ancient DNA (Other Keyword)
151-175 (239 Records)
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. At the time of European contact, a high degree of linguistic diversity characterized Native California, implying a long prehistory of different ethnic groups migrating into the region. Previous research, using mitochondrial DNA samples contributed by living descendants, produced correlations between certain genetic markers...
Machays, Tombs, and Burials: The Complex Mortuary Landscape of Late Intermediate Period Sondor (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The site of Sondor in the south-central Peruvian Andes is famously known as an Inca ceremonial center in Andahuaylas, Peru. Prior to Inca presence, Sondor was occupied by cultures from the Formative period to the Late Intermediate period (LIP), with the largest occupation by the Chanka during the LIP (AD 1000–1400)....
Maize Adaptation to Changing Environments (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Subsistence Crops and Animals as a Proxy for Human Cultural Practice" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. All organisms must contend with rapidly changing environments in the face of climate change in order to ensure the survival of the population (Hoffmann and Sgrò 2011). Domesticated plants, with a 10,000 year history of adapting to new environments, provide an excellent model for understanding genetic responses to...
Maize Domestication and Dispersal in the Americas (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Fryxell Symposium in Honor of Dolores Piperno" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dolores Piperno’s work during the last four decades transformed our understanding of maize domestication and dispersal in the Americas. To honor this legacy we synthesize current genetic, paleoecological, and archaeological data regarding the early development of this globally important staple crop. Genetic evidence indicates initial...
Malaria in the African Indian Ocean Islands: Prospects and Challenges for Biomolecular Archaeology (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Islands around Africa: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Malaria remains one of the most devastating infectious diseases affecting human populations, with over 200 million cases and 500,000 deaths annually worldwide, most of which focused on the mainlands of sub-Saharan Africa. While malaria is an “old” disease on the mainland dating back tens of thousands of years, its history on...
Marine Mammal Hunting in the Kuril Islands: Zooarchaeological and Genetic Insights (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. People have inhabited the NW Pacific Kuril Islands for millennia, supported by the productive marine and coastal environments. Here, we build upon previous faunal analyses that examined biogeographical patterns in faunal exploitation by conducting a chronological analysis, grouped by cultural period (Epi-Jomon, Okhotsk, Ainu and Historic). Specifically, we...
Metagenomic analysis of pre-contact diet using ancient dental calculus from Prince Rupert Harbour, British Columbia (2017)
Prior to the displacement caused by European colonization, the Coast Tsimshian harvested an array of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine dietary resources as they moved between coastal settlements and the nearby Skeena River valley. Conventional paleodietary analysis using faunal analysis and isotopic values has provided valuable data which, when paired with the knowledge of First Nations communities, can help reconstruct how ancestral communities utilized food resources prior to the cultural...
Microbial Communities from Soil and Coprolites (2018)
With implications involving health, nutrition, and even behavior, research into the human microbiome is a burgeoning field within the biological sciences. Less well understood is whether humans, both modern and past, share(d) a recognizable core microbiome. Archaeological materials represent a window into microbiome structure and function of ancient peoples. Assuming microorganisms or their DNA persist for many years under optimal conditions, coprolites should represent time capsules into the...
Migrating Genes, or How to Avoid the Free-Ranging Genome (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. Migration studies address huge distances, such as the colonization of the Americas, and smaller regions, such as the peopling of specific sites. The use of genetics as a medium to enhance our understanding of population movement can be an asset. There are potential pitfalls, however, such as the misrepresentation of DNA...
Migration and Mitogenomes: analysis of West Mexican populations to better understand their place in the larger Mesoamerican social landscape (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The world has always been connected through the movement of people, exchange of goods, and sharing of cultural traits; thus, evidence of such can be found within the genomes of individuals, as well as the archaeological sites they leave behind. The present research is comprised of multiple lines of inquiry that address questions of gene flow, genetic...
Migration Waves, Genetic Drift and the Peopling of Fuego-Patagonia (2016)
The colonization of Fuego-Patagonia is filled with questions of origin, timing and migratory routes taken by early colonizers (inland hunter gatherers) and later migrants, the highly-specialized marine populations. Our study compares mitochondrial DNA sequences taken from 20 prehistoric samples (teeth) ranging in age between 7,200 and 1,000 cal yrs BP (before present) to results from 38 modern Patagonians (Kaweskar, Mapuche-Huilliche and Yagan) who participated as part of the Genographic...
Mitochondrial DNA Results from the Kormantse Archaeological Research Project (2018)
Kormantse is an influential and celebrated place name in the African Diaspora. Some scholars estimate that more slaves were transported from Kormantse and nearby Fort William in Anamabo than most other West African ports. For the last ten years, the Kormantse Archaeological Research Project (KARP) has been studying the human skeletal remains recovered from the site. A combination of PCR-based techniques, targeted enrichment, and next-generation sequencing of Kormantse teeth has confirmed...
Mitogenome sequencing of ancient dogs in the Americas: assessing dog genetic diversity and population history (2016)
Mitochondrial DNA of ancient dogs in the Americas has been studied extensively, but most studies focus solely on the hypervariable region. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of dogs in the Americas from multiple geographic regions and time periods in order to compare populations between regions as well as to compare the genetic diversity of ancient dogs in the Americas to modern dogs worldwide. When comparing the HVR and mitogenome data, we found that the two data sets...
