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Neolithic chewing gum helps recreate image of ancient Dane
At the dawn of the Neolithic era, a young woman discarded a lump of ancient chewing gum made from birch tar into a shallow, brackish lagoon that drew fishers to the coast of southern Denmark.
Nearly 6,000 years later, researchers excavating the site spotted the gum amid pieces of wood and wild animal bone and from it have reassembled her complete DNA and so painted the broadest strokes of her portrait.
The strands of DNA preserved in the gum point to a hunter-gatherer from continental Europe who had dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes. She lived near the lagoon, itself protected from the open sea by shifting sand barriers, about 5,600 years ago, according to carbon dating of the birch tar.
Alongside her DNA, the researchers found genetic material from duck and hazelnuts – presumed remnants of a recent meal – and at least 40 types of microbes.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/dec/17/neolithic-dna-ancient-chewing-gum-denmark
Nearly 6,000 years later, researchers excavating the site spotted the gum amid pieces of wood and wild animal bone and from it have reassembled her complete DNA and so painted the broadest strokes of her portrait.
The strands of DNA preserved in the gum point to a hunter-gatherer from continental Europe who had dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes. She lived near the lagoon, itself protected from the open sea by shifting sand barriers, about 5,600 years ago, according to carbon dating of the birch tar.
Alongside her DNA, the researchers found genetic material from duck and hazelnuts – presumed remnants of a recent meal – and at least 40 types of microbes.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/dec/17/neolithic-dna-ancient-chewing-gum-denmark
2 replies
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The individual who chewed the pitch was female.
BY
AMIT MALEWAR
DECEMBER 18, 2019
The rise of ancient genomics has revolutionized our understanding of human prehistory, but this work depends on the availability of suitable samples. In this study, Danish scientists extracted a complete human DNA sample from a 5700-year-old piece of chewed birch pitch from Denmark.
Birch pitch is a black-brown substance obtained by heating birch bark and has been used as an adhesive and hafting agent as far back as the Middle Pleistocene. Small lumps of this organic material are commonly found on archaeological sites in Scandinavia and beyond. While their use is still debated, they often show tooth imprints, indicating that they were chewed.
The birch pitch sample unveiled enough information to determine the source’s sex, what she had last eaten, and the germs in her mouth. It also told them she probably had dark hair, dark skin, and blue eyes. What’s more, she was more closely related to hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe than to those living in central Scandinavia at the time.
Hannes Schroeder of the University of Copenhagen said, “It is the first time that an entire ancient human genome has been extracted from anything other than human bones.”
More:
https://www.techexplorist.com/scientists-extracted-complete-human-dna-sample-5700-year-old-chewing-gum/28614/?utm_source=BNA&utm_medium=BNA&utm_campaign=BNA
