ancient DNA (Other Keyword)
76-100 (205 Records)
Research into animal domestication has now broadly established the geographic and temporal origins of the major livestock species, but has failed to do so for dogs. We will apply ancient DNA (aDNA) and geometric morphometric (GM) techniques to archaeological canid remains, of which we have examined ~4000 specimens across the globe through multiple time periods. Using this multifaceted approach, we expect population level distinctions revealed by aDNA analyses to be mirrored by GM analyses. This...
Developing Minimally Destructive Protocols for DNA Analysis of Museum Collection Bone Artifacts (2016)
Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis has revolutionized the field of archaeology with its ability to provide unique and otherwise unattainable information about the past. However, due to the destructive nature of current aDNA techniques many museum curators are hesitant to subject their collections to this kind of analysis. This poster presents a new sampling strategy for obtaining adequate amounts of bone powder from bone artifacts for aDNA extraction, while minimizing the damage done to the valuable...
Dietary DNA Analysis of Mississippian Dog Coprolites (2017)
Traditional methods for assessing diet of animal coprolite samples include targeted PCR and sequencing of specific genes. While useful for species identification, focusing on a single gene region disregards the plant and animal DNA fragments that are from other parts of the genome. Here we used next-generation sequencing methods to sequence DNA from coprolite samples from Terminal Late Woodland and Mississippian dogs from the Janey B. Goode site in Southern Illinois. BLAST searches were used to...
Differential DNA Preservation in Archaeological Dental Calculus and Dentin Has Implications for Ancient Microbiome Research (2018)
Ancient DNA (aDNA) studies of preserved microbiomes from dental calculus and paleofeces shed light on the evolution of these complex microbial communities, as well as both human health and behavior in the past. Despite recent advances in the recovery and authentication of aDNA, environmental contamination and inconsistent molecular preservation remains a continuous concern. Recent studies suggest that dental calculus may provide a better preservation environment for DNA than other archaeological...
Discovery of a Late Preclassic Ceremonial Bundle at the Ancient Maya Center of Yaxnohcah Using Environmental DNA Analysis (2023)
This is an abstract from the "2023 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Timothy Beach Part I" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A dark-stained feature near the base of a 1 m thick platform in the Helena complex of the Ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah was found to contain remains of medicinal plants, a plant containing hallucinogens (likely used for divination), and a plant used in the manufacture of weaponry (spears and bows). The feature was...
DNA Linkage: Incorporating North American Ancient DNA Data into DINAA (2017)
Genetic data, especially from ancient samples, is frequently incorporated into modern archaeological analyses. Concurrently, sequence data from genetic/genomic research in the U.S. is increasingly available through open source context from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). However, in spite of the accessibility of recently published genetic data, there currently is no comprehensive database exclusively for North American ancient DNA samples, nor is there comprehensive...
DNA preservation in archaeological dental calculus and dentine (2017)
Ancient DNA provides unique insights into past human behavior, health, and evolution. Skeletal tissues (bone and dentine) and microbiome remains (dental calculus and paleofeces) can be rich sources of ancient biomolecules; however, inconsistent DNA preservation and variable environmental contamination pose major challenges in recovering authentic ancient DNA. Recent studies have suggested that dental calculus may provide a better preservation environment for ancient DNA than other skeletal...
Dog Diet Reconstruction as a Tool to Assess Forager Response to Introduction of Agriculture in the Northern Plains: Stable Isotope Analysis and Ancient DNA Data (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Dogs in the Archaeological Record" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The transition to agriculture in the Great Plains of North America is generally assumed to have occurred through processes of migration and diffusion. But understanding the nuance of this transition at local and subregional scales requires a focus on different types of social interactions and community-level decision-making. One method is to use dogs...
Dog Domestication and the Dual Dispersal of People and Dogs into the Americas (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Dogs in the Archaeological Record" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Advances in the isolation and sequencing of ancient DNA have begun to reveal the population histories of both people and dogs. Over the last 10,000 years, the genetic signatures of ancient dog remains have been linked with known human dispersals in regions such as the Arctic and the remote Pacific. It is suspected, however, that this relationship has a...
Domestication of the Cochineal (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Identifying the specifics of location and time of the cultivation and domestication of the cochineal beetle (Dactylopius coccus) in the New World has eluded archaeologists and ecologists for decades. The cochineal’s production of red dye from its rich storage of carminic acid has made this insect a notable element in the lives of pre-contact Mesoamerican and...
Domestication through the Bottleneck:Archaeogenomic Evidence of a Landscape Scale Process (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Frontiers of Plant Domestication" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Domesticated crops show a reduced level of diversity that is commonly attributed to the ‘domestication bottleneck’; a drastic reduction in the population size associated with sub-sampling the wild progenitor species and the imposition of selection pressures associated with the domestication syndrome. A prediction of the domestication bottleneck is a...
Ecological Baselines, Long-Term Population Histories, and the Zooarchaeological Record (2015)
The potential for zooarchaeological data to inform modern conservation issues is unquestioned by archaeologists; however, with a few notable exceptions, such an approach has been underutilized. Zooarchaeological data are uniquely positioned to provide a long-term view on the population history and variation in foraging ecology of a species. Such information is paramount to conservation efforts for threatened taxa, particularly in addressing what has been called by conservation ecologists the...
