Evidence for differential ancient DNA survival in human and pig bones from the norse North Atlantic

M. G. Campana, T. Mcgovern, T. Disotell

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Current models of DNA degradation and previous research on Icelandic human skeletons predict ancient DNA preservation in the Norse North Atlantic faunal remains to be excellent. In contrast, we found that DNA preservation in Viking-Age pig remains was poor. We posit that this discrepancy in DNA survival between human and faunal remains is due to differing taphonomies. Our results highlight that DNA degradation is strongly dictated by micro-environmental taphonomic processes even in regions where the climate is conducive to DNA survival. Due to these differences, DNA preservation in animal remains may not be suitable proxies for DNA preservation in associated human remains.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)704-708
    Number of pages5
    JournalInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology
    Volume24
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Nov 1 2014

    Keywords

    • Ancient DNA
    • Climate
    • Faeroe Islands
    • Iceland
    • Taphonomy

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Archaeology
    • Anthropology
    • Archaeology

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