Original Position
State formation across cultures and the role of grain, intensive agriculture, taxation and writing
Christopher Opie & Quentin Atkinson
Nature Human Behaviour, forthcoming
Abstract:
The invention of agriculture is widely thought to have spurred the emergence of large-scale human societies. It has since been argued that only intensive agriculture can provide enough surplus for emerging states. Others have proposed it was the taxation potential of cereal grains that enabled the formation of states, making writing a critical development for recording those taxes. Here we test these hypotheses by mapping trait data from 868 cultures worldwide onto a language tree representing the relationships between cultures globally. Bayesian phylogenetic analyses indicate that intensive agriculture was as likely the result of state formation as its cause. By contrast, grain cultivation most likely preceded state formation. Grain cultivation also predicted the subsequent emergence of taxation. Writing, although not lost once states were formed, more likely emerged in tax-raising societies, consistent with the proposal that it was adopted to record those taxes. Although consistent with theory, a causal interpretation of the associations we identify is limited by the assumptions of our phylogenetic model, and several of the results are less reliable owing to the small sample size of some of the cross-cultural data we use.
Assessing the impact of Roman occupation on England through the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis
Rebecca Pitt
Antiquity, forthcoming
Abstract:
The Roman occupation of England (AD 43–410), characterised by urbanisation and militarisation, is generally understood to have had a negative impact on population health. Yet our understanding of associated socioeconomic changes is hindered by the comparatively limited analysis of inhumations from the preceding Iron Age. Deploying the DOHaD hypothesis, this study examines negative health markers in the skeletons of 274 adult females of childbearing age and 372 non-adults aged below 3.5 years from Iron Age and Roman contexts, revealing the long-lasting negative influence of urbanisation but with a more limited impact in rural communities implying continuation of cultural norms.
Oxytocin varies across the life course in a sex-specific way in a human subsistence population
Abigail Colby et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 23 December 2025
Abstract:
Oxytocin, a hormone linked to reproduction and health, may mediate life-history trade-offs across the human life course. Yet, how oxytocin naturally varies with age remains poorly understood. Here, working with the Tsimane, forager-horticulturalists of lowland Bolivia, we collected the largest sample of oxytocin measurements to date (n = 1,242 samples, n = 405 individuals, age = 2 to 84 y, 51% female), and i) examined how oxytocin varies throughout the life course in females and males, and ii) investigated potential drivers of age- and sex-specific variation. Our sample provides rare insight into the relationship between oxytocin and age in a context where energy is limited and trade-offs between reproduction and somatic maintenance are more salient. We found that oxytocin follows a nonlinear sex-specific trajectory throughout the life course. In females, oxytocin levels were high during the reproductive years and declined in the early to midforties, a pattern largely explained by breastfeeding and, to a lesser extent, childcare and good self-rated health. In males, oxytocin was low in early adulthood but high in old age, and although higher oxytocin was linked to good self-rated health, this did not explain the rise in oxytocin in later life. These findings suggest that oxytocin is instrumental for reproduction and caregiving in females and may also be associated with health in both males and females. Together, our work highlights oxytocin’s broader biological significance across the human life course, suggesting that it may play a pivotal role in coordinating age- and sex-specific trade-offs involving reproduction and health.
An Early Neolithic copper axehead: New insights from west Sweden
Malou Blank, Serena Sabatini & Zofia Stos-Gale
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, forthcoming
Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to provide an in-depth study, including both invasive and non-invasive chemical analyses, and lead isotope analysis, of one of the northernmost Early Neolithic copper flat axeheads in Europe, the Öja axehead from west Sweden. In addition, we present an updated catalogue of the early copper axeheads found in Sweden. Our analyses suggest that the copper used to manufacture the Öja axehead originates from eastern Serbian ore sources, confirming previous studies on other Early Neolithic metal finds from southern Scandinavia. Comparing our results with the current understanding of copper production and circulation across the continent during the 5th and 4th millennium BCE, important new questions emerge concerning early copper mining in south-east Europe and the production and consumption of early copper artefacts in Europe and Scandinavia.
The Order of Things: Saunas as Performative Places in Northwestern Iberia during the Late Iron Age
Javier Rodríguez-Corral
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Northwestern Iberia was inhabited by communities whose only settlement model was the hillfort throughout the Iron Age. In archaeological terms, these people are included in the so-called ‘Castro Culture’. These communities experienced social and material changes at the end of the Iron Age. From the second century BC onwards, a more hierarchical and complex social system, together with a process of monumentalization and sophistication of the architecture of the settlements, was adopted. More specifically, in the region between the Douro and Miño rivers, a series of highly original subterranean constructions have been documented. Unique in the archaeological record of the European Iron Age, the function of sites has been much debated, with the most accepted use as steam bath. In this article, these buildings are analysed from a performative approach, to understand their meaning and function in the context of the landscape of the hillforts.