Anthropology.net1d ago
Brain removal, whittled bones, and a 265km genetic network: a reanalysis of two Iron Age burials in northern Scotland reveals mobile kin, distant Orcadian relatives, and funerary practices stranger and more deliberate than almost anything else from the period. #IronAge #Osteoarchaeology #AncientDNA @Antiquity https://www.anthropology.net/p/bone-tools-and-borrowed-bodies-the
Bone Tools and Borrowed Bodies: The Strange Burial at Loch Borralie

What two Iron Age individuals buried on Scotland’s northern coast reveal about mobility, kinship, and what the living did with the dead

Anthropology.net
Tom Elliott1d ago

Roman Garum Science Claxon!

Themudo, Gonçalo Espregueira, Adolfo Fernández-Fernández, Patricia Valle Abad, et al. “Roman Atlantic Garum: DNA Confirms Sardine Use and Population Continuity in North-Western Iberia.” Antiquity 99, no. 406 (2025): 1049–64. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.73.

> the authors demonstrate that, despite being crushed and exposed to acidic conditions, usable DNA can be recovered from ichthyological residues at the bottom of fish-salting vats. At third-century AD Adro Vello (O Grove), Galicia, they confirm the use of European sardines (Sardina pilchardus) and move beyond morphology to explore population range and admixture and reveal the potential of this overlooked archaeological resource

h/t @GastroHistory @KentNavalesi

#ancientHistory #ancientFood #garum #ancientDNA

Roman Atlantic garum: DNA confirms sardine use and population continuity in north-western Iberia | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Roman Atlantic garum: DNA confirms sardine use and population continuity in north-western Iberia - Volume 99 Issue 406

Cambridge Core
Online Marketing Scoops2d ago

How Neanderthal Genes Influence Today’s Sensitivity

Peter Dazeley//Getty Images Some people flinch at a needle prick faster than others. One possible reason, at least in a very specific experimental setting, may be old very old DNA. In a 2023 paper published in Communications Biology, researchers linked three Neanderthal-derived variants in the gene SCN9A to a lower threshold for one kind of pain test in modern humans: a skin-pricking test performed after the area had been sensitized with mustard oil.......Continue reading.... By: Tim […]

https://onlinemarketingscoops.com/2026/06/09/how-neanderthal-genes-influence-todays-sensitivity/

How Neanderthal Genes Influence Today’s Sensitivity

Peter Dazeley//Getty Images Some people flinch at a needle prick faster than others. One possible reason, at least in a very specific experimental setting, may be old very old DNA. In a 2023 paper …

Online Marketing Scoops
Anthropology.net2d ago
Ancient Japanese dental calculus just got interesting: researchers found that Edo-period women who practiced ohaguro (tooth blackening) harbored a distinct lineage of an oral archaea, possibly shaped by the iron-rich cosmetic paste. #Anthropology #AncientDNA #OralMicrobiome https://www.anthropology.net/p/what-blackened-teeth-knew
What Blackened Teeth Knew

An ancient archaea, an Edo-period cosmetic custom, and what dental calculus reveals about the microbial lives of historical Japan

Anthropology.net
michaelJun 4

3-Jun-2026
Ancient #genomes reveal the unique history of the #extinct #caveLion

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1129552

#science #evolution #ecology #ancientDNA #lions #megafauna #animals

Anthropology.netJun 3
Ötzi’s microbiome includes 5,300-year-old gut bacteria AND cold-adapted yeasts that appear to still be actively growing on his skin. The mummy is a living ecosystem. New research in Microbiome unpacks the layers. #Paleoanthropology #AncientDNA #Archaeogenomics https://www.anthropology.net/p/otzis-inner-ecosystem-what-5300-years
Ötzi’s Inner Ecosystem: What 5,300 Years of Microbial Life Looks Like

The Iceman’s gut flora, glacier yeasts, and the problem of preservation

Anthropology.net
Anthropology.netJun 1
A 19,000-year-old woman buried in an ochre-stained cave in Spain was still carrying Neanderthal bacteria in her dental plaque. Thirty years of excavation at El Mirón keep rewriting the Ice Age. #Paleoanthropology #AncientDNA #Prehistory https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-cave-that-kept-giving
The Cave That Kept Giving

Thirty years of excavation at El Mirón have turned a limestone cave in Cantabrian Spain into one of the most complete records of human prehistory in Europe.

Anthropology.net
SPAAM-communityJun 1
Ancient animal remains hold clues to past #zoonotic diseases. 🐾🧬 Across 6,000 years of Eurasian #zooarchaeological material, researchers detected 29 opportunistic #pathogens, highlighting the value of lesion-guided sampling.
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #ancientDNA #zooarchaeology #pathogengenomics #infection #bioarchaeology #genomics #metagenomics
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-71543-4
Probing the zooarchaeological record across time and space for ancient pathogen DNA - Nature Communications

Authors investigate ancient DNA from animal remains and identify multiple signatures of ancient zoonotic pathogens. They find ancient pathogen genomics from archaeological animal remains may inform zoonotic disease emergence.

Nature
Anthropology.netMay 26
New ancient DNA from 203 Neolithic individuals shows the megalithic tomb communities of Central Europe weren’t defined by blood. A father and son were buried 225 km apart. Patchwork families are ancient. #Archaeogenetics #Neolithic #AncientDNA https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-tombs-were-not-for-families
The Tombs Were Not for Families

Ancient DNA from Neolithic megalithic sites rewrites what we knew about kinship, mobility, and how monumental culture spread across Europe

Anthropology.net
SPAAM-communityMay 25
Genomes record the cost of #overexploitation. 🐾🧬 Chinese #pangolins show severe genetic erosion after decades of decline, with some populations now at critical #extinction risk.
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag099
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #conservation #ancientDNA #museum #museumgenomics #chonesepangolin