Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets

Predergast, Mary E, Buckley, Michael, Crowther, Alison, Frantz, Laurent, Eager, Heidi, Lebrasseur, Ophelie, Hutterer, Rainer, Hulme-Beaman, Ardern, Van Neer, Wim, Douka, Katerina, Veall, Margaret-Ashley, Quintana Morales, Erendira, Schuenemann, Verena, Reiter, Ella, Allen, Richard, Dimopoulos, Evangelos, Helm, Richard, Shipton, Ceri, Mwebi, Ogeto, Denys, Christiane, Horton, Mark, Wynne-Jones, Stephanie, Fleisher, Jeffrey, Radimilahy, Chantal, Wright, Henry T, Searle, Jeremy, Krause, Johannes, Larson, Greger and Boivin, Nicole (2017) Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets. PLoS ONE, 12 (e01903).

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Abstract

Human-mediated biological exchange has had global social and ecological impacts. In sub-Saharan Africa, several domestic andcommensal animals were introduced from Asia in the pre-modern period; however, the timing and nature of these introductionsremain contentious. One model supports introduction to the eastern African coast after the mid-first millennium CE, while anotherposits introduction dating back to 3000 BCE. These distinct scenarios have implications for understanding the emergence of longdistancemaritime connectivity, and the ecological and economic impacts of introduced species. Resolution of this longstandingdebate requires new efforts, given the lack of well-dated fauna from high-precision excavations, and ambiguous osteomorphologicalidentifications. We analysed faunal remains from 22 eastern African sites spanning a wide geographic and chronological range, andapplied biomolecular techniques to confirm identifications of two Asian taxa: domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) and black rat (Rattusrattus). Our approach included ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis aided by BLAST-based bioinformatics, Zooarchaeology by MassSpectrometry (ZooMS) collagen fingerprinting, and direct AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) radiocarbon dating. Our resultssupport a late, mid-first millennium CE introduction of these species. We discuss the implications of our findings for models ofbiological exchange, and emphasize the applicability of our approach to tropical areas with poor bone preservation.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Asia, Eastern Africa, Ecological Impact, Introduced Species, Radiocarbon Dating, Subsaharan Africa
Divisions:	Cultural Heritage Institute
Depositing User:	Professor Mark Horton
Date Deposited:	23 Oct 2024 15:50
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2024 15:50
URI:	https://rau.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/16267

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