The Pacific islands have experienced multiple waves of human migrations, providing a case study f... more The Pacific islands have experienced multiple waves of human migrations, providing a case study for exploring the potential of using the microbiome to study human migration. We performed a metagenomic study of archaeological dental calculus from 103 ancient individuals, originating from 12 Pacific islands and spanning a time range of ∼3000 years. Oral microbiome DNA preservation in calculus is far higher than that of human DNA in archaeological bone from the Pacific, and comparable to that seen in calculus from temperate regions. Variation in the microbial community composition was minimally driven by time period and geography within the Pacific, while comparison with samples from Europe, Africa, and Asia reveal the microbial communities of Pacific calculus samples to be distinctive. Phylogenies of individual bacterial species in Pacific calculus reflect geography. Archaeological dental calculus shows potential to yield information about past human migrations, complementing studies ...
The stern rudder presents a formidable challenge to the power of the sea. Already extant by the t... more The stern rudder presents a formidable challenge to the power of the sea. Already extant by the twelfth century in the Frisian region, it has long been compared with the quarter rudder of antiquity. Past scholarly studies have focused almost entirely on the reasons for its creation, ignoring the complex evolution of this steering system. The disastrous consequences of the rudder’s loss mid-voyage made its replacement necessary, although this was a last resort. Through a close analysis of the printed sources, the article considers the attempts of the English and French navies to incorporate emergency and spare devices on board. The present review reveals the importance of the stern rudder to seafarers and the means undertaken by these two naval forces in order to find substitutions in the event of damage to the initial rudder.
The Pacific islands have experienced multiple waves of human migrations, providing a case study f... more The Pacific islands have experienced multiple waves of human migrations, providing a case study for exploring the potential of using the microbiome to study human migration. We performed a metagenomic study of archaeological dental calculus from 103 ancient individuals, originating from 12 Pacific islands and spanning a time range of ∼3000 years. Oral microbiome DNA preservation in calculus is far higher than that of human DNA in archaeological bone from the Pacific, and comparable to that seen in calculus from temperate regions. Variation in the microbial community composition was minimally driven by time period and geography within the Pacific, while comparison with samples from Europe, Africa, and Asia reveal the microbial communities of Pacific calculus samples to be distinctive. Phylogenies of individual bacterial species in Pacific calculus reflect geography. Archaeological dental calculus shows potential to yield information about past human migrations, complementing studies ...
The stern rudder presents a formidable challenge to the power of the sea. Already extant by the t... more The stern rudder presents a formidable challenge to the power of the sea. Already extant by the twelfth century in the Frisian region, it has long been compared with the quarter rudder of antiquity. Past scholarly studies have focused almost entirely on the reasons for its creation, ignoring the complex evolution of this steering system. The disastrous consequences of the rudder’s loss mid-voyage made its replacement necessary, although this was a last resort. Through a close analysis of the printed sources, the article considers the attempts of the English and French navies to incorporate emergency and spare devices on board. The present review reveals the importance of the stern rudder to seafarers and the means undertaken by these two naval forces in order to find substitutions in the event of damage to the initial rudder.
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