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The nature versus nurture debate focuses on the question of whether genetic or environmental factors matter most in the course of human development.
What is it that makes you who you are? Some might say that it is your genes that have the greatest influence in controlling your personality and preferences. Others might say that it is your environment and the unique experiences you have had over the course of your life that have a greater role.
In this article, learn more about the nature vs. nurture debate and what research has found about the contributions of genetic and environmental factors.
Table of Contents
The nature vs. nurture debate is often described as one of the big philosophical and scientific questions facing psychologists. So what exactly does this debate mean? Why is it important for understanding the human mind and behavior?
Let’s start by learning more about each of these factors.
Let’s consider an example. If a student excels at math, is it because they inherited that ability from their parents or because they work hard to learn the subject?
Nature would suggest that they do well because they are genetically inclined to do so, while nature argues that their talent stems from their upbringing and educational background.
The debate over nature and nurture predates psychology and goes back to the days of the ancient philosophers. In philosophy, this is often referred to as the nativism versus empiricism debate. What do these terms mean and how do they relate to nature and nurture?
The nativist approach suggests that inheritance plays the greatest role in determining characteristics. Nativism proposes that people’s characteristics, both physical and mental, are innate. These are things that are passed down genetically from our ancestors. The nativist approach essentially espouses the nature side of the argument.
Noam Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition is one of the best-known examples of nativism in psychology. Chomsky suggested that language develops as a result of an innate language acquisition device. He believed that people are able to learn language because they have an innate, hard-wired capacity for what he referred to as universal grammar.
Empiricism represents the nurture side of the debate. The empiricist approach suggests that all learning is the result of experience and environmental factors.
The philosopher John Locke took an empiricist approach and proposed a concept known as tabula rasa, which means “blank slate.” This approach that the mind is essentially that —a blank slate—and that it is through learning and experience that all knowledge, skill, and behavioral patterns are acquired.
Behaviorism is one example of an empirical approach to understanding human behavior. Behaviorists such as John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner believed that all human behavior was the result of conditioning, either classical (associative) or operant ( reinforcement and punishment ).
Watson was famously known for proclaiming that he could train anyone to be anything using the principles of conditioning, regardless of that individual’s genetics and background.
While few contemporary psychologists take an extreme, hard-lined empiricist or nativist approach, different branches of psychology do sometimes tend to emphasize one influence over the other.
Biological psychology, for example, tends to focus more on the nature side of the debate. This area of psychology focuses on how biological factors influence human behavior, so things such as the brain, neurons, and neurotransmitters are of greater interest than external factors.
Behavioral psychology tends to take the nurture side of the debate, focusing on how environmental factors and learned associations contribute to how people think and act.
Health psychology is an example of an approach that tends to lie somewhere in the middle. Health psychologists are focused on understanding how both biological and environmental factors contribute and interact to affect an individual’s health.
Looking at examples can be helpful to understand why the nature vs nurture debate has been so crucial throughout psychology’s history. The topic is not just an important philosophical debate. It has been critical for understanding what factors influence different aspects of human behavior and has been the source of considerable controversy at times.
Consider the long debate over the factors that influence intelligence. Those on the nature side of the debate suggest that the greatest influence on IQ is inheritance. Some early thinkers such as Francis Galton believed that intelligence could largely be attributed to genetic factors.
Such views have been used to justify discriminatory social policies and attitudes. When some research suggested that some groups of people had lower IQ scores, for example, some researchers interpreted these results to suggest that these individuals scored lower as a result of genetics.
Those taking the nurture side of the debate point out that other factors, including biased test construction, racism, and systemic discrimination impacting educational access and quality, play a more important role.
Inequality, discrimination, and lack of access play a role in shaping how well people perform on intelligence tests and other assessments of educational outcomes.
Sex differences in school performance and attainment is another area where the debate between the contributions of nature vs nurture comes into play. Girls often perform better on verbal tests but less well on math. As they advance in school, girls also become less likely to enter STEM courses and STEM fields.
Those taking a nature perspective might suggest that girls are inherently less capable in these subjects. Nature advocates, however, would point out that social variables, including gender stereotypes and discrimination, have a greater influence.
Many researchers today believe that human behavior is influenced by both nature and nurture, and that it is often the interaction of the two variables that is even more important.
Few modern psychologists would take an extreme nature or nurture position. Rather than asking which one controls specific variables, researchers are more likely to wonder about the degree to which each of these forces plays a role. So what exactly are the relative contributions of nature and nurture?
According to the research, the answer is about 50/50. Researchers collected the results of nearly every twin study conducted over the last half-century. Doing this allowed them to determine which factors played a role in determining certain characteristics.
Twin studies examine similarities and differences by looking at twins who are either raised together or raised apart. This allows researchers to determine the impact of genes versus the environment.
Researchers analyzed more than 2,700 twin studies involving a whopping 14.5 million pairs of twins from 39 different countries and discovered that genes and environment share a roughly equal role in determining who we are.
Variations in personality traits and disease were determined to be 49% due to genetics and 51% due to environment.
One important thing to note is that while the research suggests a 50/50 split, the findings did reveal that genes do play a greater role in the risk of certain diseases. Bipolar disorder, for example, was found to be approximately 70% heritable.
Today, many experts suggest that we should be more concerned with how nature and nurture interact to determine how we develop. For example, we might be genetically inclined toward a certain trait, but our experiences can determine to what degree that trait is expressed.
Height is a good example of how genes and the environment can interact to make you who you are. Even if you inherit genes for tallness, proper nourishment is important for reaching that height. Kids who come from tall families might not become tall if they do not receive proper nutrition during their childhood.
So while we know that both factors are equally important, the question we are left to ponder is just how much of a role each factor plays in the development of certain characteristics. As the research suggests, some diseases are more strongly linked to genetics than to the environment.
As researchers continue to explore how nature and nurture interact, we will continue to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that contribute to who we are.
Haworth CM, Davis OS, Plomin R. Twins Early Development Study (TEDS): a genetically sensitive investigation of cognitive and behavioral development from childhood to young adulthood . Twin Res Hum Genet . 2013;16(1):117-125. doi:10.1017/thg.2012.91
Institute of Medicine (US) Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders. From Molecules to Minds: Challenges for the 21st Century: Workshop Summary. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2008. Grand challenge: Nature versus nurture: How does the interplay of biology and experience shape our brains and make us who we are ? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK50991/
Sravanti L. (2017). Nurture the nature . Indian journal of psychiatry , 59 (3), 385. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_341_17
Is your life and personality shaped by your genes or environment? This is the big question of the nature vs. nurture debate, science has the answer.
Are you simply a product of your environment, or do your genes have the final say? This is the ultimate question of the nature vs. nurture debate. Take a deep dive into the origins of the debate, and learn how epigenetics has upended the argument once and for all.
Nature vs. nurture can be defined as the difference between the genetics that people inherit (nature) vs. the environmental influences that accumulate over a lifetime (nurture). For years, many people have believed that nature rules supreme and reject the idea that environment or parenting has a large role in shaping people.
The big question in the debate is this––how much of a person’s personality is a result of genes, and how much is related to environment and experiences? People have been arguing about this for years for political, personal, and social reasons.
So, what’s the answer…are we shaped by nature or nurture? The answer is both, and it depends on which traits. Read on for the science of nature or nurture below.
Let’s look at some examples to see how nature and nurture impact a person’s development.
Examples of Nature Impacting Human Development:
Examples of Nurture Impacting Human Development:
Nature vs. nurture has changed in many ways, perhaps the most significant change being the understanding of nurture. Early developmentalists saw nurture as the care given to the child by their parents (usually with an emphasis on the mother). Today scientists continue to discover that nurture includes many environmental influences––from prenatal to end-of-life.
While the nature vs. nurture debate was once hotly disputed, most human developmentalists agree that both nature and nurture have a hand in shaping individuals.
