
Philipp Wolfgang StockhammerLudwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich | LMU · Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche und Provinzialrömische Archäologie
Philipp Wolfgang Stockhammer
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165
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
December 2016 - present
July 2016 - present
September 2013 - June 2016
Publications
Publications (165)
Zoonoses are among the greatest threats to human health, with many zoonotic pathogens believed to have emerged during prehistory. Palaeomicrobiological investigations of the zooarchaeological record hold potential to uncover the reservoirs, host ranges, and host adaptations of zoonotic pathogens but face challenges in identifying promising specimen...
In this study, we present the results of archaeogenetic investigations of Early Bronze Age individuals from Lower Austria, specifically associated with the Unetice and Unterwoelbling cultural groups. Through analysing newly generated genome-wide data of 138 individuals, we explore the social structure and genetic relationships within and between th...
This study explores changes in pastoral practices in the Jerusalem region (Iron Age II - Late Hellenistic) through a multi-isotope approach (strontium, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen). Based on the analysis of 135 sheep, goat, and cattle teeth and bone samples from Givati Parking Lot we demonstrate the value of this method in reconstructing past anim...
In the early 13th century BCE massive stone terrace walls were constructed on the steep slopes of Bresto turning a previously unoccupied slope into a thriving village. Around 1200 BCE the site burnt down and was immediately rebuilt and fortified with a 1,80-2,00 m wide fortification wall with stone foundations. In the early 11th century BCE Bresto...
Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) was an important Bronze Age urban center that dominated one of the central crossroads of the Ancient Near East, connecting Egypt and the Levant with northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Syria, as well as the interior with the Mediterranean coast. However, by the early Iron Age, the site had shrunk to a small rural settlem...
Archaeological and archaeogenetic studies have highlighted the pivotal role of the Caucasus region throughout prehistory, serving as a central hub for cultural, technological, and linguistic innovations. However, despite its dynamic history, the critical area between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountain ranges, mainly corresponding to modern-da...
Malaria-causing protozoa of the genus Plasmodium have exerted one of the strongest selective pressures on the human genome, and resistance alleles provide biomolecular footprints that outline the historical reach of these species¹. Nevertheless, debate persists over when and how malaria parasites emerged as human pathogens and spread around the glo...
Aneuploidies, and in particular, trisomies represent the most common genetic aberrations observed in human genetics today. To explore the presence of trisomies in historic and prehistoric populations we screen nearly 10,000 ancient human individuals for the presence of three copies of any of the target autosomes. We find clear genetic evidence for...
"What is your name?" is not a question that prehistoric archaeologists can ask a person they have excavated. Rather, the 'human remains' are carefully documented, numbered, identified, and archived as objects. In rare cases, however, the archaeological context confronts us with an individual who seems to be looking at us from the past, because of h...
As one of the key, long-term occupied sites in the Southern Levant, Jericho was one of the most important early Neolithic centres to witness social and economic changes associated with the domestication of plants and animals. This study applies strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr), oxygen (δ¹⁸O) and carbon (δ¹³C) isotope analyses to the enamel of 52 human teeth f...
Archaeogenetic studies have described two main genetic turnover events in
prehistoric western Eurasia: one associated with the spread of farming and a sedentary lifestyle starting around 7000–6000 BC (refs. 1–3) and a second with the expansion of pastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppes starting around 3300 BC (refs. 4,5). The period between th...
Der Nachweis der derzeit ältesten Pesttoten Österreichs erfolgte im
Rahmen einer interdisziplinären Analyse der frühbronzezeitlichen Be-
stattungen aus Drasenhofen. Die männlichen Individuen, die im Alter
von 23–30 bzw. 22–27 Jahren verstarben, wurden nicht weit vonein-
ander im nordöstlichsten bzw. südöstlichsten Grab des insgesamt 22
Gräber umfas...
This paper presents the results of a long-term interdisciplinary research project in the micro-region of the Lech Valley in southern Germany. The comprehensive bioarchaeological study of burials from the Late Neolithic until the early Middle Bronze Age brought to light a strict patrilocal system, where each farmstead was populated by a biologically...
This book examines the impact of ancient DNA research and scientific evidence on our understanding of the emergence of Indo-European languages in prehistory. Offering cutting-edge contributions from an international team of scholars, it considers the driving forces behind the Indo-European migrations during the 3rd and 2nd millenia BC. The volume e...
