Riaan F Rifkin
Riaan F Rifkin
Independent Consulting (Molecular Archaeology/Anthropology)
About
67
Publications
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Introduction
My research focuses on the recovery of ancient DNA from southern African archaeological sediments spanning the period from c. 75 ka to 1.5 ka. My aim is to generate an autochthonous sub-Saharan African disease baseline that precedes the departure of Homo sapiens from Africa after c. 65 ka.
Additional affiliations
January 2017 - present
February 2016 - present
February 2016 - December 2016
Education
January 2009 - January 2012
January 2006 - December 2007
January 2005 - December 2005
Publications
Publications (67)
Background:
The biology of human migration can be observed from the co-evolutionary relationship with infectious diseases. While many pathogens are brief, unpleasant visitors to human bodies, others have the ability to become life-long human passengers. The story of a pathogen's genetic code may, therefore, provide insight into the history of its...
The blood that flows perpetually through our veins and arteries performs numerous functions essential to our survival. Besides distributing oxygen, this vast circulatory system facilitates nutrient transport, deters infection and dispenses heat throughout our bodies. Since human blood has traditionally been considered to be an entirely sterile envi...
Background: The archaeological incidence of ancient human faecal material provides a rare opportunity to explore the taxonomic composition and metabolic capacity of the ancestral human intestinal microbiome (IM). Here, we report the results of the shotgun metagenomic analyses of an ancient South African palaeo-faecal specimen.
Methods: Following...
The Stone Age record of South Africa provides some of the earliest evidence for the biological and cultural origins of Homo sapiens. While there is extensive genomic evidence for the selection of polymorphisms in response to pathogen-pressure in sub-Saharan Africa, e.g., the sickle cell trait which provides protection against malaria, there is inad...
The Stone Age record of South Africa provides some of the earliest evidence for the biological and cultural origins of Homo sapiens. While there is extensive genomic evidence for the selection of polymorphisms in response to pathogen-pressure in sub-Saharan Africa, there is insufficient evidence for ancient human-pathogen interactions in the region...
Following the recovery of a single desiccated palaeo-faecal specimen from Bushman Rock Shelter in Limpopo Province, South Africa, we applied a multi-proxy analytical protocol to the sample. Our results indicate that the distal IM of the Neolithic ‘Middle Iron Age’ (c. AD 1485) Bantu-speaking individual exhibits features indicative of a largely mixe...
Les entrées de grottes et les abris sous roche sont des lieux fréquentés depuis le début du Pléistocène par les homininés anciens puis par les premiers Homo sapiens. Les découvertes archéologiques provenant de plusieurs grottes d'Afrique subsaharienne témoignent de l ' évolution technologique et comportementale des Hommes Anatomiquement Modernes, d...
![Figure 1. Hominin host-switch model (modified from [1]). Schematic...](profile/Charlotte-Houldcroft/publication/325923904/figure/fig1/AS:641437020463105@1529941911105/Hominin-host-switch-model-modified-from-1-Schematic-diagram-of-the-pathogen_Q320.jpg)
Analysis of pathogen genome data sequenced from clinical and historical samples has made it possible to perform phylogenetic analyses of sexually transmitted infections on a global scale, and to estimate the diversity, distribution, and coevolutionary host relationships of these pathogens, providing insights into pathogen emergence and disease prev...
The recent discovery that malignant neoplastic lesions date back nearly 2 million years ago not only highlights the antiquity of cancer in the human lineage, it also provides remarkable insight into ancestral hominin disease pathology. Using these Early Pleistocene examples as a point of departure, we emphasise the prominent role of viral and bacte...
The aim of this guide is to inform Field Guides and staff of Tswalu Kalahari Reserve of the origins, meaning, and socio-religious significance of the engraved art of the Klipbak I engraved site. The information provided within this manual derives from the research carried out by the author for the completion of a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Ar...
The Ovahimba are an ethnic group belonging to the Bantu language group, established in the north of Namibia, mainly in the Kaokoland. The documentary chronicles the work of a scientific expedition, starting from Windhoek, visit Ovahimba villages who so far had little contact with tourism, to document the production and use of red ointments women un...
As an unambiguous indication of complex cognitive capacity, representational art presents explicit evidence for modern and symbolic human behaviour. The only examples of African figurative art dating to the Late Pleistocene comprise seven stone plaques recovered from Apollo 11 Cave in the Huns Mountains, southern Namibia. The plaques derive from a...
Recent experimental and analytical research has provided significant insight into the applications to which earth pigments may have been put in prehistory. The analyses of art mobilier from Apollo 11 Cave confirm the use of various organic and inorganic pigments in the production of figurative art at 30 ka. Experimental research has, however, also...
Apollo 11 Cave was excavated and first described by Wolfgang Erich Wendt in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The cave is located along the Nuob River in a limestone cliff face in the Huns Mountains of southern Namibia. Captivated during excavations by the radio coverage of the Apollo 11 spacecraft mission which returned to earth in July 1969, Wendt...