What you should know: The study of epigenetics 6 https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/what-is-epigenetics-and-how-does-it-relate-to-child-development/ has changed the nature vs. nurture debate landscape. Genes are not static but are impacted by nurture (environment), making it possible to change and override gene expression.
We’ll get to even more examples below, but let’s look at a couple of scenarios of how nurture can impact genes.
Scenario 1: You are genetically predisposed to obesity, but your mom had excellent dietary health during pregnancy; this impacts your epigenome 7 https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.8700?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed , reducing the risk for obesity and increasing your lifespan.
Scenario 2: In early childhood, you have several negative experiences that deeply impact you. These experiences have the ability to override your natural gene expression 8 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306452212003028?via%3Dihub and “increase the risk not only for poor physical and mental health outcomes but also for impairments in future learning capacity and behavior.”
Everything from social interactions to diet to air quality can impact how genes interact and are expressed.
“Contrary to popular belief, the genes inherited from one’s parents do not set a child’s future development in stone.” — Harvard Center on the Developing Child
The question, as we’ll see, isn’t nature or nurture, but rather nature and nurture.
The nature vs. nurture debate has both been influenced by and has influenced psychology, sociology, and genetics.
Ultimately, all three are concerned with studying how and why people behave the way they do. But this isn’t just about behavior; nature vs. nurture has been extensively studied in relation to the body. Scientists want to know how genes and the environment impact everything from low back pain 9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23335362/ to obesity 10 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3224976/ .
Let’s dive deeper so you can decide for yourself how much nature or nurture may have had a hand in shaping your own personality.
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Sir Francis Galton is credited with first coining the nature vs. nurture phrase. To better understand the beginning of the nature vs. nurture debate, we have to go back to the 1800s to look at why Galton came up with “nature vs. nurture” in the first place. Hold on because it’s not pretty.
Galton was a particularly unlikable anthropologist who gave us fingerprinting (great!) and invented eugenics (why was he knighted?).
He sought to defend his beliefs with science and set out to prove that nature, not nurture, determined the intelligence and “excellence” of a person 11 https://galton.org/books/hereditary-genius/ . His cousin, Darwin, gave his stamp of approval on the “capital account” 12 https://galton.org/letters/darwin/correspondence.htm given by Galton in his book, Hereditary Genius 13 https://galton.org/books/hereditary-genius/text/v5/galton-1869-hereditary-genius-v5.htm#_Toc68688332 .
In the book, Galton used the nature over nurture argument to propose and legitimize the ultimate elimination of criminals, “worthless” individuals, and “inferior” races (including Africans, Australians, Jews, working-class women in London, etc.) by controlling who could procreate and who couldn’t.
While it’s unfortunate Galton had such a negative impact on science, it provides important context. Understanding where the debate originated helps us understand the ethical implications of how an unbalanced view of nature has been used to justify ongoing injustice both in policymaking and the treatment of individuals.
Even though the argument for nature had a sordid start, let’s not throw it out completely! There is a lot we can learn about ourselves, as both nature and nurture have a hand in shaping who we are.
Most developmentalists believe each person is unique and responds to a situation or experience based on many factors. As you try to understand the impact of nature and nurture on yourself or others, please remember while human development is a refined science, people are not computers. People can, and often do, defy the expectations of science, either becoming more or less resilient in the face of challenges.
Now remember, nature involves the genetics that impact a person’s development and personality. Studies have found a person’s genes impact 30-60% of personality 14 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-018-0263-6 . If this sounds like a broad range, it is! But, we must consider all the variables that interact with a person’s genes.
What this really means: Researchers would like to attribute personality traits like neuroticism or extroversion to a specific gene in your body, but, at the end of the day, they can’t. Studies have linked genetics with certain behavior and traits, but studies are often difficult to replicate 16 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7012279/ and may have gaps in the research. Nature clearly impacts a person, but science isn’t as hard and fast as some might think.
Watch our video below to learn what type of personality you have:
Remember the variables we mentioned that impact nature? Those variables are largely introduced by nurture. Here are some examples of how nurture can impact personality.
As you can see, nurture isn’t just how much a mother holds and comforts her baby! This is a limited view of nurture when in reality, there are so many external factors involved. The psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner identified six key ecological systems that profoundly impact a person. All of these systems are an element of nurture.
The ecological systems don’t just impact a person during childhood development. Psychology recognizes that people change through all phases of life! Personality is not set in stone 22 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12757147/ . As a person ages and lives in various environments, this impacts how the person experiences the world around them.
“In the real world, there is no nature vs. nurture argument, only an infinitely complex and moment-by-moment interaction between genetic and environmental effects” — Gabor Maté, Physician and Author
At the end of the day, your genes (nature) are directly impacted by your environment (nurture). This means you have the power to change your genes!
If that doesn’t make sense and you’re still wondering which is more important––nature or nurture, the delightful world of epigenetics has the answers. Let’s start with this beautifully explained infographic from Harvard 6 https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/what-is-epigenetics-and-how-does-it-relate-to-child-development/ .
Image: Harvard Center on the Developing Child
Essentially, epigenetics put to rest the old question of whether nature or nurture is more important in shaping identity and personality. Because of how epigenetics work in your body, nature, and nurture have a symbiotic relationship––one impacting the other and creating an ebb and flow in personality.
You can change your genes by changing your behavior and your environment.
Pro Tip: Studies have found you can begin to modify your epigenetic patterns 23 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3752894/ when you…
As you think about how nature and nurture have impacted you, we encourage you to reflect on your experiences both in the past and the present. Think about the experiences of your parents. What was it like for your mom when she was pregnant with you, the environment you grew up in, and where you find yourself today?
Your life is an intricate story woven with tiny threads of your experiences, the experiences of your environment and community, and the experiences of your ancestors. The past had a hand in shaping the person you are today, but you have the amazing ability to change the direction of who you will become.
The Highlights:
As you identify the areas of your life that you’d like to improve or change, emotional intelligence is an excellent place to start. This is a skill that will help you connect with yourself and others. Check out our article on 10 Emotional Intelligence Traits to Master for Self-Growth .
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The nature vs. nurture debate is the long-standing argument over whether heredity (nature) or environment (nurture) plays a greater role in developing human characteristics and behaviors.
Nature refers to the biological characteristics we are born with, including genetic predispositions toward certain traits. In contrast, nurture includes external influences that shape us, such as culture, relationships, and everyday experiences.
For example, when it comes to personality development, some people believe that genetics play a stronger role than environmental factors; this would be considered a nature-focused perspective.
Others may view the environment as more important. In this case, a nurturing upbringing could help individuals develop their personalities. Therefore, both sides can have valid arguments for their respective positions in the debate.
In the context of the nature vs. nurture debate, nature refers to biological heredity and genetic predispositions inherited by individuals from their parents at birth.
Buheji (2018) states that:
“in the “nature vs. nurture” debate, nature refers to an individual’s innate qualities (nativism)” (p. 221).
This includes physical characteristics such as eye color, facial features, personality traits, and behavioral tendencies.
Genes determine the unique physical characteristics of each individual while also influencing psychological and social behavior.
Some research implies that roughly 50% of an individual’s personality and disposition are pre-determined by genetics (Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001).
However, Krueger and colleagues (2008) state that the interplay between gene-environment interactions has a consequential effect on one’s character traits. Hence, the heritability of personality isn’t always precisely 50%.
So, nature is the hereditary and genetic characteristics pre-determined at birth and influence a person’s behavior.
Nurture, in the context of the nature vs. nurture debate, is used to describe environmental factors that influence an individual’s development.
According to Coon and Mitterer (2014), nurture:
“…refers to the sum of all external conditions that affect a person” (p. 100).
This includes a variety of influences such as parenting style, educational experiences, cultural background, and exposure to different environmental conditions over time.
