17 research outputs found
An Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery at Walkington Wold, Yorkshire
No full textThis paper presents a re-evaluation of a cemetery excavated over
30 years ago at Walkington Wold in east Yorkshire. The cemetery is
characterized by careless burial on diverse alignments, and by the fact that
most of the skeletons did not have associated crania. The cemetery has been
variously described as being the result of an early post-Roman massacre, as
providing evidence for a ‘Celtic’ head cult or as an Anglo-Saxon execution
cemetery. In order to resolve the matter, radiocarbon dates were acquired and
a re-examination of the skeletal remains was undertaken. It was confirmed that
the cemetery was an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery, the only known example
from northern England, and the site is set into its wider context in the paper
Transient naive reprogramming corrects hiPS cells functionally and epigenetically
No full textCells undergo a major epigenome reconfiguration when reprogrammed to human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS cells). However, the epigenomes of hiPS cells and human embryonic stem (hES) cells differ significantly, which affects hiPS cell function1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. These differences include epigenetic memory and aberrations that emerge during reprogramming, for which the mechanisms remain unknown. Here we characterized the persistence and emergence of these epigenetic differences by performing genome-wide DNA methylation profiling throughout primed and naive reprogramming of human somatic cells to hiPS cells. We found that reprogramming-induced epigenetic aberrations emerge midway through primed reprogramming, whereas DNA demethylation begins early in naive reprogramming. Using this knowledge, we developed a transient-naive-treatment (TNT) reprogramming strategy that emulates the embryonic epigenetic reset. We show that the epigenetic memory in hiPS cells is concentrated in cell of origin-dependent repressive chromatin marked by H3K9me3, lamin-B1 and aberrant CpH methylation. TNT reprogramming reconfigures these domains to a hES cell-like state and does not disrupt genomic imprinting. Using an isogenic system, we demonstrate that TNT reprogramming can correct the transposable element overexpression and differential gene expression seen in conventional hiPS cells, and that TNT-reprogrammed hiPS and hES cells show similar differentiation efficiencies. Moreover, TNT reprogramming enhances the differentiation of hiPS cells derived from multiple cell types. Thus, TNT reprogramming corrects epigenetic memory and aberrations, producing hiPS cells that are molecularly and functionally more similar to hES cells than conventional hiPS cells. We foresee TNT reprogramming becoming a new standard for biomedical and therapeutic applications and providing a novel system for studying epigenetic memory
Missing, Presumed Buried? Bone Diagenesis and the Under-Representation of Anglo-Saxon Children
No full textYesSam Lucy (1994: 26) has stated that a `recognised feature of pre-Christian early medieval cemeteries in eastern England is the smaller number of younger burials recovered¿. Although taphonomic factors such as the increased rate of decay of the remains of children and shallow depth of burial have been suggested as possible explanations for this phenomenon, these have been disregarded in favour of cultural influences, with younger children thought to have been disposed of in a different way from adult remains (Lucy, 1994; Härke, 1997; Crawford, 1999). This paper will review the evidence concerning the treatment of the remains of children during the Anglo-Saxon period. It will then review the factors affecting bone preservation, with special reference to the bones of children, and attempt to assess to what extent the under-representation of children in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries can be attributed to bone preservation and soil type. It will show that hypotheses should not be formulated without full consideration of the taphonomy that may affect the completeness of the archaeological record
Caring for the dead in later Anglo-Saxon England
No full text[FIRST PARAGRAPH]
The textual evidence for attitudes to death and the regulations surrounding burial
in the tenth and eleventh centuries includes law-codes, penitentials and homilies.
There have been numerous studies of this evidence, including that by Tinti elsewhere
in this volume, and therefore only a brief review is offered here. Law-codes
reveal concern with where the dead should be buried and with ensuring that
various payments, including those for mortuary provision, should be made to the
appropriate church. The payment known as soul-scot, a burial tax which was paid
to the minster church, is not codified until the early eleventh century, but is clearly
of earlier origin given that it is mentioned in charters of the late ninth century. In
a law-code issued by King Æthelred in 1008 it is stated that ‘if any body is buried
elsewhere outside the proper parish (rihtscriftscire), the payment for the soul is
nevertheless to be paid to the minster to which it belongs’, which implies that the
income to minster churches was under threat. Indeed, the observations of Ælfric
of Eynsham c.1006 imply that there was sometimes priestly competition to tend
to the bodies of the deceased, and doubtless also to claim the funerary dues:
‘Some priests are glad when men die and they flock to the corpse like greedy
ravens when they see a carcass, in wood or in field; but it is fitting for [a priest] . . .
to attend the men who belong to his parish (hyrnysse) at his church; and he must
never go into another’s district to any corpse, unless he is invited.
