ancient DNA (Other Keyword)
51-75 (239 Records)
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. Ancient hair and remnant plant DNA are important environmental proxies that preserve for millennia in specific archaeological contexts. However, recovery has been rare from late Pleistocene sites and more may be found if deliberately sought. Once discovered, singular hair fragments are not easily identified to taxa through comparative...
An Archaeologist Amongst Geneticists: Overview of My Experiences as an Archaeologist in an Ancient DNA Laboratory (2018)
In this paper, I provide insight on the field of ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis from my unique perspective as an archaeologist employed in a leading aDNA laboratory. Ancient DNA research has advanced so much that genomic data from thousands of individuals across the globe are now available for study. These data are allowing geneticists and archaeologists to conduct studies that provide new insights into migration, demographic transitions, and relatedness of ancient individuals. They also afford an...
The Archaeology and Ancient Genomics of Early Horse Domestication: Not as Simple as Once Thought! (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Questioning the Fundamentals of Plant and Animal Domestication" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The earliest unambiguous evidence for equine husbandry relates to the Eneolithic Botai Culture of Northern Kazakhstan, circa. 5,500 years ago. However, whilst recent archaeological investigations and ancient genomics have added further weight to the case for domesticity and husbandry, it is now apparent that Botai horses are...
Archaeology and Genetics in the South Caucasus (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The South Caucasus Region: Crossroads of Societies & Polities. An Assessment of Research Perspectives in Post-Soviet Times" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeology and genetics research all too often live separate lives within anthropology departments. Although the potential for corroboration and perspective-shift seems vast, the two disciplines require fluency in specialized technical registers that adds...
The Archaeology of Herring: A 10-Year Effort to Overcome Technical Challenges, Part 1 (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Advances in Zooarchaeological Methods" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Alaska Natives and BC and Washington State First Nations have maintained sustainable relationships with herring over millennia. Over the past 10 years, we have been using molecular methods to study the ancient and modern DNA of Pacific herring to track changes in genetic diversity through time. Analysis of over 260 herring bones from 24...
The Archaeology of Herring: A 10-Year Effort to Overcome Technical Challenges, Part 2 (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Advances in Zooarchaeological Methods" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pacific herring were an abundant and important component of the coastal ecosystems of western North America for millennia; today, many populations have been decimated as a result of commercial or reduction fisheries. Focusing on genomic data, our hypothesis was that population and phenological diversity was higher in ancient herring than...
The Archaeology of Shuká Káa Cave: Final Report (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Shuká Káa Cave, is located on an island in the homeland of the Tlingit and Haida people of Southeast Alaska, and records seven episodes of human activity dating between 12,170 and 1200 cal BP. Three periods of occupation (10,600–10,150, 9930–9450, and 8360–7929 cal BP) contain microblades, bifaces, and expedient tools. The discovery of 10,500 cal BP human...
Assessing a Minimally Invasive Method for Ancient DNA Sampling of Paleolithic Bone and Antler Tools by Micro-CT Scan and Density Measurements (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Animal Resources in Experimental Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Osseous objects are among the most frequent archaeological remains recovered from Upper Paleolithic (UP) sites. Their analysis is thus essential to obtain insights into crucial aspects of the Pleistocene hunter-gatherer’s lifestyle, including human subsistence, social behavior, prehistoric humans’ practical/symbolic choices, and the...
Benefits of Time Travel, the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre (2017)
Our laboratory focuses on the preservation and degradation of organic signatures in archaeological remains. We devise and use state-of-the art genetic techniques to pull DNA sequences from tooth and bone remains to address questions of ancestry, origins, extinctions and evolution. Currently the lab is focusing on the evolution of infectious disease, namely plague, using full genomic evidence garnered from victims of past pandemics. I will speak about the centre, the overarching questions we are...
Beyond the Big Picture: An integrative Paleogenomic study to address regional dynamics and political organization in the Peruvian Moche Culture (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. The genomic revolution opened up new dimensions for paleogenomic research, inconceivable only a decade ago. However, with a primary focus on big-picture population genetics like large-scale migration events, paleogenetics also became somewhat removed from problem-based archaeological research questions with a regional focus, addressing issues such...
Beyond the Genome: Unravelling Life Processes Using Epigenomes and Ancient RNA (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. The power of ancient DNA to archaeological research needs little introduction. Recent technological revolutions in DNA sequencing have allowed entire populations, lineages, ecosystems, and epidemics to be reconstructed. While these large-scale studies address 'big picture’ questions of prehistory, more subtle, specific questions about past...
Bioarchaeological and Genetic Analysis of the Tzintzuntzan Ossuary (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Looking to the West: New insights into Postclassic Archaeology in Michoacán" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This poster will present the first results from the bioarchaeological analysis of more than half a ton of human skeletal remains recovered from the ossuary of the ancient city of Tzintzuntzan on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro in the state of Michoacán, Mexico. In addition to conventional morphological analysis,...
Bioarchaeological versus Archaeological Data on the Beginnings of Southeast and Central European Early Neolithic (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The short paper focuses on Early Neolithic continental Europe, with presenting new archaeological results compared to similarly recent ancient DNA and stable isotope studies. I shall address various scenarios from selected regions in the Balkans, in northern Germany before zooming in the eastern and western part of the Carpathian basin. Here again,...