While “nurture” may naturally invoke ideas of childhood and parental care, environmental components and life experience can shape human mental, emotional, and physical health throughout their lives (Harsha et al., 2020).
For example, lifestyle choices have been found to impact a person’s risk for developing certain diseases and their level of immunity against illness.
Furthermore, addiction susceptibility can be impacted by environmental factors such as peer group that has been observed throughout an individual’s life (Ducci & Goldman, 2012).
Simply, nurture is an umbrella term for any environmental influences that shape the development of a person’s mental, physical, and emotional health.
Nature examples.
The debate surrounding the extent to which human development is influenced by nature (heredity) or nurture (environmental factors) has been around since ancient times.
Plato, the renowned Greek philosopher, argued that beneficial traits in humans were attributable to both nature and nurture. He believed people could adapt to external occurrences throughout their lifetime (Englander, 2010).
However, his mentor Socrates leaned more towards genetics as the primary factor of human development – a notion known as Nativism, which was coined by both philosophers together.
In the late 1800s, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and Sir Francis Galton’s article “Hereditary Talent and Character” sparked a resurgence in interest in this topic (Galton, 1865)
So, Galton (1865) suggested hereditary influences to be at least as important as the environment when determining an individual’s outcomes in life.
The debate continued through subsequent decades, with psychologist John B. Watson’s revolutionary suggestion that environment—what he called “nurture”—was more important than hereditary factors or biology (Herrnstein, 1998).
In recent years, researchers have realized that both internal (genetic) and external (environmental) factors play a role in how individuals develop physically and psychologically.
As such, most experts now subscribe to an approach that looks at how both genetic inheritance and environmental influences work together throughout life to shape each person’s unique character traits and behaviors.
Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression caused by environmental factors, such as diet and exposure to toxins, without altering the underlying sequences of DNA .
It is an emerging field of research that has been gaining prominence in recent years as scientists try to uncover how and to what extent the environment can shape genetic expression (Harvard University, 2019).
Epigenetic influences are now considered a significant factor in the nature vs. nurture debate, particularly in how individuals develop physically and psychologically throughout life.
Evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms can be used to modulate gene expression depending on the environment, thus having a direct influence on an individual’s characteristics and behaviors (Harvard University, 2019).
This means that while both genetics and environment may play a role in determining an individual’s outcomes in life, epigenetics provides an additional layer of complexity by allowing environmental factors to interact with gene expression.
Nature vs. nurture is a decades-old debate that continues to be studied in various fields.
Nativists state that genetics play a major role in determining characteristics and behaviors. For example, a person may have inherited certain traits from their family.
However, empiricists suggest that external factors, such as upbringing and lifestyle choices, can also have a significant influence.
From ancient philosophers to modern-day scientists, this debate has gone through various iterations and continues to evolve today with the introduction of epigenetics.
More recently, epigenetics have emerged as a key factor in the debate. Its mechanisms can be used to modulate gene expression depending on the environment, thus having a direct influence on an individual.
So, it appears that both nature and nurture are important factors in determining an individual’s outcomes in life.
Bouchard, T. J., & Loehlin, J. C. (2001). Genes, evolution, and personality. Behavior Genetics , 31 (3), 243–273. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1012294324713
Buheji, M. (2018). Understanding the power of resilience economy . Mohamed Buheji.
Coon, D., & Mitterer, J. O. (2014). Psychology: A journey . Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.
Ducci, F., & Goldman, D. (2012). The genetic basis of addictive disorders. Psychiatric Clinics of North America , 35 (2), 495–519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2012.03.010
Englander, M. (2010). The nature and nurture of learners . AuthorHouse.
Galton, F. (1865). Hereditary talent and character . University of Bristol Library.
Harsha, N., Ziq, L., Lynch, M. A., & Giacaman, R. (2020). Assessment of parental nurturing and associated social, economic, and political factors among children in the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian territory. BMC Pediatrics , 20 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-020-02317-0
Harvard University. (2019). What is epigenetics? The answer to the nature vs. nurture debate . Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University; Harvard University. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/what-is-epigenetics-and-how-does-it-relate-to-child-development/
Herrnstein, R. J. (1998). Nature as nurture: Behaviorism and the instinct doctrine. Behavior and Philosophy , 26 (1/2), 73–107. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27759383
Krueger, R. F., South, S., Johnson, W., & Iacono, W. (2008). The heritability of personality is not always 50%: Gene-environment interactions and correlations between personality and parenting. Journal of Personality , 76 (6), 1485–1522. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00529.x
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What makes you, you? We know your genes, your parents’ genes, and their parents’ genes all play a big role. But what about everything else—your individual circumstances and surroundings … your life? This week At the Lab , CSHL Assistant Professor Gabrielle Pouchelon gets at the heart of the matter—in your head.
Read the related story: Finding the sweet spot in brain development
Sam Diamond: You’re now At the Lab with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. My name is Sam Diamond and this week At the Lab , “Nature versus nurture.”
SD: It’s one of humanity’s oldest arguments. Are we solely the product of our genetics? Or is it our upbringing and surroundings that determine who we are? Today, we understand that the answer is a bit of both.
SD: What we don’t know is precisely how this works. How do nature, in the form of our individual biological makeup, and nurture, in the form of environmental and experiential factors, interact during our brain’s development?
SD: That question is central to the work of CSHL Assistant Professor Gabrielle Pouchelon. To answer it, she starts with our earliest neural connections.
Gabrielle Pouchelon: In mice, they happen during the first week after birth. So, right after birth, they’re highly connected to their sensory system. And that is also very important because we’re not yet able to create sensorimotor action to integrate the world. But we’re definitely receiving all those sensory inputs.
SD: Pouchelon’s team identified a specific protein that helps regulate the timing of the mouse brain’s early neural connections. Importantly, these connections are temporary and highly dynamic.
SD: That’s critical because it means the brain can adapt to minor mishaps in development without a significant impact. In fact, that’s exactly what Pouchelon’s team observed. When the timing of these connections was altered in mice, the resulting changes were so minute they were hardly detectable.
GP: Indeed, there is no huge defect. They run fine. They explore the same way. And it’s only when we take all of those little behavior sequences and look at them together that we see a difference. So, what we see is nothing that we can interpret as dysfunctional. We can just say that they use their system differently.
SD: Sound familiar? While Pouchelon’s research does not directly connect this atypical behavior with autism, she is willing to speculate that disruptions in the timing of early neural connections could impact how we think and act later in life.
SD: And this speaks to an overarching theme of Pouchelon’s work. Long before we utter our first words, our genetic programming and environmental cues are in regular conversation—nature and nurture talking it out and always listening.
SD: Thank you for listening as we talk out our latest science. If you like what you heard, please subscribe to get another fascinating story like this delivered each week. You can also find more at CSHL.edu. For Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, I’m Sam Diamond, and I’ll see you next time At the Lab .
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By Harri Weber
Posted on Aug 27, 2024 4:03 PM EDT
3 minute read
New research into the link between bee death and pesticides bolsters calls for alternative pest control methods. According to a peer-reviewed study published in Nature Sustainability by researchers at the University of Southern California Dornsife, wild bee sightings in the U.S. have fallen by as much as 43% in areas with high pesticide use, versus areas where no pesticides are used.
While data is mixed on the status of the more recognizable honeybee, which was brought to the Americas by European colonizers in the 17th century, the decline of native pollinators is evident ; about a quarter of wild bee species are “imperiled and at increasing risk of extinction,” according to a 2017 study by the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, which cited habitat loss and pesticide use as the primary threats, along with climate change and urbanization.
To better understand the interaction between pesticides and native bees, the USC researchers analyzed 178,589 observations of 1,081 wild bee species, pulling from museum records, ecological surveys, and community science data, as well as governmental land and county-level pesticide surveys. For wild bees, the researchers found that the “negative effects of pesticides are widespread,” and the rise in use of two common pesticides, neonicotinoid and pyrethroid, “is a major driver of changes in occupancy across hundreds of wild bee species.”
