within both the Omey Island data and the wider project,
the focus is on the archaeological, social, ecological contexts of the populations, and
investigated through the use of DNA and stable isotope studies. The Irish portion of
this project includes four excavated populations from Augherskea, Co.
Meath, Collierstown, Co. Meath, Gracedieu, Co. Dublin, and Omey Island. Of these,
the Omey island group is, by far, the largest, with c.500 burials.

3. Omey lies of the coast of Connemara, Co. Galway and was excavated in 1990, 1992,
and 1993 by Prof. Tadhg O’Keeffe. The excavations at the monastic site (traditionally
associated with St. Féchín of Fore) revealed evidence for five major phases of
occupation, from the Early Bronze Age to the 18th century. Between the Early and Late
Medieval graveyards, the remains of some 300 individuals were investigated. Of the
160 individuals so far examined by Novak, 43 are sub-adults, 43 are male, 49 are
female, and 25 could not be definitively sexed. In the latter case, this was usually due
to the fact that only partial remains survived. Although Novak urges caution about the
robustness of the means for aging skeletons, he suggests that the average age at death
for adults was 45 years for men and 41 years for women. The youngest set of remains
may be aged to 42 lunar weeks old and was probably a neonatal still-born child. Most
adults died in the period from 36 to 50 years, though there was a very high sub adult
(0-5 years) mortality rate of 25%. In terms of dental health, Novak calculates that there
was an average rate of caries decay per tooth of 4.5%. The figure was 27.3% in the adult
skeletons, though this it was higher in males over females. Ante mortem tooth loss ran
at 15%, though this was again higher in males. To illustrate the point, he showed an
image of a mandible from an older male who had lost all of his teeth on the right side
and noted that tooth loss was positively correlated with age – the older you got, the
more likely you were to lose teeth. Evidence for cribra orbitalia was found on 37.8% of
the population (39 of 103 individuals). It was only found to be active at the time of
death in two cases, indicating that most individuals recovered and survived. Linear
enamel hypoplasia was noted on some 40% of teeth, and on 65% of individuals. Again,
incidence was higher in males over females. This condition is commonly associated
with weaning and forms around the ages of 2 to 4. Indeed, some 40% of the Omey
children suffered severe stress in childhood. Evidence of infectious diseases included
such non-specific infectious diseases as periostitis. Two active cases of periostitis were
identified (one on a new born (<2 years), along with two cases where it had healed,
one on a child of 6-7 years and another on one of 11-13. Evidence of tuberculosis was
found on one skeleton, a female who died between 28 and 35 years. She exhibited lytic
lesions on several vertebrae that led to severe kyphotic deformity.
Some 20 individuals exhibited evidence of some form of skeletal trauma. These
included 10 males, nine females, and one sub adult. Injuries were confined to long
bones, crania, vertebrae, and foot bones, suggesting that most of these were the result
of accidents, not intentional violence. Novak’s preliminary conclusions are that the
demographic evidence suggests that this is not a typical monastic cemetery,
considering the presence of both women and children. The relatively low frequency of
dental caries suggests that the diet was partially based on protein, an observation
supported by the large numbers of animal bones bearing butchery marks recovered
from the excavation. The higher incidence of linear enamel hypoplasia in males is
interesting and Novak suggests that it may represent different weaning strategies
between the sexes. For the most part, this was a peaceful place and relatively similar
to other early medieval sites.
Novak hopes that future work on the Omey Island population (and his larger project
generally) will include a raft of radiocarbon dates and the use of Ancient DNA (aDNA).
It is hoped that the latter will allow new methods of molecular sexing of skeletons, and
the identification of ancient pathologies.

4. Mezmaiskaya Cave (Source)
Then it was Prof. Ron Pinhasi making a return to the podium to talk about his own
work on The palaeolithic occupation and ancient genomics of early modern humans
from Western Georgia. This area of the north and south Caucasus – between the Black
and Caspian seas – has long been seen as an area of interface
between Neanderthals and early modern humans. His current project seeks to refine
the chronology of these Neanderthal and early modern humans through getting dates
from previously excavated material. One of the developments in recent years has been
that Neanderthals are a Eurasian-wide species, not just a European one. Working with
a range of collaborators, Pinhasi has secured new dates from modified animal bone
from Mezmaiskaya and from Nenaderthal bones. Although an initial examination of
the results appears to indicate that the lower material is younger than that above it,
the dates have been clarified through Bayesian modeling and show that Neanderthals
went extinct in this region around 39k BP. Evidence from Ortuala
and Sakazhia indicate that Neanderthals did not survive past 37k BP. There had been
a possibility of an overlap between Neanderthals and early modern humans, but the
evidence now suggests that humans only came to the area about 4ky after the demise
of the Neanderthal population. A reassessment of the sites where evidence of the two
species appear to have been found together leads to the conclusion that these are
mixed deposits, and do not reflect actual experience. At Satsurblia the team have
carried out new excavations, uncovering living surfaces and hearths dating to
approximately 15k BP. At the back of the cave they have evidence of occupation going
back to 20k BP and have recovered an epi-Gravettian tool, the first one identified from
the region. Other work has involved the study of aDNA from two human remains,
dating to 13k BP. The results have been plotted against the DNA signatures of the
modern populations of the area. Preliminary results indicate that they fall between the
Caucasus’ and nearby populations, indicating a remarkable longevity in human
settlement in the area.

5. Example of cribra orbitalia (Source)
Abigail Ash (ERC funded PhD) spoke on Farming and Forging: Living with stress in
Neolithic and metal age Central Europe. Ash noted that studies of health in
prehistoric populations have tended to focus on the transition from hunting and
gathering to largely agricultural subsistence with the adoption of the Neolithic lifestyle
in Europe. She argues that there is a growing awareness of diversity between Neolithic
communities and, in consequence, there is a need for deeper investigation into the
effects of later agricultural intensification on the health of populations, along with
those posed by later development of copper, bronze and iron industries. Her research
focuses on samples from thirteen Central European populations dating from the Early
Neolithic to the Iron Age (from 8k BP to 2k BP), looking for indicators of the health of
the populations. She notes that it is difficult to ask the excavated skeletons questions
about ‘how they are feeling’ and that ideas of population health can only come through
osteoarchaeology. Even still, she was quick to point out that this is an incomplete
record, as many diseases do not manifest on the skeleton. Nonetheless, her work on
those skeletons has identified evidence for a number of diseases, including cribra
orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis, and joint degradation. In a beautiful turn of phrase,
Ash sees health as being ‘at the centre of a dynamic equilibrium’ between time and
genetics. The underlying expectations are that behavioural change over time is
associated with changes in population health. Other expectations include the
expectation that evidence of social stratification can be observed in the skeletal record
and that social stressors leads to reductions in individual longevity. Initial results from
her study populations from Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary etc. from
the Neolithic to the Iron Age show no evidence for a decline of health over time. For
example, the levels of joint degradation show no significant changes between periods.
Other results include the observation that cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis can
be observed at relatively high levels in the Neolithic, falling significantly during the
Bronze Age, but with a defined spike in the Iron Age. She argues that these and similar
results may be correlated with population movements across the region over time.
With the time rapidly approaching midday, the assembled group took time for a brief
coffee break … and I think I’ll leave it there too for this post.

6. Part II | Part III >