Bioarchaeology and Genome Justice: What Are the Implications for Indigenous Peoples? (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Social Justice in Native North American Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper examines the theme of "discovery," used in relation to Indigenous lands and peoples to designate the respective claims of Indigenous peoples and the European peoples that colonized North America. In particular, I look at the domain of "bioarchaeology" and the construct of "genome justice" to explore how DNA science attempts...
Biomolecular Archaeology: New Insights from the Past (2017)
The field of biomolecular anthropology has been transformed in recent years by new technological and methodological approaches, including DNA, protein and small molecule characterization. At the Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology and Microbiome Research (LMAMR) at the University of Oklahoma, we have successfully expanded these approaches to study past populations, for example through the investigation of: 1) ancient animal use, translocations, and domestication, 2) human dietary adaptations,...
Biomolecular Preservation in Dental Calculus from the Teotihuacan Ritual Landscape (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. During the Classic Period (AD 1-550), thousands of people migrated to the ancient city of Teotihuacan. This population growth forged Teotihuacan into a center for economic, political, and religious activities for the Mesoamerican region. While archaeological evidence has provided a wealth of information about the state, little is known about its...
Bloody Sharp Rocks: Optimization of aDNA Extraction from Experimental Lithic Artifacts (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Species detection using DNA recovered from lithic artifacts could indicate the manner in which tools were utilized and ultimately enhance our understanding of the mobility strategies and subsistence patterns employed by past peoples. Geneticists and archaeologists in the 1980s and 1990s managed to successfully extract DNA from lithics, using both modern...
Botanical and aDNA Analysis of the Dietary Contents of Human Paleofeces from Turkey Pen Ruin, Utah (2016)
Over the last few decades archaeologists and paleontologists have made great strides in paleofecal analysis, not the least of which was the application of aDNA testing. However, most aDNA analyses of paleofeces have focused exclusively on studying human populations and researchers have largely ignored the potential for using this tool to study dietary constituents themselves. In this study, we present analyses of aDNA from both the faunal and floral dietary constituents of 20 Basketmaker II...
Building a More Precise Understanding of the Past by Merging Techniques from Archaeology and Ancient DNA Analysis (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. Ancient DNA (aDNA) data have provided unprecedented new insights on demographic changes through time. This paper demonstrates that aDNA can also enhance well-established archaeological techniques, by building on research that has explored how aDNA data can help refine radiocarbon date range estimates. Previous research established that since there...
A Call for Contextualized Ancient DNA Research in Mexico: The Importance of Developing Ancient DNA Collaborations that Further Education and Technology Transfer and Infrastructure in Developing Countries: Perspectives from Mexico's Experiences (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. Ancient DNA approaches have a long-standing history in bioanthropological and archaeological contexts in Mexico. However, we are starting to see a gap between these novel data and anthropologists; this could be the result of the mixture of the rapid advance of paleogenomics together with the lack of technological and...
A Canadian Perspective on Later Paleoindian Technocomplexes and Emerging Genetic Data (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Paleo Lithics to Legacy Management: Ruthann Knudson—Inawa’sioskitsipaki" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ruthann Knudson had an abiding interest in the later Paleoindian world and an affinity for Canadian research, keeping in regular touch with colleagues across the 49th parallel. Geneticists consistently identify three clades in the early prehistory of the New World: an ancient Beringian population in Alaska, and...
Captive management and sacrificial power: Using ancient genomics to study animal sacrifice in Teotihuacán (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations of the Moon and Sun Pyramids (1998-2004) at Teotihuacan have yielded both human and animal sacrifices, interred as part of state rituals. These rituals demonstrated the power of the state, and the species chosen reflected that power. Isotopic and zooarchaeological analyses of the sacrificed animals show that some of them were held for extended...
Challenges of Using NGS to Detect T. cruzi in Human Remains from Pre-Columbian South America (2017)
The trypanosomatid parasites are responsible for devastating human disease worldwide. In the Americas, Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas Disease (CD), the most epidemic zoonosis in Latin America today. The clinical manifestations of CD, however, have been recognized in archaeological human remains from South America as early as 9,000 years ago. We present preliminary results of a project that applies paleogenomic methods, including targeted enrichment and next-generation...
Challenging environments: ancient DNA research in the circum-Caribbean (2016)
Ancient DNA (aDNA) studies have had a major impact in archaeology. However, until now most aDNA studies have been conducted on samples from cold or temperate environments, as DNA degrades more rapidly at higher temperatures. With average annual temperatures of over 25°C, the Caribbean represents a particularly challenging environment for aDNA research and very few aDNA studies have been conducted in the Caribbean to date. Yet, there are many questions in Caribbean archaeology that could be...
Characterization of a Multiple Burial context from Pachacamac, Peru: Complementarity between Bioarchaeology and Molecular Archaeology. (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pachacamac is a major pre-Columbian site located on Peru’s Central Coast. Covering approximately 6 km2, the site was occupied for over a thousand years before the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. In 2012, the Ychsma Project discovered a unique Late Intermediate Period (900 to 1470 AD) multiple burial ('Cx4') made of two funerary chambers with a...