The study points to alternative methods of pest control as a means of protecting the pollinators and the vital role they play in ecosystems and food systems. Such alternatives include mitigating pests with natural predators and using traps and barriers before resorting to pesticides.
Some research suggests that competition for pollen from honeybees is harmful for native bees, but the new USC study didn’t find a noteworthy connection there, with lead research and USC professor of biological sciences and quantitative and computational biology Laura Melissa Guzman acknowledging that more study is needed to back this up.
“While our calculations are sophisticated, much of the spatial and temporal data is coarse,” Guzman acknowledged in a university press release. The researcher added, “We plan to refine our analysis and fill in the gaps as much as possible.”
High pesticide use is harmful for humans, too. The EPA has found that some pesticides—organophosphates and carbamates in particular—can affect the body’s nervous system, while others can impact the endocrine system. Around 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the U.S. annually, per a 2017 Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center study. Consumer Reports said in April that it found risky levels of pesticides in 20% of produce in the U.S.
After eee death in new hampshire, here’s what to know about the mosquito-borne virus after eee death in new hampshire, here’s what to know about the mosquito-borne virus.
By Laura Baisas
Subject: Psychology
Age range: 16+
Resource type: Assessment and revision
Last updated
23 August 2024
A grade answer written by a teacher in line with AQA mark schemes, specification and approved textbooks.
AO1 = Nativists, empiricists, tabula rasa, twin studies, interactionism, diathesis stress model
AO3 = Balance of strengths and limitations relating to practical application and societal implications
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Scientific Reports volume 14 , Article number: 19942 ( 2024 ) Cite this article
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Clay vessels have a wide variety of functions in social activities in the Hallstatt period. In addition to food storage and processing, they were used for ritual purposes and as funerary vessels. The paper presents the results of archaeological and chromatographic studies of 31 vases from two different Hallstatt culture sites in lower Silesia (Poland). The investigations included vessels fragments from the Domasław cemetery and from the Milejowice settlement. The chromatographic analyses focused on fatty acids and biomarkers and made it possible to identify the most likely sources of substances they came into contact with during use. The c-means and hierarchical cluster analyses showed that grave vessels differed from settlement ceramics. Thus, conclusions on the diverse vessel functions could be made.
Interpreting the functions and uses of prehistoric ceramic containers is largely intuitive 1 . The particular shapes and technological properties make certain pottery types suitable for specific activities related to drinking, serving, storing, and preparing food and/or beverages. Morphologically, pottery might be divided into vases, pots, bowls, cups and other vessel types. However, the functions this classification implies may differ from their actual use and they may contain completely different products in particular contexts.
The south-western Poland’s Hallstatt period (ca. 8–6th BC) saw deep social transformations, i.e., the emergence of local “elites”—probably due to trade development and intense external contacts. The import influx, the gradual adoption of cultural ideas from the east and the south, and, above all, the population’s growing wealth resulted in lifestyle changes. This transformation might be traced in settlement evidence through new forms of status display and in cemeteries, where the practices of the Hallstatt elites were imitated. The emergence of new pottery types, such as vases with conical rims and funnel-shaped necks, plate-like bowls, and rhyta , was associated with these new patterns and social “needs” during feasting or ceremonies. Unfortunately, neither the daily-use nor offering vessels provides reliable information on their contents or usage patterns. Therefore, by comparing the settlement and funerary contexts of pottery using chromatographic analyses, we sought to identify the functions of these containers and, thus, better understand the ancient practices.
For this purpose, two key sites of the Hallstatt period, located close to each other were selected: a settlement in Milejowice, site 19, partly fenced with palisade-like circular structures and a cemetery in Domasław, sites 10/11/12, with richly furnished chamber graves. These Silesian sites were excavated in 1999–2003 (Milejowice) and 2006–2008 (Domasław) by the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław.
Buildings at the extensive Milejowice settlement were organised in clusters, with a separated zone surrounded by a regular circular palisade. This part cannot be interpreted as fortifications but rather as the elite’s seat, inhabited by a privileged group displaying their high social and economic status. The site consisted of numerous residential and non-residential ground-level buildings and dug-in structures, such as storage pits, wells, a metallurgy workshop, votive pits and resource pits. Pottery, including the “luxurious” types with painted or graphite-coated surfaces, might also have been manufactured here 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 .
At the Hallstatt cemetery in Domasław, ca. 800 cremation burials were discovered, including 300 chamber graves with impressively rich personal ornaments, weapons, toiletry sets, tools, bronze vessels, and a large amount of luxurious pottery. The graves contained selected vessel types—for food, drinks and other offerings. They were often exceptionally decorative—painted or with glossy, graphite-coated surfaces, imitating metallic vessels—deposited in a predefined position and number 7 , 8 .
The authors intended to compare the use of vase-shaped vessels in funerary and settlement contexts and from features interpreted as residential, votive or connected to household/production. The main goal was to determine whether it is possible to distinguish between funerary and household pottery considering the products it contained and whether any significant differences indicate the function of these storage vessels in different contexts.
The paper focuses on ceramic vase-like vessels found at the archaeological sites from the Hallstatt period: the Milejowice settlement and the Domasław cemetery. The analyses included 31 vases (16 funerary and 15 settlement finds). The conclusions, however, were based on the results obtained from 120 vessels of various types from these two sites examined as part of the project. Table 1 shows the characteristics of the studied vases.
The vases (Fig. 1 ) are medium and large vessels, with rounded or close to biconical bodies and varying neck shapes. Most of them had funnel-shaped rims and cone-shaped necks. Another type featured conical necks and straight or slightly everted rims, while others had more S-shaped profiles and sometimes handles.
Selected vases from the Domasław cemetery and the Milejowice settlement (S-sample).
Their diameters ranged to over 45 cm at the cemetery and up to 60 cm at the settlement. Vessels with funnel-shaped rims constituted the numerous and characteristic group of vessels. They frequently occurred in Silesia during the Hallstatt period, and their surface treatment and decorations indicated an influence from the Hallstatt zones 9 . Almost all cemetery vases and some from the settlement (46, 47, 58, 61) have graphite-coated surfaces. The upper parts of bodies are often ornamented with slanting, vertical or horizontal grooves or incisions, less often with dimples. Pushed-out or attached conical knobs surrounded by semicircular grooves also occurred, as well as grips, handles, and ribs. On vessel 46, they formed spectacular spiral arrangements. Some vessels are painted. Within the palisade-surrounded area (43, 46, 47, 49), painted ware and vases with funnel-shaped rims and cone-shaped necks were 2–4 times more numerous than in the other settlement clusters 10 .
At the settlement, the studied vases occurred in features interpreted as votive (42, 43, 46), sunken structures of residential or economic character (47, 49, 53, 55, 58, 70, 72, 79, 86), a well (39, 40), a bronze-working workshop (61), and a storage pit (70). In graves, vases were deposited in precisely defined contexts. All occurred in grave chambers except for vessel 90, which was placed outside the chest. Vases with funnel-shaped rims were parts of sets consisting of two vessels of this type located in grave centres. Those with cone-shaped necks were found in the eastern parts (105, 106, 108). Both were part of drinking sets placed in the graves. Vases used as urns were not included in the analysis. They contain a much wider range of compounds, including those of an intoxicating nature.
A gas chromatograph (6890N GC System, Agilent Technologies) coupled to a mass spectrometer (MS 5973 Network Mass Selective Detector, Agilent Technologies) was used to identify organic compounds in vessel samples.