The ability of the ancient Egyptians to preserve the human body through embalming has not only fascinated people since antiquity, but also has always raised the question of how this outstanding chemical and ritual process was practically achieved. Here we integrate archaeological, philological and organic residue analyses, shedding new light on the...
Growing reliance on animal and plant domestication in the Near East and beyond during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) (the ninth to eighth millennium BC) has often been associated with a "revolutionary" social transformation from mobility toward more sedentary lifestyles. We are able to yield nuanced insights into the process of the Neolithizati...
The Neolithic and Bronze Ages were highly transformative periods for the genetic history of Europe but for the Aegean—a region fundamental to Europe’s prehistory—the biological dimensions of cultural transitions have been elucidated only to a limited extent so far. We have analysed newly generated genome-wide data from 102 ancient individuals from...
Migrations constitute one of the most defining features of human history from the very beginning to the present. In recent years, the increasing application of ancient DNA and isotope studies has been revolutionising our understanding of past population movements, although the interpretation of the results is often still controversial. This volume...
Migrations constitute one of the most defining features of human history from the very beginning to the present. In recent years, the increasing application of ancient DNA and isotope studies has been revolutionising our understanding of past population movements, although the interpretation of the results is often still controversial. This volume...
During the late 3rd millennium BCE, the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East witnessed societal changes in many regions, which are usually explained with a combination of social and climatic factors.1, 2, 3, 4 However, recent archaeogenetic research forces us to rethink models regarding the role of infectious diseases in past societal trajectories.⁵...
Within the last decade, archaeogenetic analysis has revolutionized archaeological research and enabled novel insights into mobility, relatedness and health of past societies. Now, it is possible to develop these results further and integrate archaeogenetic insights into biological relatedness with radiocarbon dates as means of chronologically seque...
Significance
The bacterium Yersinia pestis has caused numerous historically documented outbreaks of plague and research using ancient DNA could demonstrate that it already affected human populations during the Neolithic. However, the pathogen’s genetic diversity, geographic spread, and transmission dynamics during this early period of Y. pestis evo...
This paper presents the earliest evidence for the exploitation of lignite (brown coal) in Europe and sheds new light on the use of combustion fuel sources in the 2nd millennium BCE Eastern Mediterranean. We applied Thermal Desorption/Pyrolysis–Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Polarizing Microscopy to the dental calculus of 67 individuals an...
Although the first ancient DNA molecules were extracted more than three decades ago, the first ancient nuclear genomes could only be characterized after high-throughput sequencing was invented. Genome-scale data have now been gathered from thousands of ancient archaeological specimens, and the number of ancient biological tissues amenable to genome...
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare¹. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc³. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestic...
We are a group of archaeologists, anthropologists, curators and geneticists representing diverse global communities and 31 countries. All of us met in a virtual workshop dedicated to ethics in ancient DNA research held in November 2020. There was widespread agreement that globally applicable ethical guidelines are needed, but that recent recommenda...
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between ~10,500 and ~400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between ~...
Uniparentally-inherited markers on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the non-recombining regions of the Y chromosome (NRY), have been used for the past 30 years to investigate the history of humans from a maternal and paternal perspective. Researchers have preferred mtDNA due to its abundance in the cells, and comparatively high substitution rate. Conv...
The Middle and Late Bronze Age, a period roughly spanning the 2nd millennium BC (ca. 2000–1200 BC) in the Near East, is frequently referred to as the first ‘international age’, characterized by intense and far-reaching contacts between different entities from the eastern Mediterranean to the Near East and beyond. In a large-scale tandem study of st...
Uniparentally-inherited markers on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the non-recombining regions of the Y chromosome (NRY), have been used for the past 30 years to investigate the history of humans from a maternal and paternal perspective.
Researchers have preferred mtDNA due to its abundance in the cells, and comparatively high substitution rate. Conv...
This paper reports on the MH II/III Burial Cluster II excavated at the MH acropolis of Aghios Ioannis in Boeotia, Greece. The burial ground comprises various funerary structures (tumulus, rectangular enclosure, cist graves) and provides evidence on primary and secondary mortuary treatment. The analysis is based on the remains of 22 individuals and...
