An Archaeological Investigation into the Genetic and Dietary Histories of Dogs at the Bridge River Site, BC

Summary

Domesticated dog (Canis lupus familiarus) remains have been recovered from a variety of Northwest Plateau archaeological sites, including Bridge River, a complex hunter-gatherer village on the Fraser River of British Columbia. To gain insight into the genetic continuity and dietary history of these dogs, this study applies ancient DNA techniques to dog bones and coprolites recovered from two pithouses at Bridge River. Dog mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is used to inform on genetic relationships between domesticated dogs at Bridge River and other ancient dog populations, both in British Columbia and worldwide. Dog diet information is gleaned from salmon mtDNA sequences recovered from both coprolites and salmon bones within the coprolites. Whole genome analysis, followed by next-generation sequencing on an Illumina MiSeq platform, shed additional light on other dietary components, as well host nuclear DNA from the coprolites.

Cite this Record

An Archaeological Investigation into the Genetic and Dietary Histories of Dogs at the Bridge River Site, BC. Dongya Yang, Antonia Rodrigues, Anna Marie Prentiss, Eleanor Green, Camilla Speller. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 430143)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -169.717; min lat: 42.553 ; max long: -122.607; max lat: 71.301 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17217