Samples collected from fragments of ceramic vessels were pre ground and then ground to powder in a mortar. The weighted ground material (5 g) was extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus for 4 h. The extraction mixture contained two solvents: methylene chloride and methanol (200 mL, 2:1 v/v) and 100 μL of standard solution (tetracosane, 1 mg/mL). The extracted lipid fraction was evaporated to dryness and then dissolved in 2 mL of hexane. Portions of 0.5 mL extract were transferred to chromatography vials and evaporated from atmospheric pressure in a stream of nitrogen to dryness. The obtained dry residue was subjected to derivatisation (silylation). 100 μL of a derivatising mixture composed of two reagents was used to convert the analytes into their volatile derivatives (TMS esters), and the reagents used were N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide and trimethylchlorosilane (100:1 v/v). The sample with the mixture was heated for 30 min at 75 °C. Following this process, 300 μL of hexane was added to the sample and GC-MS analysis was performed.
The analytes were separated on an HP-5MS (5%-diphenyl-95%-dimethylpolysiloxane) column at a carrier gas (He) flow rate of 0.9 mL/min. The injected sample volume was 1 μL. The injector was operated in a mode without separating the carrier gas flow. The gas chromatograph oven was programmed as follows: the initial temperature was 60 °C, with a temperature increase of 12 °C/min until a final temperature of 300 °C was reached. The parameters of the mass spectrometer were as follows: the temperatures of the ion source and mass analyser were 230 °C and 150 °C, respectively. Mass spectra were acquired in electron ionisation (EI) mode at a potential of 70 eV and a sweep range of 50–550 m/z.
Qualitative analysis of organic acids and biomarkers was performed using Wiley and NIST08 mass spectral libraries and commercially available standards. Quantitative analysis of fatty acids was performed using the internal normalisation method.
A set of fatty acids and fatty acid proportions from components indicated by the Student’s t test method was selected to differentiate between the chemical composition of vase samples from the settlement and the cemetery areas. Furthermore, in this study, these selected components were named feature subset 1. The second, alternative feature subset (subset 2) of acid-related features was selected according to the criterion of variable importance in projection (VIP) determined by the supervised partial least squares—discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) modelling method. A VIP score greater than 1 is a typical rule for selecting relevant variables 11 and might be considered a significant contribution to the explained variable. Scaling and normalisation procedures were used for data pretreatment.
Unsupervised data classification in two clusters has been applied in the feature space of the selected VIP components. The fuzzy C -means (FCM) method 12 , 13 was used to perform classification, allowing the assessment of the probability of an archaeological sample belonging to both groups (cemetery and settlement).
For clustering quality evaluation, the fuzzy silhouette index (SI), Dunn’s partition coefficient (DC) and partition entropy index (PEI) were used. The SI 14 , 15 is calculated using the mean intra-cluster distance ( \({a}_{j}\) ) and the mean nearest-cluster distance ( \({b}_{j}\) ) for each data sample as shown in Eq. ( 1 ).
where the distances are expressed by logical operations on the sample membership degrees. An SI value equal to 1 indicates perfect cluster separation; values near 0 indicate overlapping clusters.
Similarly, the Dunn coefficient 12 is the ratio of the smallest distance between any two clusters to the largest intra-cluster distance found within any cluster, as in Eq. ( 2 ).
where m is the number of clusters, \({C}_{i} ,{C}_{j}\) are two compared clusters, d – the Euclidean distance between the clusters or two data samples x , y in one cluster. When the Dunn index is always above zero, greater values indicate better clustering.
The partition entropy index (PEI) 16 , 17 shown in Eq. ( 3 ) measures the overlap among clusters.
where \(U={[{u}_{ij}]}_{m\times n}\) represents the fuzzy partition matrix of the C -means method with \({u}_{ij}\) as the membership degree of a data sample \({x}_{j}\) , and \(m\) —the number of clusters, logarithm base \(a>1\) . The range of values for PEI is \([0, 1]\) . The closer the PEI value is to 0, the harder and therefore less fuzzy the clustering is.
To verify the consistency of fuzzy C-means clustering prediction with actual division of the examined vessels, the overall accuracy parameter ACC was applied (Eq. 4 )
where \({M}_{m\times m}\) is the confusion matrix 18 in the case of \(m\) classes (clusters).
Statistical analyses were performed using the R language directly in the R Studio environment and the MetaboAnalyst software ( https://www.metaboanalyst.ca ). The Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression was performed using the plsr function provided by the pls library in R . The classification and cross-validation were performed using the corresponding wrapper function offered by the caret package. The FCM algorithm was implemented using the ppclust R library, and the clustering quality indices were computed using appropriate functions from the fclust library.
A permutation test based on prediction accuracy was performed to assess the significance of class discrimination in PLS-DA 19 . In each permutation (100 in total), a PLS-DA model was built between the data (X) and the permuted class labels (Y) using the optimal number of components determined by cross-validation (CV) for the model based on the original class assignment.
Based on binary data on the presence of biomarkers, samples were subjected to clustering analysis using the Ward method and Euclidean distance as a measure of dissimilarity.
The paper focuses on fatty acids and biomarkers that can directly indicate the source of the examined organic residues. The identified fatty acid contents in samples from the Domasław cemetery and the Milejowice settlement are included in Table 2 .
Eighteen acids, primarily saturated, were determined in the samples. C16:1 and C18:1 represented the group of unsaturated acids. C18:2 was determined in sample 113 from Domasław. C6:0, C8:0, C9:0, C10:0, C12:0, C16:0, C18:1 and C18:0 acids were present in all samples. Long-chain acids—C20:0 and/or C22:0—were detected in most samples from Milejowice, and in six from Domasław. C11:0 acid was identified in vessels 42 and 43 from votive pits in Milejowice. This acid was also rare at the cemetery, recorded in urns, rhyta , a censer, and offering vessels. Statistical analyses showed that settlement and burial vessels differentiate most acids C13:0, C15:0, C22:0 and the C22:0/(C16:0 + C20:0) ratio.
Any conclusions about the sources of the examined organic residues based solely on the presence and content of individual acids would be unreliable. Most acids are present in both plant and animal resources. Moreover, the residue composition can change over time, which should always be considered in archaeological samples. Consequently, researchers are looking for another way to interpret the results of chromatographic analyses. One of the methods is based on studying the proportions of selected fatty acids, as it appears that acid proportions can remain unchanged over time. The conclusions presented in this paper were based on the work of Eerkens 20 . Based on his proposed proportions, the most likely sources of the studied residues were designated. The calculated proportions of selected acids are shown in Table 3 .
The acid proportions suggest that most examined samples have a mixed origin. The residue probably came mainly from seeds, nuts, and berries in combination with fat from land mammals (samples 39, 42, 47, 55, 58, 61, 79, 86 from Milejowice and 3, 4, 12, 91, 95, 104, 105 from Domasław). The proportions in grave samples 90, 93, 94 suggest seeds, nuts and land mammal fat. Vessels 40, 43, 46, 49, 53, 72 from the settlement and 10, 101, 106, 108, 111, 113 from the cemetery were of plant origin (nuts and seeds, berries), 70 from Milejowice – originated from seeds and nuts. The C16:0:C18:0 ratio has long been used to distinguish different plant oil sources, with a high (> 3) ratio considered characteristic of poppy seed oil 21 . At vase 105, the ratio was 6.98. A higher C18:1 ratio was detected in rhyta , vases and pots from the cemetery, including most vessels from grave No. 7429 with vases 101 and 104. Scholars suggest that dicarboxylic acid compounds are more likely to be found in plant oils 22 . The presence of dicarboxylic acids and oleic acid (C18:1) increases the possibility that the samples contained acid-rich plant oil or derivative mixtures.
Gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry made it possible to determine organic compounds from different groups. Based on a literature review, it was possible to select compounds that can be considered archaeological biomarkers. Biomarkers are associated with one specific material or substance, regardless of its origin—plant, animal or mixed. The detected fat is not necessarily an oil but may have been an ingredient of herbs, vegetables or grains.
