Areni-1 Cave

Ticks have been never participated in archaeological analytic studies. Here, we present the discovery of a tick from the finds of Systematic archaeological excava- tions at Areni-1 cave in the Republic of Armenia.
The well-preserved tick Rhipicephalus bursa provides important information about the pre- vailing ecology during the periods of habitation and usage of the cave by Late Chalcolithic and Medieval inhabitants and supports previous hypotheses, that ticks were a potential source of disease for human and other mammals especially cattle, sheep, horse and dog. This discov- ery has health, behavioural and ecological implications for the people that occupied the cave.