Transcriptional signature in microglia associated with Abeta plaque phagocytosis
No full textThe role of microglia cells in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is well recognized, however their molecular and functional diversity remain unclear. Here, we isolated amyloid plaque-containing (using labelling with methoxy-XO4, XO4⁺) and non-containing (XO4⁻) microglia from an AD mouse model. Transcriptomics analysis identified different transcriptional trajectories in ageing and AD mice. XO4⁺ microglial transcriptomes demonstrated dysregulated expression of genes associated with late onset AD. We further showed that the transcriptional program associated with XO4⁺ microglia from mice is present in a subset of human microglia isolated from brains of individuals with AD. XO4⁻ microglia displayed transcriptional signatures associated with accelerated ageing and contained more intracellular post-synaptic material than XO4⁺ microglia, despite reduced active synaptosome phagocytosis. We identified HIF1α as potentially regulating synaptosome phagocytosis in vitro using primary human microglia, and BV2 mouse microglial cells. Together, these findings provide insight into molecular mechanisms underpinning the functional diversity of microglia in AD.Alexandra Grubman, Xin Yi Choo, Gabriel Chew, John F. Ouyang, Guizhi Sun, Nathan P. Croft, Fernando J. Rossello, Rebecca Simmons, Sam Buckberry, Dulce Vargas Landin, Jahnvi Pflueger, Teresa H. Vandekolk, Zehra Abay, Yichen Zhou, Xiaodong Liu, Joseph Chen, Michael Larcombe, John M. Haynes, Catriona McLean, Sarah Williams, Siew Yeen Chai, Trevor Wilson, Ryan Lister, Colin W. Pouton, Anthony W. Purcell, Owen J.L. Rackham, Enrico Petretto, Jose M. Pol
Author Correction: Recurrent acquisition of cytosine methyltransferases into eukaryotic retrotransposons
No full textThe original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Hongfei Li, which was incorrectly given as Fei Hong. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.</jats:p
Finding Vikings in the Danelaw: An osteological and isotopic analysis of the Masham Anglo-Scandinavian cemetery.
No full textThe utility of carpals for sex assessment: a preliminary study
No full textNoSex assessment is key when investigating human remains either from medicolegal contexts or archaeological sites. Sex is usually assessed by examination of the skull and pelvis, but this may not always be possible if skeletal material is fragmented or incomplete. The present study investigated the potential for using carpals to assess sex, utilizing one hundred individuals of known-sex from the Christ Church, Spitalfields Collection, curated at the Natural History Museum (London). A series of newly-defined measurements are applied to all eight carpals. Inter- and intra- observer error tests show that all measurements are satisfactorily reproduced by the first author and another observer. Paired t-tests to investigate side asymmetry of the carpals reveal that some, but not all, measurements are consistently larger on the right hand side than the left. Independent t-tests confirm that all carpals are sexually dimorphic. Univariate measurements produce accuracy levels that range from 64.6 to 84.7%. Stepwise discriminant function analysis, devised separately for left and right sides, provides reliable methods for assessing sex from single and multiple carpals, with an accuracy range of 71.7 to 88.6%. All functions derived are tested for accuracy on a sample of twenty additional individuals from the Christ Church, Spitalfields Collection
The Bioarchaeology of Disability: A population-scale approach to investigating disability, physical impairment, and care in archaeological communities
No full textYesObjective: This research introduces ‘The Bioarchaeology of Disability’ (BoD), a population-scale approach which allows for a comprehensive understanding of disability in past communities through a combination of palaeopathological, funerary, and documentary analyses.
Methods: The BoD consists of three phases: 1) Contextualisation includes period-specific literature review; 2) Data collection consists of palaeopathological re-analysis of individuals with physical impairment and collation of mortuary treatment data; and 3) Analysis incorporates qualitative and quantitative comparison of the funerary treatment of individuals with and without physical impairment to explore contemporary perceptions of disability.
Materials: The BoD is demonstrated through a case study investigation of disability in later Anglo-Saxon England (c.8th-11th centuries AD) which included four burial populations (Ntotal=1,543; Nimpaired=28).
Results: Individuals with disability could be buried with normative or non-normative treatment (e.g., stone/clay inclusions, non-normative body positioning), and in marginal, non-marginal, and central locations.
Conclusions: The overall funerary variation for individuals with disability was relatively slight, which may suggest that political and religious factors were influencing normative funerary treatment of disabled individuals. The funerary variability that was observed in disabled individuals was probably influenced by individual and community-specific beliefs.
Significance: This research describes a population-scale approach to archaeological disability studies that can be replicated in other archaeological contexts.
Limitations: Individuals with non-skeletal physical impairment (e.g., soft tissue, mental) cannot be analysed osteologically and are not considered by the BoD.
Suggestions for further research: The BoD should be applied to different archaeological communities around the world to better understand disability in the past.This work was supported by the Society for Church Archaeology who awarded a Research Grant to the lead author which funded analysis of the Priory Orchard and St. Peter’s Church collections. Research trips were also funded by the University of Bradford, School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences’ research funds for PhD students
Erratum: Author Correction: Recurrent acquisition of cytosine methyltransferases into eukaryotic retrotransposons (Nature communications (2018) 9 1 (1341))
No full textThe original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Hongfei Li, which was incorrectly given as Fei Hong. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article