Archaeological indicators of cognitively modern behaviour become increasingly prevalent during the African Middle Stone Age (MSA). Although the exploitation of ochre is viewed as a key feature of the emergence of modern human behaviour, the uses to which ochre and ochre-based mixtures were put remain ambiguous. Here we present the results of an exp...
Southern Africa has long featured as a key source of information regarding the cultural, behavioural and cognitive evolution of Homo sapiens. Of the indicators of behavioural modernity that become prevalent during the Middle Stone Age (MSA), figurative art presents explicit evidence for fully modern and symbolic human behaviour. The only examples o...
As an unambiguous indication of complex cognitive capacity, representational art present explicit evidence for modern and symbolic human behaviour. The only examples of African figurative art dating to the Late Pleistocene comprise seven stone plaques recovered from Apollo 11 Cave in the Huns Mountains, southern Namibia. The plaques derive from a s...
The African Middle Stone Age (MSA) has long featured centrally in debates about the origins of symbolic and cognitively modern human behaviour. Archaeological sites dated to the MSA document human expansions into uninhabited ecological niches, the geographic patterning of artefact and artistic styles, the selection of variable lithic raw materials,...
Evolutionary hypotheses generally agree that ochre played a role in the adaptive strategies of Homo sapiens, but they differ widely in the functions they assign to it. Red ochre features prominently in early indications of human artistic expression and technological ingenuity in Africa. Ochre could also have been used as an insect repellent during...
Southern Africa has provided much information concerning the cultural, technological and cognitive evolution of Homo sapiens. As indications of cognitive complexity that become prevalent during the Middle Stone Age, abstract and figurative art present explicit evidence for modern and symbolic human behavioural capacity. The only examples of African...
Archaeological indicators of cognitive complexity become increasingly prevalent during the African Middle Stone Age, with the habitual exploitation of red ochre widely viewed as a key feature of the emergence of modern human behaviour. Given that some of the uses of ochre remain ambiguous, we present the preliminary results of an ongoing study in w...
The only figurative art dated to the African Late Pleistocene (c. 30 000 BP) comprise seven stone plaques from Apollo II Cave in southern Namibia. Here we report on the rapid documentation of these seven stone plaques through different methods including high-resolution digital photography, image-based 3D modelling and digital image enhancement.
Evolutionary hypotheses agree that ochre played a role in the adaptive strategies of Homo sapiens, but they differ in the functions they assign to it. Red ochre features prominently in the first indications of human artistic expression and technological ingenuity and it has been proposed that ochre could also have been used as an insect repellent d...
Southern Africa has provided much information concerning the cultural, technological and cognitive evolution of Homo sapiens. As indications of cognitive complexity that become prevalent during the Middle Stone Age, abstract and figurative art present explicit evidence for modern and symbolic human behavioural capacity. The only examples of African...
This documentary film chronicles the work of a scientific expedition amongst the Ovahimba, with the aim to document the chaine operatoire of red ochre exploitation within a traditional yet contemporary society. The Ovahimba form part of a complex socio-economic assemblage of agro-pastoralists who inhabit the Kunene Region of northern Namibia. Ovahi...
The Ovahimba form part of a complex socio-economic assemblage of agro-pastoralists who inhabit the Kunene Region of northern Namibia. Ovahimba women are known for covering their bodies and hair with a red ochre-based substance. It is known as ‘otjise’ and comprises a mixture of milk-derived clarified butter and powdered red ochre. Because the syste...
The use of reactive dyes such as iron oxides (Fe2O) constitutes a form of re-tanning because they bind to collagen side-chains via covalent links. The Ovahimba (Himba) of the Kunene region in northern Namibia are renowned for their use of red ochre as a body cosmetic. It is locally known as otjise and is comprised of a mixture of dairy-derived ‘but...
Ochre powder is produced by first crushing and then grinding red ochre chunks between round upper and flat lower grinding stones. Round cobble-like upper grinding stones are sourced from the banks of the Kunene River some 100 km to the northeast and flat slab-like lower grinding stones from mountain ranges 50 km north of the villages. Grindstones a...
The Ovahimba form part of a complex socio-economic assemblage of hunter-gatherer pastoralists who inhabit the Kunene Region of northern Namibia (Vedder 1928; Malan 1974). Ovahimba women are known for covering their bodies and hair with a red ochre-based substance. It is known as ‘otjise’ and comprises a mixture of milk-derived clarified butter (oma...
Foremost modern examples of the habitual use of red ochre as a body cosmetic comprise the Cushitic-speaking Hamar in Southern Ethiopia (Strecker, 1976; Lydell and Strecker, 1979) and the Ovahimba of north-western Namibia (Kunene Region) and south-western Angola (Kunene and Namibe Provinces) (Galton, 1853; Johnston, 1884; Tönjes, 1911; Kuntz, 1912;...
