Parallel Analysis of Ancient Human mtDNA Sequences and Radiocarbon Ages of Quids from the Mule Springs Rockshelter, Nevada, USA

Summary

Ancient DNA research is revealing unprecedented information about past human migrations and residency. During the late Holocene people exploited food and material resources near Mule Spring Rockshelter in the Spring Mountains of Southern Nevada. In the 1960s hundreds of chewed plant remains (quids) were recovered from the shelter deposits. To better constrain patterns of human residency, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was extracted and partially sequenced from twenty representative quids that have sat unstudied in a museum collection for decades. We report on the detailed analysis of mtDNA sequences and time-resolved patterns of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from paleopeople who occupied this site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Excavating the Museum: New Research on Old Collections

Keywords

Spatial Coverage