Research Critique: "Outline Detecting Hidden Diets & Diseases"

Zoonotic Parasites and Fish Consumption in Mesolithic IrelandIn this article they look at infectious diseases specifically Zoonoses; A disease which can be transmitted naturally from animals to humans (Oxford English Dictionary 2018); and how specifically they have been transmitted from animals to humans over the course of time. There have been three epidemiological transitions that have influenced and still are influencing the presence and frequency of infectious diseases across the world (Perri 2018).

One of the three is that infection started to increase when our living arrangements became closer to animas, such as farming. Looking at the relationship between humans and animals in the last few decades there were major changes and patterns that started to occur as we became closer to animals’ disease and infection started to rise. Parasites are a large contributor to disease that humans have gotten due to animals. They do research specifically through an excavation in a former lake in Northern Ireland to see if there were found parasites dating back to the Mesolithic and Neolithic era in fish consumption.

Is it through culture, climate and the environment or is it due to something else that we have yet to find? This article looks at answering some of these questions. There was not a ton of research prior to this article on this specific topic. They do talk about the “Paleolithic Age Baseline” which is a timeline of human prehistory when we lived in smaller groups and how there were three major influencers on how disease and infection were spread.

The three they talk about are:

1. Our transition to farming from hunting and foraging and that’s where they started to see a rise in infection, due to our living conditions and living in closer proximity to the animals (Perri 2018).
2. The second was the effect of industrialization on humans which led to a decline in mortality with improved living conditions, antibiotics started to get developed but there was a rise in chronic non-infectious diseases such as heart disease and cancer (Perri 2018).
3. The current transition where the world is now seeing the re-emergence of infections and antibiotic resistance (Perri 2018).There was more research on the past populations than there is in today’s society, but that also could be because of our advancement of technology we are more aware of how to fight against infections and diseases and we have a better understanding of them.

Three Methods used in this research that I believe were weak are as follows:

1. There was too much focus on the past and it didn’t show us how in the present it is still affecting us as much. I think they could have focused a little more on how it is still affecting us or if this is something we have improved on. Even though the focus is on the Mesolithic era it would have brought more interest to see how it has changed compared to our current generation. It is sometimes nice to see a comparison to see how much things have changed. I think it is a significant point that there should have something to connect it to our generation and future generations so we can see the importance of why we are currently reading about this.
2. There was very little research methodology used in this article. I believe there could have been more in relation to our culture and how when we became closer to animals was when the infections and diseases began to spread. I wish there was more of a focus on a wider spread of species other than fish because I feel like fish would have been the smaller of species contributing to the infection and diseases. Or that there was a compare and contrast between the different species to see what species the biggest influencer in this was. It would have been interesting to see a survey asking if we believe that our proximity to animals is causing diseases and infections in our culture.
3. They only briefly talk about ancient DNA analysis as a method for the research proposed, this could have gotten into more depth I believe. DNA from humans and animals throughout decades and tracking the parasite to see how it has adapted or if it is less common now that we have become in closer contact with animals.

In an online article called Everything Worth Knowing about Ancient DNA, they talk about how the research in ancient DNA has already made so many findings including whether modern humans interacted with Neanderthals. Ancient genomes show definitively that our ancestors not only met but mated with Neanderthals — multiple times — between 40,000 and 100,000 years ago (Alex 2017). I believe that they could have ancient DNA as a method to better research this topic on a wider view and show why it is still important for us to see the relationship between animals and humans through diet and diseases.

Three Methods used in this research that I believe were a positive contributor are as follows:

1. Judgemental Sampling – the main research they showed was through a site located at a former lake in the Irish Midlands. There was evidence of human habitation from the late Mesolithic into the earliest parts of the Neolithic periods. They extracted paleo parasite eggs from the materials on this site. Also, they had samples of bone collagen. All twelve sediment samples they extracted tested positive for the paleo parasite egg. Corresponding to the cestode genus Diphyllobothrium (which is a common tapeworm infecting humans and animals who consume raw or undercooked fish).
2. Arbitrary Levels – you can see in the diagram in this article that they went below the surface level to find the parasite sample locations. They did an excavation at Derragh and their findings supported the research which was a success for them. I believe this was a great method to use to find supporting evidence for their research because without them doing this they wouldn’t have been able to prove anything.
3. Field research was a very important aspect of this research as it was how they got the evidence. They performed their research in Northern Island ad a former lake called Derragh. The site consists of a stone and brushwood platform-like feature with extensive evidence of human habitation, including woodworking, faunal remains and plant food debris (Perri 2018).

References:

1. Alex, B., 2017. Everything Worth Knowing About Ancient DNA. Discover Magazine. Available at: http://discovermagazine.com/2017/jul-aug/ancient-dna [Accessed October 3, 2018].
2. Perri, A. R., Power, R. C., Stuijts, I., Heinrich, S., Talamo, S., Hamilton-Dyer, S. and C. Roberts (2018) ‘Detecting hidden diets and disease: Zoonotic parasites and fish consumption in Mesolithic Ireland.’ Journal of Archaeological Science, 97: 137-146.