Person:

Shnaider, Svetlana

The Early Holocene development and dispersal of agropastoralism transformed the cultural and ecological landscapes of the Old World – but little is known about when or how this process first impacted Central Asia. Here, we present new archaeological/biomolecular evidence from Obishir V in southern Kyrgyzstan, establishing the presence of domesticated sheep by ca. 6000 BCE. Zooarchaeological and collagen peptide mass fingerprinting show exploitation of Ovis and Capra, while cementum analysis of intact teeth implicates possible pastoral slaughter during the fall season. Most significantly, ancient DNA reveals these directly dated specimens as the domestic O. aries, within the genetic diversity of domesticated sheep lineages. Together, these results provide the earliest evidence for the use of livestock in the mountains of the Ferghana Valley, predating previous evidence by three thousand years and suggesting that domestic animal economies reached the mountains of interior Central Asia far earlier than previously recognized.

We are a group of archaeologists, anthropologists, curators, and geneticists representing 24 countries and diverse global communities, most of whom met in November 2020 in a virtual workshop dedicated to ethics in ancient DNA research. There was widespread agreement that globally applicable ethical guidelines are needed, but that recent recommendations grounded in discussion about research on human remains from North America are not always generalizable worldwide. After considering diverse contexts, we developed a set of globally applicable guidelines. These hold that: 1) researchers must ensure that all regulations were followed in the places where they work and from which the human remains derived; 2) researchers must prepare a detailed plan prior to beginning any study; 3) researchers must minimize damage to human remains; 4) researchers must ensure that data are made available following publication to allow critical reexamination of scientific findings; and 5) researchers must engage with other stakeholders from the beginning of a study and ensure respect and sensitivity to stakeholder perspectives. We commit to adhering to these guidelines and expect they will promote a high ethical standard going forward.