A Molecular Anthropological Re-examination of the Human Remains from La Galgada, Peru (2017)
The archaeological site of La Galgada is located on the eastern bank of the Tablachaca River in the highlands of Northern Peru. The site was dated to both the Preceramic period and Initial period through a combination of detailed archaeological investigation of the site complex, and the use of radiocarbon dating of material collected stratigraphically. Human remains found at the site were also categorized into these two periods based on stratigraphic location. However, recent radiocarbon dating...
Molecular archaeobotany from its early foundations onward: New questions and perspectives for the genomic era (2015)
Following the inception of ancient DNA-based research in the mid 1980’s, researchers began applying the new toolkit of archaeogenetics to a diverse range of questions surrounding human-plant interactions. These early studies laid the groundwork for the field of molecular archaeobotany, exploring aspects of selection and domestication, movement of crop plants alongside humans, and human impacts on ancient ecosystems. Some two decades later, ancient DNA researchers began experimenting with...
Molecular Disease characterization in a pre-Columbian Indigenous population of Punta Candelero, Puerto Rico. (2017)
Skeletal remains belonging to a Late Saladoid population from Punta Candelero site (AD 640-1200), southeast Puerto Rico were used for the detection of Pathogens. Previous studies have established the presence of trace genetic indicators of molecular disease in skeletal remains, such as syphilis and tuberculosis, with associated history or pathology. In this study, we are investigating the presence of various pathogens associated with pre-Columbian Indigenous populations of Puerto Rico....
Monks and Makurians: Tracing Biology and Mobility at Medieval Ghazali (ca. 680 to 1275 CE) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Located in the Wadi Abu Dom, approximately 15 kilometers from the Nile in modern Sudan, the medieval Makurian site of Ghazali (ca. 680–1270 CE) was the location of a large monastic community with associated lay settlement nearby. As part of ongoing research at Ghazali, individuals from the four cemeteries identified at this site were sampled for 87Sr/86Sr...
MtDNA Analysis of the Paquimé (Casas Grandes), Mexico, Population (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Ancient DNA in Service of Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This research project investigates the population interred at the archaeological site known as Paquimé (Casas Grandes), Mexico between two time periods known as the Viejo Period (700 - 1200 A.D.) and the Medio Period (1200 - 1450 A.D.). There was a shift in culture during the latter period marked by changes in material culture and the bringing...
mtDNA and the Peopling of Fuego Patagonia (2018)
Information regarding the prehistoric human migration into Southernmost Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego provides a baseline against which it is possible to compare interpretations regarding the colonization of the Americas, including its timing and rates of human dispersion. The earliest archaeological evidence in Fuego- Patagonia dates to the Late Pleistocene (c. 10.500 BP). By the Middle Holocene archaeological record (c. 8000-4000 BP) shows marked differences between the technological,...
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Inca Resettlement in the Andes (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Thinking Big in the Andes: Papers in Honor of Charles Stanish" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We employ a novel multidisciplinary approach to test the Inca (ca. 1400–1532 CE) policy of forced resettlement (mitma) in the Chincha Valley, Peru. This political strategy significantly transformed the Andean demographic landscape, but it has only been proposed based on intriguing yet ambiguous written sources and...
“Mutton” and the Paleogenomics of Coast Salish Woolly Dogs (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Dogs in the Archaeological Record" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Prior to European colonization, Indigenous Coast Salish peoples in the Pacific Northwest traditionally raised a long-haired domestic dog breed to harvest its hair for weaving. The decline of dog-hair weaving has been attributed to the introduction of machine-made blankets by British and American trading companies in the early nineteenth century, and...
New Approaches to Study Health and Disease in the Pre-Colonial circum-Caribbean (2017)
The most frequent pathologies found throughout the circum-Caribbean before arrival of the Europeans are dental and periodontal diseases. To date, ancient oral health has been studied using a variety of techniques, and recently ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of dental calculus (calcified plaque) has shown great promise in revealing not only (oral) health and disease, but also diet and the composition of the oral microbiome over archaeological timescales. In this paper, we present ancient metagenomic...
New genetic perspectives on early maize cultivation in the American Southwest (2015)
Following the initial domestication of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) from a teosinte grass in Mexico, human populations dispersed the cultivar through trade and migration. Despite a long history of archaeology in the American Southwest, many questions about maize remain, including how the crop was dispersed northward from Mexico and how maize was acclimated to new environments. These unresolved questions can be explored in new ways, thanks to next-generation DNA sequencing technology and targeted...
New Phylogenetic Information from Ancient DNA for Central Panamá (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. New interpretations of Precolumbian Panamanian archaeological sequences and regions are provided. Results from ancient DNA (aDNA) analyses of remains from the site of Panamá Viejo, Panamá, are compared with a multiple burial found in the vicinity of La Pintada in Coclé, Panamá. The Panamá Viejo materials are classified as haplogroup A2 and include...
Next-generation sequencing unravels the relationship of Paleoeskimo and Thule dogs from the North American Arctic (2015)
The peopling of the North American Arctic, occurred in two waves. First the Paleoeskimo people migrated from Siberia roughly 4,000 BP, followed by the Thule people ca. 1000 BP. The Thule people are known for their innovation and rapid colonization of the North American Arctic, compared to small population sizes of the Paleoeskimo. A distinguishing characteristic of Thule culture relative to previous Arctic cultures was increased use of dogs, particularly for dogsled traction. Use of dogs by the...