The Sanga (Bos taurus africanus) cattle breed is well adapted to the arid conditions of north-western Namibia. These originated in East Africa and spread west and south over the last 200 years (Epstein, 1971). The breed was likely domesticated independently in Africa and other bloodlines were introduced only within the last few hundred years (Grigs...
The Ovahimba are an ethnic group belonging to the Bantu language group, established in the north of Namibia, mainly in the Kaokoland. The documentary chronicles the work of a scientific expedition, starting from Windhoek, visit Ovahimba villages who so far had little contact with tourism, to document the production and use of red ointments women un...
This paper presents the preliminary analyses ocherous material recovered from Klipdrift Shelter (KDS). Stratigraphic excavations have resulted in the recovery of a various cultural remains, including ochre. A total of 356 pieces (1756 g) of ochre was recovered during the 2011 to 2013 excavation seasons. Single grain optically stimulated luminescenc...
Surveys for archaeological sites in the De Hoop Nature Reserve, southern Cape, South Africa resulted in the discovery of a cave complex comprising two locations, Klipdrift Cave and Klipdrift Shelter. Excavations commenced in 2010 with Later Stone Age deposits initially being recovered at the former site and Middle Stone Age deposits at the latter....
Ochre is a ubiquitous artefact in Middle Stone Age (MSA) contexts throughout Africa and the Near East. Archaeological evidence for the abrasive processing of ochre to extract pigment powder becomes increasingly prevalent after 100 ka. The habitual exploitation of ochre is interpreted as evidence for symbolism, a proxy for the origin of language and...
The increase in the presence of ‘ochre’ in African Middle Stone Age contexts has been employed, together with changes in human biology and behaviour, to support the hypothesis that ‘modern’ cognitive abilities arose in Africa. The consistent exploitation of ochre is interpreted as evidence for colour symbolism, a proxy for the origin of language an...
It is generally accepted that abstract and iconographic representations are reflections of symbolic material culture. Here we describe a fragmented ocherous pebble bearing a sequence of sub-parallel linear incisions. These were produced by a lithic point and may represent one of the oldest instances of a deliberate engraving. The object was recover...
Over the past four decades, several functional hypotheses
have been proposed for archaeological ochre. Ochre has
been shown to have antiseptic properties and to inhibit the
bacterial production of collagenase. These qualities are
repeatedly cited to support the hypothesis that red ochre
was used to preserve or ‘tan’ animal hides in prehistory.
If c...
At a hill-top site in the Korrannaberg, where there is a water source and a sandy arena embraced
by a rocky ridge, the author persuasively evokes a lively prehistoric ritual centre, with rock gongs,
reverberating echoes, dancing and trance.
Ethnicity has been a focus of socio-scientific research for at least three decades, but for the greater part of that period it has been virtually ignored by archaeologists. As a result, many researchers remain committed to an essentialist approach to ethnicity. The reluctance to respond to such views by taking up more explicitly the dynamic and sit...
This particular research project was carried out as per the requirements set forth by the University of the Witwatersrand for the successful completion of the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Archaeology. In addition to the initial field research which was carried out during January 2005, the project was finalised by another such concludi...
Questions
Questions (6)
Besides Chinese (2600 BC) textual references to gonorrhea-like symptoms, is there any evidence for its (presumably) more ancient origins? In the Near East or Africa perhaps?
Besides Yersinia, Mycobacterium and Treponema, which other pathogens might be expected to preserve in archaeological human skeletal remains and can be detected by molecular (aDNA) methods?
Based on recent literature I am under the impression that the genome-wide comparison of prehistoric and modern pathogen DNA is significant for the following reasons:
- Prehistoric human microbiomes can be screened for novel vaccine targets
- Reconstructed draft genomes may be used to identify close relatives of modern pathogens
- Reference genomes can provide clues that may aid in the timeous and appropriate management of contemporary disease threats
Is this correct? In which other ways can one express the contemporary significance of prehistoric pathogen research?
Serratia marcescens is a broad host-range pathogen and is capable of opportunistic infections of humans. As a member of the Enterobacteriaceae, it is related to Escherichia and Shigella, Salmonella and Yersinia. It is implicated in a wide range of serious infections including pneumonia, lower respiratory tract infection, urinary tract infection, bloodstream infection, wound infection and meningitis. The organism has also been described as an important cause of ocular infection with high incidence in contact lens-related keratitis.
These are to be used as controls for archaeological sites predating their introduction to South Africa after 2000 years ago. I am also interested in Primer Sets for arthropod disease vectors (fleas, mites, ticks and lice) and indigenous southern African games animals (specifically antelope species).
The human flea, Pulex irritans, is a cosmopolitan flea species that has, in spite of the common name, a wide host spectrum. It is one of six species in the genus Pulex; the other five are all confined to the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. The species is thought to have originated in South America, where its original host may have been the guinea pig or peccary.