Estudio de la variación del ADN mitocondrial en entierros de Tlailotlacan, Teotihuacan (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Teotihuacan fue una ciudad del periodo Clásico (100-650 d.C.), que tuvo una gran interacción con otras áreas de Mesoamérica como el Occidente y el Golfo de México, el Área Maya y Oaxaca. Este trabajo se centra en el análisis de restos óseos del barrio oaxaqueño en Teotihuacán, que también se conoce como Tlailotlacan. En este barrio existe evidencia de...
The Evolution of Domestication in Cassava Unraveled through Historical Genomics and Archaeobotany (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Frontiers of Plant Domestication" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Cassava (‘manioc' or ‘yuca' regionally) is a staple food for 800 million people worldwide. It was domesticated in the southwestern Amazon ~7,000 years ago, and archaeobotanical evidence suggests that it dispersed widely, including through Central America, shortly thereafter. In the present day, it is most widely grown in Brazil and throughout sub-Saharan...
Examining Bronze Age Kinship and Community Patterning in the Southern Urals, Russian Federation, through aDNA Study (2023)
This is an abstract from the "From the Altai to the Arctic: New Results and New Directions in the Archaeology of North and Inner Asia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ancient DNA studies have increased exponentially in recent years and have had tremendous impact on our understanding of early genomic patterning in many regions of the world. The vast Eurasian steppe zone has not been overlooked in these important breakthroughs. Several recent studies...
Examining the Maya Collapse through Ancient DNA (2023)
This is an abstract from the "The Movement of People and Ideas in Eastern Mesoamerica during the Ninth and Tenth Centuries CE: A Multidisciplinary Approach Part II" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Scholars have examined the causes and impacts of the Maya collapse for over a century, using every available line of evidence. In the last decade ancient DNA (aDNA) has proven to be a powerful tool in understanding large-scale population transformations...
Exploring Dental Modification Practices at Midnight Terror Cave, Belize. (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Studies in Mesoamerican Subterranean Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dental modification in Mesoamerica dates to the Early Preclassic Period and persisted into the 16th century. Investigations have suggested a number of possible explanations, generally aesthetic or ritual, for the practice. There is little consensus in the field. A total of 1194 teeth were recovered from Midnight Terror Cave (MTC), Belize,...
Exploring Freshwater Turtle Population Dynamics in the Maya World through Ancient DNA Analysis (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Advances in Zooarchaeological Methods" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the Maya world, zooarchaeological studies have recorded regionally focused declines in animal abundances due to drying conditions and land clearance. However, zooarchaeological data alone cannot document fluctuations in animal population structure or diversity, an insight that can be provided by ancient DNA analysis. In this study, we use...
Exploring Male Sex-Bias in Ancient DNA Research (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Increasing the Accessibility of Ancient DNA within Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Preliminary research and anecdotal evidence suggest that there is an overrepresentation of male samples relative to female samples in published ancient DNA research; however, the reason behind this bias is poorly understood. In this paper, we quantify this sex bias within an ancient DNA database of 3,365 individuals for whom...
Exploring Turkey Exploitation and Management in the Maya Lowlands (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Current Research on Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Domestication, Husbandry and Management in North America and Beyond" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As one of the few intensively managed species in Mesoamerica, the turkey plays a key role in understanding cultural interactions and subsistence, particularly in the Mayan lowlands. Two populations of turkeys were exploited in this region: the local, wild ocellated turkey...
Exploring Wild Avocado Germplasm through Herbarium Genomes (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The avocado has a complicated evolutionary history resulting from landscape-level management and domestication practices. Cultivars of the species are well-documented and categorized into three botanical races based on genetic differentiation, morphology, and adapted environment. However, we have very little knowledge of the avocado’s genetic variation...
First Results of the “Proyecto de investigación de poblaciones antiguas en el norte y occidente de México” (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Increasing the Accessibility of Ancient DNA within Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Genomic analytical techniques have matured enough to address longstanding problems about the interactions and migrations of ancient populations inhabiting the north and west border of Mesoamerica, as well with populations from the US Southwest. With this in mind, we have established a collaborative, binational project...
Freshwater and Anadromous Fishing in Ice Age Beringia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of Alaska, the Gateway to the Americas" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While freshwater and anadromous fishing are critical economic resources for late prehistoric and modern Indigenous peoples in western North America, the origin and development of fishing is not well understood. Here we present results from investigations into all reported fish assemblages in central Alaska earlier than 7000 cal yr BP....
From Bayira, the Earliest African Genome, to a Place of Refuge: Mota Cave’s History in Southwestern Ethiopia (2018)
Mota Cave located in southwest Ethiopia was found in 2011 in collaboration with local Gamo elders and partially excavated in 2012. The cave has exposed a long sequence of occupation (5295 Cal BP to 305 BP) revealing remarkable technological, subsistence, and cultural changes. We uncovered a burial of a male with the earliest complete ancient genome recovered from the African continent. We have named him Bayira, meaning "first born" in the Gamo language where the cave is located. Bayira begins to...
From Bit Wear to Ancient DNA: Steppe-ing Out (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Wheels, Horses, Babies and Bathwaters: Celebrating the Impact of David W. Anthony on the Study of Prehistory" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We found our first entry into steppe archaeology in 1989-1992 through a study of microwear caused by bits on horse teeth, which we hoped would identify bitted, and therefore ridden or driven, horses. From then through to the publication of the Samara Valley Project (2016) we...