Significance
Here we report the identification of staple and exotic food remains in Bronze and Early Iron Age dental calculus from the Southern Levant. The analysis of dietary plant microremains and proteins sheds new light on consumed exotic foods from South and East Asia during the second millennium BCE. We provide the earliest direct evidence in...
The Middle and Late Bronze Age Near East, a period roughly spanning the second millennium BC (ca. 2000-1200 BC), is frequently referred to as the first ‘international age’, characterized by intense and far-reaching contacts between different entities from the eastern Mediterranean to the Near East and beyond. In a large-scale tandem study of stable...
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Background:
Recent advances in sequencing have facilitated large-scale analyses of the metagenomic composition of different samples, including the environmental microbiome of air, water, and soil, as well as the microbiome of living humans and other animals. Analyses of the microbiome of ancient human samples may provide insights into human health...
Here, we report genome-wide data analyses from 110 ancient Near Eastern individuals spanning the Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age, a period characterized by intense interregional interactions for the Near East. We find that 6 th millennium BCE populations of North/Central Anatolia and the Southern Caucasus shared mixed ancestry on a genetic cline...
Genetic studies of Neolithic and Bronze Age skeletons from Europe have provided evidence for strong population genetic changes at the beginning and the end of the Neolithic period. To further understand the implications of these in Southern Central Europe, we analyze 96 ancient genomes from Switzerland, Southern Germany, and the Alsace region in Fr...
It has been hypothesized that the Neolithic transition towards an agricultural and pastoralist economy facilitated the emergence of human-adapted pathogens. Here, we recovered eight Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica genomes from human skeletons of transitional foragers, pastoralists and agropastoralists in western Eurasia that were up to 6,500 yr...
Dairy pastoralism is integral to contemporary and past lifeways on the eastern Eurasian steppe, facilitating survival in agriculturally challenging environments. While previous research has indicated that ruminant dairy pastoralism was practiced in the region by circa 1300 bc, the origin, extent and diversity of this custom remain poorly understood...
The Early Celtic site of the Heuneburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany) has long been understood as a hallmark of early urbanization in Central Europe. The rich collection of Mediterranean imports recovered from the settlement, the elite burials in its surroundings and the Mediterranean-inspired mudbrick fortification wall further point to the importa...
Ancient DNA informs on past cultures
Archaeology has used analysis of the artifacts and remains of people to uncover their past behaviors and to infer their cultural practices. However, establishing genetic relationships has only recently become possible. Mittnik et al. examined the kinship and inheritance of the remains of people from the German L...
Our excavations in the Southwestern Bulgarian mountains required that we should characterize the different settlements and spaces we have studied. In order to achieve a new under-standing of the spaces we study, we argue that the concept of space in world-systems perspectives is not compatible with a performative notion of space and does not do jus...
In this paper a novel approach for quantifying matter fluxes into archaeological sites is presented. Using the case studies of two multilayered sites with occupations before, during, and after the Bronze Age (Arslantepe and Niederröblingen), one Bronze Age multilayered site (Fidvár by Vráble), and a trash deposit from a fourth (Bresto), the potenti...
The ancient Mediterranean port city of Ashkelon, identified as “Philistine” during the Iron Age, underwent a marked cultural change between the Late Bronze and the early Iron Age. It has been long debated whether this change was driven by a substantial movement of people, possibly linked to a larger migration of the so-called “Sea Peoples.” Here, w...
The rich Mediterranean imports found in Early Celtic princely sites (7th-5th cent. BC) in Southwestern Germany, Switzerland and Eastern France have long been the focus of archaeological and public interest. Consumption practices, particularly in the context of feasting, played a major role in Early Celtic life and imported ceramic vessels have cons...
Four small ceramic juglets that had been used as containers for offerings in an elite Middle Bronze Age III (ca. 1650-1550 BCE) masonry tomb uncovered at Tel Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley, Israel were tested using organic residue analysis. Notably, residues of vanillin, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, and acetonvanillone were identified in three of the four...
Anatolia was home to some of the earliest farming communities. It has been long debated whether a migration of farming groups introduced agriculture to central Anatolia. Here, we report the first genome-wide data from a 15,000-year-old Anatolian hunter-gatherer and from seven Anatolian and Levantine early farmers. We find high genetic continuity (~...