Methyl dehydroabietate, a dehydroabietic acid derivative, was detected in almost all samples from Milejowice (except 42, 43, 55) and seven from Domasław (3, 4, 12, 90, 91, 93, 94). This acid is classified as a resinous acid and is considered an indicator of resin or its products 23 , 24 , 25 . Resins have hydrophobic properties and can be used to seal unglazed vessels 26 , but they have also been intentionally added to alcoholic beverages to preserve, enhance, and change their flavour 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 . Adding resin to wine to protect it against disease, for medicinal purposes and to cover up off-tastes and off-aromas was a popular and widespread practice throughout the ancient world 31 . Cedrol—sesquiterpene alcohol, found in the essential oil of coniferous trees, was present in settlement vase 55.
Glycerol, a product of lipid degradation, was also observed in most samples from Milejowice (except 55, 79, 86) and in more than half of the samples from Domasław (3, 90, 91, 93–95, 101, 104, 106). Vanillin, a phenolic compound, and vanillic acid (found in elderberry juice, blueberries, strawberries, and alcoholic beverages 32 ) were detected in nine vessels from Milejowice (39, 40, 46, 53, 55, 58, 61, 70, 72) and in all samples from Domasław except 101, 106, 108, 111, 113. Vanillin may originate from tree resin or pine wood/dust, which is documented in the same samples by the presence of methyl dehydroabietate. Acetowanillone, identified in settlement vase 70, a structural analogue of vanillin, is found mainly in wines aged in oak barrels.
Lactic acid, determined in nine vessels from the settlement (39, 40, 42, 46, 47, 49, 58, 61, 70) and eight from the cemetery (4, 10, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 104), is one of the essential products of bacterial fermentation, which occurs, e.g., during vegetable pickling or milk fermentation. However, malic acid (a beer and wine ingredient) can also be converted by bacteria into lactic acid, which gives the beer a sour taste 33 , 34 .
Azelaic acid was identified in nine vessels from the settlement (39, 40, 42, 49, 53, 55, 58, 61, 86) and seven from the cemetery (4, 10, 12, 93, 94, 101, 105); oxalic acid in four from Milejowice (40, 46, 55, 58) and three from Domasław (12, 91, 95); suberic acid in five from the settlement (42, 53, 55, 58, 61) and two from the cemetery (4 and 12). Their presence may suggest that the studied residues originated from grain products, including wheat, rye, or barley 35 , 36 .
Suberic acid is produced also during the oxidation of castor oil and is used to produce resins. Acetic acid, observed in vase 4, may indicate the contact with fermented food 34 . It is formed from ethanol under the action of aerobic acetic bacteria (vinegar production), as well as from acetaldehyde, which, as a component of beer, gives it its characteristic flavour and aroma 33 , 34 , 35 . Fumaric acid, confirmed during beer fermentation and wort production 34 , was present exclusively in vase 94 from Domasław. Only settlement vessel 53 produced traces of caprolactone, a fragrance component found in flowers, some fruits and vegetables. Δ-Caprolactone is found in heated milk fat 37 .
Stigmastanol, present in four samples from Domasław (4, 12, 93, 95) and seven from Milejowice (40, 43, 55, 58, 70, 79, 86), also indicated their plant origin. This sterol occurs in vegetable fats or oils of many plants: beans, rapeseeds and herbs. Another noteworthy example is benzoic acid, determined in half of the samples from the necropolis (90, 91, 93, 94, 101, 104, 106, 113) and only one from the settlement (53). Its presence may also indicate that the examined residues originated from plants, as it is a component of plant tissues, especially fruits and vegetables 38 . This acid is detected, for example, in cherry bark, raspberries, and honey. Benzoic acid may also be a degradation product of anthocyanins by ketones in wine 39 .
Of particular importance may be the tiglic and croton acids present exclusively in vase 12 from the Domasław cemetery and 13 containers from this site, such as rhyta , a kernos, censers, a disc-plate, an urn, and offering vessels. Tiglic acid is a compound with a spicy smell, it occurs, among other things, in croton oil obtained from the seeds of laxative croton, a plant from the Euphorbiaceae family, used for medicinal purposes.
Borneol, which appeared in two vases from the cemetery (10, 90) and four from the settlement (39, 42, 55, 79), is a compound from the terpene group with a camphor-like fragrance. It is a component of many essential oils, pine resin, and herbs, e.g., tansy, savoury, sage, and plants from the wormwood family. Like croton oil, it has medicinal and toxic effects and may cause eye and skin irritation and vomiting. Borneol was found mainly in the most distinctive vessels from the cemetery, such as an urn, a rhyton and offering vessels, At the Milejowice settlement, it occurred in dippers, a plate-disc and bowls. Phenoxyethanol was detected only in funerary vases 90, 91, 93, 94 and 95, two miniature rhyta and an urn. It can be found naturally in some plants, such as onions and chicory, and helps control and prevent the growth of bacteria, yeasts and moulds. Inulin, an extract from chicory root, has been used as a sweetener. Some beer brewers use roasted chicory to add flavor to stouts, or to augment the hops. Roots contain essential oils similar to those found in plants in the related genus Tanacetum . Carvacrol was detected only in three vases from Milejowice (55, 58, 61). There are many sources of carvacrol, including various kinds of thyme and marjoram.
Adipic acid from three funerary samples (90, 91, 101) occurs naturally in beets and sugarcane. Gramine (donaxin), found in funerary vase 101, is a naturally occurring indole alkaloid found in several plant species, such as silver maple and Hordeum , a genus of grass that includes barley 40 . 9,12-Dihydroxyoctadecanoic acid (Z,Z), present in a funerary vase with a funnel-shaped rim and conical neck (101) and in all vases with cone-shaped necks (105, 106, 108), is a linoleic acid derivative and a component of most vegetable oils and animal fats, found in many foods, e.g., legumes, cloves and nuts. It is produced through the hydration of ricinoleic acid, which is found in large amounts in castor oil and has historically been reported to be a significant resource with various uses in ancient times.
3,4-dihydroxybutyric acid found in vase 72 from Milejowice, is believed to be formed via the degradation (cooking) of di- and polysaccharides, including lactose. Farnesol, an alcohol from the terpene group obtained from linden flower oils, is used mainly as the lily-of-the-valley fragrance and is a component of many essential oils, including lily of the valley, linden and acacia. It was found in painted vases 47 and 49 from the settlement.
The contents of funerary vessel 113 proved very distinctive, suggesting the presence of plants and honey. The detected spirost-8-en-11-one, 3-hydroxy- is a component of sugar plants. The sample also contained 7,8-epoxylanostan-11-ol, 3-acetoxy, which is a cholesterol-based alcohol with anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties that occurs in many plants. Furthermore, a propolis ingredient, 17-pentatriacontene, 1-heptatriacotanol, was identified. Additionally, 1-heptatriacotanol, an alcohol with antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory properties, was confirmed. It occurs in various waxes, e.g., beeswax or plant waxes (jojoba oil). Last, the studies detected 1-monolinoleoylglycerol—an ether, glyceride consisting of one chain of fatty acid (linoleic acid) and glycerol. It occurs, among others, in plants of the Lamiaceae family, which are used as spices, medicines and teas.
Valproic or valeric acid was present in vases 90 and 91 from the cemetery and vessels 42 and 43 from settlement votive pits. Valproic acid is a saturated monocarboxylic acid and a valeric acid derivative. It occurs naturally in some foods, such as berries. It has sedative and anticonvulsant properties.
The presence of dibutyl phthalate, a phthalic acid present in six vessels from Milejowice and nine from Domasław, may indicate the thermal processing of products in vessels 41 or may result from sample contamination.
