STORIES OF OURSELVES

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

We did animals last week, so I think it’s time we turned our attention to one of the most prevalent animals on the planet; us. No, we’re not THE most prevalent. Discounting the bacteria and other uni-cells (who win hands-down if counted), the most prevalent life form on the planet is probably the insects both in numbers and in mass. But we find it fascinating to study about us so I’ve found some stories about our history that I think you’ll enjoy. And, of course, everybody enjoys a good murder!

THE FIRST MURDER?

Our story begins between 50,000 and 75,000 years ago in a cave in the Zagros Mountains in what is now Iraq. Most of our ancestors lived in caves and in the ’50’s and ’60’s archaeologists found the remains of nine Neanderthals in this cave. One of them called "Shanidar 3," was a 40- to 50-year-old male with signs of arthritis and a sharp, deep slice in his left ninth rib.

The wounded Neanderthal’s rib had apparently started healing before he died. Comparing the wound to medical records from the American Civil War, a time before modern antibiotics, suggested to the researchers that he died within weeks of the injury, perhaps due to associated lung damage from a stabbing or piercing wound.

Researchers have wondered what caused that wound since the man was discovered. Now researchers from Duke University may have come up with an answer. They think he was killed by humans.

Archaeological evidence suggests that by 50,000 years ago humans, but not their Neanderthal cousins, had developed projectile hunting weapons. They used atlatls; spear throwers with detachable handles that connected with darts and spears to effectively lengthen a hurler’s arm and give the missiles a power boost.

As human weapons technology advanced, Neanderthals continued using long thrusting spears in hunting, which they probably tried — for personal safety — to keep between themselves and their prey instead of hurling them. Both Neanderthals and humans were also armed with stone knives. And both species had developed techniques for making sharp stone points.

While examining this Paleolithic cold case, the study’s authors evaluated all the possible causes of the rib wound with the aid of contemporary tools. The injury is "consistent with a number of scenarios, including wounding from a long-range projectile (dart) weapon, knife stab, self-inflicted accidental injury and accidental stabbing by a hunting partner," the report said.

Drawing from studies aimed at improving police and prison guard protection, the researchers concluded that the downward sweep of a knife could have the correct trajectory to produce Shanidar 3’s rib injury. "Knife attacks generally involve a relatively higher kinetic energy," the report said. But the report also states "whatever created that puncture was carrying fairly low kinetic energy at a low momentum. This is consistent with a spear-thrower delivered spear."

The investigators rigged up a special crossbow to fire stone-age projectiles, using calibration marks on the crossbow to tell them how much force they were delivering with each launch. Those tests revealed the delivered energy needed to create similar wounds in the ribs of pig carcasses, which the researchers used as an approximation of a Neanderthal’s body.

The researchers also used measurements from a 2003 study to estimate the impact of using a spear that was thrust instead of thrown, the kind of jabbing that Neanderthals are thought to have used. Thrusting produced higher kinetic energies and caused more massive rib damage than Shanidar 3 sustained.

Another clue was the angle of the wound. Whatever nicked his rib entered the Neanderthal’s body at about 45 degrees downward angle. That’s consistent with the "ballistic trajectory" of a thrown weapon, assuming that Shanidar 3 — who was about 5 feet, 6 inches tall — was standing.

Bottom line? The analysis indicates the wound was made by someone using an atlatl or spear thrower. It appears that at the time Shanidar 3 died, modern humans had atlatls and Neanderthals didn’t. The report states, "We think the best explanation for this injury is a projectile weapon, and given who had those and who didn’t that implies at least one act of inter-species aggression."

So . . . a Paleolithic murder and the first firm evidence that we may have wiped out our cousins. The Neanderthal probably weren’t the first species we wasted and they certainly won’t be the last.

Steven Churchill holds a facsimile Neanderthal spear and an atlatl, a human spear thrower. (Credit: Les Todd)

We’ll travel forward in time and examine another body for some very interesting clues about the origin of one of the most feared diseases in the world.

THE MAN IN THE SEALED TOMB

Israeli archeologists have been examining remains found in a burial cave near Jerusalem. The cave, known as the Tomb of the Shroud, is located in the lower Hinnom Valley and is part of a 1st century cemetery known as Akeldama or ‘Field of Blood’.

One of the first interesting things the scientists discovered is that the man in the tomb didn’t receive a secondary burial. Secondary burials were common practice at the time. The bones were removed after a year and placed in an ossuary (a stone bone box). In this case, however, the entrance to this part of the tomb was completely sealed with plaster.

There was apparently a very good reason for that. The researchers discovered that the man buried in the sealed tomb suffered from leprosy and died of tuberculosis, as the DNA of both diseases was found in his bones. This is the earliest case of leprosy yet found.

Historically, disfiguring diseases — particularly leprosy — caused the afflicted individuals to be ostracized from their communities. But apparently this sufferer, based on a number of things like the location and size of the tomb, the type of textiles used as shroud wrappings, and the clean state of the hair was a fairly affluent member of society in Jerusalem and that tuberculosis and leprosy weren’t confined to the poor in the first century AD.

The man was also wrapped in a burial shroud and this is the first time that fragments of shroud material have been positively dated to the first century AD. The shroud is very different to that of the Turin Shroud, hitherto assumed to be the one that was used to wrap the body of Jesus. Unlike the complex weave of the Turin Shroud, this is made up of a simple two-way weave.

Based on the assumption that this is a typical burial shroud widely used at the time of Jesus, the researchers conclude that the Turin Shroud did not originate from Jesus-era Jerusalem. The researchers also found a clump of the shrouded man’s hair, which had been ritually cut prior to his burial.

The first indication of the origins of an ancient and modern scourge and a simple burial shroud. History has much to teach us about ourselves.

This is a sample of the shroud which shows the simple two-way weave used for burial shrouds in 1st century C.E. Jerusalem. (Credit: Prof. Shimon Gibson)

Now we’ll travel forward in time again. We know what spears and burial shrouds can tell us, but what can we learn from books? Read on!

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Thousands of painstakingly handwritten books produced in medieval Europe still exist today, but scholars have long struggled with questions about when and where the majority of these works originated. Now a researcher from North Carolina State University is using modern advances in genetics to develop techniques that will shed light on the origins of these important cultural artifacts.

Many medieval manuscripts were written on parchment made from animal skin, and the researchers are working to perfect techniques for extracting and analyzing the DNA contained in these skins; Their long-term goal is to create a genetic database that can be used to determine when and where a manuscript was written.

The genetic testing will create a baseline using the DNA of parchment found in the relatively small number of manuscripts that can be reliably dated and their origin points fixed. Each manuscript can provide a wealth of genetic data because a typical medieval parchment book includes the skins of more than 100 animals.

Once the researchers have created a baseline of DNA markers with known dates and localities, they can take samples from manuscripts of unknown origin. Then they can determine the degree of relationship between the animals whose skins were used in manuscripts of unknown origin and those used in the baseline manuscripts. They hope this DNA comparison will enable them to identify genetic similarities that would indicate the general time and locale where a book was written.

It may also allow us to trace the trade route of parchments throughout the medieval world; a scholarly achievement that would provide a wealth of data on the evolution of the book industry during the Middle Ages.

A Greek Gospel from the 10th century. Researchers are using modern advances in genetics to develop techniques that will shed light on the origins of medieval manuscripts. (Credit: iStockphoto/Arpad Benedek)

A little march through time as we learn a little more about ourselves.