Kinship practices at the early bronze age site of Leubingen in Central Germany.

With the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe ~ 2200 BC, a regional and supra-regional hierarchical social organization emerged with few individuals in positions of power (chiefs), set apart by rich graves with extensive burial constructions. However, the social organization and stratification within the majority of people, who represent the non-elite, remain unclear. Here, we present genome-wide data of 46 individuals from the Early Bronze Age burial ground of Leubingen in today's Germany, integrating archaeological, genetic and strontium isotope data to gain new insights into Early Bronze Age societies.

Stable population structure in Europe since the Iron Age, despite high mobility.

Ancient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European population structure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000-3000 years before present, YBP), reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age Steppe ancestries. However, little is known about how population structure changed from the historical period onward (3000 YBP - present). To address this, we collected whole genomes from 204 individuals from Europe and the Mediterranean, many of which are the first historical period genomes from their region (e.

Scurvy, anaemia, and rickets under the microscope - Light-microscopy supported investigation of malnutrition in subadult skeletal remains from the medieval central mountain village of Winnefeld (Lower Saxony, Germany).

In the hilly region of Solling in Central Germany, a large number of abandoned medieval settlements is known. In an excavation project of a church ruin and cemetery of the abandoned village Winnefeld from the 12 to 14 century CE, 165 individuals were excavated and anthropologically examined, including a light microscopic investigation. Among these individuals, 105 subadults were identified, from the age-at-death of pre-natal (stillborn) infants, up to juveniles, with the large majority of infants up to two years of age-at-death.

Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between ~10,500 and ~400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between ~20,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the virus present in European and South American hunter-gatherers during the early Holocene.

Madelung-type deformity in a female individual from the Merovingian Period in Central Germany: A rare finding or a rare disease?

Objective: This paper presents a probable case of Madelung-type deformity of the right lower arm in an individual from the Merovingian burial ground (7th and 8 th century CE) from Gotha-Boilstädt (Germany).

Materials: A female individual with an age-at-death of 40-50 years was investigated.

Methods: Macroscopic, osteometric and radiographic analyses were performed using standard methods.

Palaeopathological investigations of cremated human remains - Methodological and comparative study on the example of traces of pathological conditions in the skull.

This paper presents results of palaeopathological investigations carried out on a total of 133 cremation burials from the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman Imperial Period from Germany, the Czech and the Slovak Republics and Turkey. With the fragments of the 118 skulls in total, the aim was to document, diagnose and examine pathological conditions as completely and extensively as possible. These were investigated macromorphologically and then further examined radiologically, scanning electron microscopically and light microscopically in order to create a methodological basis for the determination of the effects of cremation on pathological vestiges on the bones and the extent to which the intra vitam processes involved in the cremation remain detectable.

Probable vestiges of metabolic diseases in Roman Imperial cremations from Northern Germany.

In 2011, a cremation burial ground from the Roman Imperial Period (2 - 3 century CE) was detected at the site of Gessel (district of Diepholz) in Northern Germany. The anthropological investigation of 21 cremations from this burial ground revealed a total of 22 individuals: 10 adults of both sexes and 12 children of less than 7 years. All cremations were obviously carried out at high temperatures above 750 °C.

Serious chronic disease of the cervical spine and trauma in a young female from the middle ages (Czech Republic).

The skeletal remains of the young female (20-24 years) from Grave JP/106, discovered in the Southern Suburb of the Břeclav - Pohansko Stronghold (Early Middle Ages, 9th century-beginning of the 10 century, present day Czech Republic) display several noteworthy pathologies. The first is deformation of the mandible, which was most probably caused by a fracture of the ramus in combination with a subcondylar fracture. The spine of this young woman also exhibits a probable traumatic injury of the cervical spine in combination with a slowly growing structure situated inside the spinal canal, which caused deformation centered upon C7.