In this study, based on acid-related data, we applied the FCM algorithm to cluster samples of ceramic vases from the settlement in Milejowice and the cemetery in Domasław. Features important for the data analysis were selected by t tests with a threshold of 0.05 and VIP values were obtained with PLS regression (Fig. 2 ).
Important features selected for sample classification: ( a ) features of subset 1 selected by t -tests with a significance threshold of 0.05. Blue circles represent features above the threshold (p); values are transformed by –log10; ( b ) Features of subset 2 selected by the VIP value (score above 1). Characteristics of the biomarker distribution in vase samples, including a grouped histogram of biomarker occurrences in samples from the cemetery and settlement ( c ) and a clustered heatmap of biomarkers for which the minimum absolute difference between the two groups of vases in histogram was at least 2. Additionally, the frequently occurring lactic acid was considered ( d ).
The results were two subsets of variables used independently in the analysis. Subset 1 includes acid-related variables such as C13:0, C15:0, C22:0 and C22:0/(C16:0 + C20:0) (Fig. 2 a,b). The set of variables with the highest VIP value (> 1) included the same components, except for the additional C12:0/C14:0 acid proportion. The test values are listed in Table 4 .
Using the fuzzy C -means method, the dataset was grouped into two clusters, where each data point belonged to each cluster to some extent. Clustering results are shown in Fig. 3 a and Fig. 3 b. The obtained results show that the clusters largely correspond to the sample origin. The probability plot for feature subset 1 (Fig. 3 c) shows that cluster 1 contains samples from the necropolis and five samples from the settlement, while cluster 2 contains only samples from the settlement. Adding acid proportion C12:0/C14:0, another considered feature slightly reduced the probability that the samples belonged to the selected clusters (Fig. 3 d) but did not significantly disturb their previous distribution. With the data in Fig. 3 c,d, adopting more flexible grouping rules, e.g., more restrictive than a classification cut-off at a probability of 0.5 was possible. The requirement of a higher probability of class membership leaves some samples out as unclassified due to uncertainty.
Illustration of the clusters of archaeological samples from the cemetery and the settlement in the plane of the PCA main components for the selected feature subset 1 ( a ) and subset 2 ( b ). Each ellipse is a 95% confidence ellipse for a 2D normally distributed data set. The probability of samples belonging to clusters 1 or 2 based on the selected acid data is also presented for feature subset 1 ( c ) and subset 2 ( d ). Confusion matrices for feature subset 1 ( e ) and subset 2 ( f ).
Figure 3 e,f represent the confusion matrices obtained for the two feature subsets. They confirm the obtained probability results and quantify the quality of the archaeological sample classification. The ratio of the sum of diagonal elements to the sum of all matrix elements represents the classification accuracy obtained from clustering. For both matrices, it is 0.84 and 0.81, respectively. It means that features selected by the Student’s t -test provide a better separation of clusters than features selected by the PLS-DA method and, simultaneously, ensure better compliance with their actual division.
Table 5 includes three different indicators of fuzzy clustering effectiveness explained in Eqs. ( 1 )–( 3 ).
Dunn’s partition coefficient (DC) reaches 0.79, which suggests that the clustering is not very fuzzy, and the crisp sample grouping methods can also be applied. Partition entropy index PEI = 0.35 in the range [0,1] informs that the uncertainty within the proposed partition is relatively low, which confirms the observations about the DC. The Fuzzy Silhouette Index value of 0.76 leads to the same conclusions.
The vessels yielded different biomarkers, most notably benzoic acid, vanillin, and phenoxyethanol. The analysis of histogram and clustering results revealed that some biomarkers were more common in settlement samples (Fig. 2 c,d). These included methyl dehydroabietate, glycerol, azelaic, suberic, adipic acids, and stigmastanol. Vanillin, and benzoic acid were most frequent in cemetery samples. Grave vases had a higher plant oil content.
Vases were most differentiated by the benzoic acid, which were detected in 62.5% of funerary vessels and only 6.5% of settlement vessels. Lactic acid was present in equal proportions in settlement vases and funerary vases with funnel-shaped rims. However, there was no lactic acid or dibutyl phthalate in grave vases with distinguished conical necks. In contrast, 9,12-octadecadienoic acid occurred in all vases with conical necks, one vessel with a funnel-shaped rim, and in none of the settlement containers.
The cluster analysis of the identified biomarkers showed that vessels from the settlement were more similar to one another than were vases from the cemetery. Sample 113 differs from the others and is closer to the pattern recorded in settlement vases.
The organic residue analysis demonstrated that most of the vases from the cemetery and settlement were of a mixed nature, originating from seeds and nuts and berries, and approximately 40% had a plant character. The vases might have come into contact with food based on cereals, herbs, honey, fruit, animal fat (meat or milk), oily plant products and fruits, bee products, and resins. Due to their design, vase-shaped vessels were preferred for storing drinks. Cereal cultivation was confirmed by botanical analyses of samples from Domasław, which showed the presence of burnt wheat and millet grains in vessels and graves (studies by A. Sady-Bugajska). We can assume that vessels contained particularly fermented beverages, most likely ale gruit of wheat, barley and/or rye, as indicated by markers of these cereal species. Chemical evidence of millet (miliacin) combined with possible fermentation markers (bacteriohopanoids) in drinking vessels from Mont Lassois seems to confirm the production of millet beers 42 .
Plant ingredients, e.g., stigmastanol, cedrol, herbal ingredients, such as carvacrol and borneol, and bactericidal or medicinal ingredients (valproic acid) could be added to beverages as flavourings, to extend their storage time (preservatives), but also to enhance their effect. The addition of herb, resin and honey imparted different drink properties and increased variety. Phenolic compounds, like vanillin, may come from malt (sprouted and dried cereal grains) and affect the flavour and clarity of beverages. Simple phenols may also be derivatives of benzoic acid present in the samples 43 . The presence of tiglic and croton acid may indicate that the vessels contained oils added for medicinal purposes, flavouring and symbolic reasons, which is suggested by their presence only in vessels associated with offerings.
We may suspect mead in vessel 113. Relatively few bee products were found in the vases, which is surprising considering the very sour or tart taste of the ancient beer (unless we consider the presence of benzoic acid in the funerary vessels as a possible propolis residue). Honey and beeswax frequently occur in archaeological ceramic containers—the former as a sweetener and the latter as a vessel sealant. Honey is documented mainly by pollen analyses, among others, in bronze craters from princely graves in Heuneburg-Hohmichele, Heuneburg-Speckau, Hochdorf, Glauberg and Niedererlbach 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , or recognised as a honeycomb in Lavau 50 , 51 .
Some fruit components (benzoic, valproic, levulinic acids, vanillin) may come from fruit wine and sugars from tree saps, e.g., birch and maple, which were undoubtedly consumed both fresh and fermented. It is possible that alcoholic barley milk beverages, made by mixing malt extract with milk were also consumed. Alcohol made from sap or fruits was archaeologically attested 42 . There is also evidence for combining beers, wines, and meads to make mixed beverages called grogs. Nordic peoples preferred a hybrid beverage, in which many ingredients were fermented together, including locally available honey, fruits, cereals, and sometimes imported grape wine 52 . Birch tree resin, juniper, bog myrtle, yarrow, bog cranberry, and lingonberry were also used as additives.
