High-resolution paleoenvironmental research allows us to pinpoint the tempo and amplitude of past climate changes. Abrupt climate events have axiomatically triggered cascades of adjustments, in vegetation, fauna, humans, and pathogens. This essay focuses on the abrupt end of the African Humid Episode (9000–6000 cal BP), ca. 5000 cal BP in the Sahara. Neolithic pastoralists, practicing transhumance between sandy lowlands and Saharan mountains, adopted new cultural practices: cattle burials and livestock bone deposits in built installations. Their ritual nature is indisputable. But ritual for what? If considered from the perspective of livestock zoonoses, such practices may point to the “dark side” of cultural adjustments—strategies to counter human and livestock diseases. Livestock zoonoses are constant sources of emerging infectious diseases (EID) in the present, as they were in the past. Sustained research on livestock and human health are of paramount importance given the accelerating rate of world urbanization.

中文翻译：

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黑暗面考古学：气候变化和中全新世撒哈拉牧区适应

高分辨率的古环境研究使我们能够确定过去气候变化的速度和幅度。突然的气候事件已经公理地触发了植被、动物群、人类和病原体的级联调整。这篇文章的重点是非洲潮湿事件（9000-6000 cal BP）的突然结束，约。5000 cal BP 在撒哈拉沙漠。新石器时代的牧民在沙质低地和撒哈拉山脉之间进行游牧，采用了新的文化习俗：在建筑设施中埋葬牛和牲畜骨头。他们的仪式性质是无可争辩的。但是仪式是为了什么？如果从家畜人畜共患病的角度考虑，这种做法可能指向文化调整的“阴暗面”——应对人类和牲畜疾病的策略。与过去一样，现在牲畜人畜共患病是新发传染病 (EID) 的持续来源。鉴于世界城市化速度加快，对牲畜和人类健康的持续研究至关重要。