Archaeological evidence shows that feasting was significant in the Hallstatt period and gave political power 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 . Drinking together and providing alcohol forged social prestige and demonstrated power and wealth. Almost all elite graves from this period contained vessels for distributing alcohol. Similar vessels from settlements emphasised the role that alcohol played during feasts, festivals, meetings and celebrations. The most spectacular pieces of libation pottery are segmented vases with funnel-shaped rims and conical necks, which appeared at the onset of the Iron Age due to the influence of Hallstatt. Through these “Hallstatt” patterns, vases also highlighted their owners’ status. The Domasław cemetery and the Milejowice settlement yielded many references to feast and libation rituals. In Milejowice, the massive, decorated vases 42 and 46, containing other vessels, animal bones, and bronzes, undoubtedly had a votive character, probably similar to containers from the well (39, 40). Potentially, they had initially served for storage or fermentation but were later used in ritual activities as food or drink sacrifice accessories. Other vessels are not that distinctive. Despite their inconsistent distribution patterns, scholars indicate that graphite-coated and painted vases with funnel-shaped rims and conical necks were more “prestigious” than daily household vessels 5 . Containers with fermenting liquids must be well-sealed with wax or resins and buried in the ground, like some larger storage vessels discovered in Milejowice, e.g., with identified tar. Smaller ones might, in turn, have been used to distribute (perhaps diluted) alcohol.
The vessel sets discovered in Domasław were undoubtedly used for storing, serving and consuming beverages. It seems that vessels with funnel-shaped rims, most often deposited pairwise, were used by an increasing number of people during funerary ceremonies. Specimens from the early Hallstatt period were smaller, but they became the largest funerary vessels in graves over time. These vessels were surrounded by small cups and bowls, often placed inside them in substantial numbers. Sometimes, plate-shaped bowls were placed as lids on top of the vases. Two of the examined vases contained small bronze vessels which, as shown in the depictions of the late Hallstatt period Situla Art in the Southeast Alps 57 , were used to serve alcohol. Some depictions also show dry products measured in large vases, such as wheat grains, semolina, herbs, raisins or cheese. Vases with cone-shaped necks probably played a different role and were repeatedly placed next to crater-shaped vases, often covered, which may explain differences in the share of, among others, benzoic acid. A comparison of vases from the same graves revealed that they contained different products.
We might assume that decorated vases, both at the settlement and the cemetery, served as beverage containers. Undoubtedly, the products used for daily and funerary activities were diverse, and some might have been associated with taboos. This may explain the differences between the vessels found in these two contexts. The study demonstrated that some compounds were present only in vessels from one context.
The consumed ale was flavoured with a selected mixture of herbs ( gruit ). It is possible that each family/community had its original herbal mixture or recipe passed down from generation to generation, or the composition was subject to various instructions and prohibitions. Different herbal mixtures based on nearby plants were used depending on the occasion for which the beer was prepared. Like hops today, gruit was supposed to preserve the drink and give it the right taste, aroma, and desired properties. The principal bittering agents in the early medieval European beers were bog myrtle, yarrow, meadowsweet, and other herbs 43 . For example, native rosemary, mint, and thyme were added to a fermented emmer wheat and barley beverage at Genó, near Barcelona in Spain 58 . Mugwort was a hypothetic additive (alongside carrot) to a dark, sour barley beer 59 at the settlement of Hochdorf.
Some plants with symbolic, flavouring, intoxicating, medicinal or poisonous properties could only be used in funerary and offerings contexts (e.g. croton oil). Presumably, flour/groats/barley, milk/cheese, wine/beer, and even blood, mentioned in the ancient sources as obligatory for libations and sacrifices were used, which could explain the combination of animal and plant fats in the vessels. Animal fats may also have come from the leather bottles used to transport liquids. The multitude of uses of resins and bee products, such as sealing, polishing, preserving, sweetening, flavouring., does not allow us to assess for what purpose they were used in Domasław and Milejowice. The resins were more common in settlement vessels, which may have been caused by the need to seal containers that are used repeatedly. Some aromas, oils, and spices could be imported, similar to other prestigious products.
Analysis of vases from the Domasław cemetery and Milejowice settlement reveals that they were used to store a variety of beverages, including beer made from wheat, barley, and rye. These vessels contained a diverse range of ingredients, such as fruits, herbs, plant oils, animal fats, honey, and resins. Their content varied in funerary and settlement contexts due to the use of certain plants as well as specific ingredients that imparted the desired properties.
Feasting was crucial during the Hallstatt period, demonstrating social status and power, as evidenced by the presence of drinking sets in elite graves. Richly decorated vases found in the cemetery and in the offering settlement context, suggest their important role in ceremonies. The study highlights the complexity of food and drink preparation, providing insights into the eating habits and rituals of the Hallstatt communities. Consequently, it is a foundation for further exploration of the nature of vessels and the assessment of different consumption practices within the community.
The statistical analysis proved effective in capturing the differences between chemical profiles of vessels deposited in two distinctive contexts, as well as the use of various ingredients in graves, deposits and settlement features. Archaeological data, due to their complexity and often incompleteness, are among the most difficult to analyze and interpret. Hence, this article utilizes statistical analyzes and machine learning methods as a tool of facilitating further interpretation of chemical data. The clustering method used showed the statistical differences in chemical compositions, which may be ambiguous for single samples, given the possibility of multi-faceted use of individual types of prehistoric vessels.
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the study are reported in the article.
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The paper is part of a project: Feeding and ritual practices of the Early Iron Age based on the settlement in Milejowice and the necropolis in Domasław. Between the function and meaning of the ceramic “collections” (2021/41/B/HS3/02531), financed by Narodowe Centrum Nauki (National Science Center).
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Angelina Rosiak & Joanna Kałużna-Czaplińska
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A.J. and J.K.-C. conceived the experiments, A.R and A.J. conducted the experiments, A.R., A.J., J.S.-N., J.G., and J.K.-C. analysed the results, A.R., A.J., J.S.-N., J.G., and J.K.-C. wrote the original draft, A.R. and A.J. carried out the review and editing. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
Correspondence to Angelina Rosiak or Anna Józefowska .
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Rosiak, A., Józefowska, A., Sekulska-Nalewajko, J. et al. Funerary vs. domestic vessels from the Hallstatt period. A study on ceramic vases from the Milejowice settlement and the Domasław cemetery. Sci Rep 14 , 19942 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-70219-7
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The nature vs. nurture debate has both been influenced by and has influenced psychology, sociology, and genetics. Psychology is largely concerned with the mind and behavior of the individual. Sociology is concerned with the collective experiences and behavior of society. Genetics studies how genes and traits are passed down through families.
In the context of the nature vs. nurture debate, nature refers to biological heredity and genetic predispositions inherited by individuals from their parents at birth. Buheji (2018) states that: "in the "nature vs. nurture" debate, nature refers to an individual's innate qualities (nativism)" (p. 221). This includes physical ...
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-017-0029-5. "Nature and nurture is a convenient jingle of words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumerable elements of which personality is composed. Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world; nurture is every influence from without that affects him after his birth.".
Long before we utter our first words, our genetic programming and environmental cues are in regular conversation—nature and nurture talking it out and always listening. SD: Thank you for listening as we talk out our latest science. If you like what you heard, please subscribe to get another fascinating story like this delivered each week.
The nature of nurture: effects of parental genotypes. Science 359, 424-428 ... Munafo, M. R. & Davey Smith, G. Repeating experiments is not enough. Nature 553, 399-401 (2018).
Fig. 1: LIPSTIC distinguishes first-division proximal and distal-daughter CARTs. Fig. 3: First-division daughter CARTs demonstrate distinct patterns of cytotoxic activity and in vivo leukaemia ...
An experiment with a 2 (information quality: high vs. low) × 2 (source credibility: high vs. low) × 2 (media richness: high vs. low) between-subject factorial design was conducted among 248 ...
According to a peer-reviewed study published in Nature Sustainability by researchers at the University of Southern California Dornsife, wild bee sightings in the U.S. have fallen by as much as 43% ...
AO1 = Nativists, empiricists, tabula rasa, twin studies, interactionism, diathesis stress model. AO3 = Balance of strengths and limitations relating to practical application and societal implications. Approximately one page long to reflect the amount a student can write under exam conditions.
Clay vessels have a wide variety of functions in social activities in the Hallstatt period. In addition to food storage and processing, they were used for ritual purposes and as funerary vessels.