Article
Geography, Physical
Eleonor Tietze, Silvana Urquiza, Maria Ornela Beltrame
Summary: This study examines the parasite diversity and relationship with South American camelids (SAC) through holocenic times in the Southern Puna of Argentina. 11 parasite taxa were found in the archaeological site PP4, showing changes in parasite species present in SAC over time.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Gustavo Macedo do Carmo, Renato Araujo Garcia, Fabiano Matos Vieira, Sueli de Souza Lima, Herminio Ismael de Araujo-Junior, Ralph Maturano Pinheiro
Summary: Coprolites are valuable for understanding ancient ecology and environment through chemical composition and micro-and macroanalysis. A study on coprolites from the Tremembe ' Formation revealed the presence of Nematode eggs, providing insights into parasite-host relationships and ancient parasitic infections. This study contributes to the knowledge on the paleoenvironment of the geological formation.
JOURNAL OF SOUTH AMERICAN EARTH SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Maria Ornela Beltrame, Eleonor Tietze, Victoria Canal, Ramiro Barberena, Silvina Quintana
Summary: Coprolites are commonly used as evidence in paleoparasitological studies, but it is not always possible to identify their zoological origin. Eimeria parasites are obligate protozoa with a diverse host range and strict host specificity. Morphological characteristics and molecular diagnostic methods can be used to identify Eimeria spp. This study combines light microscopic and ancient DNA methods to detect and identify Eimeria spp. in artiodactyl coprolites from Argentina. The results demonstrate the complementary nature of these techniques and their potential for identifying the zoological origin of coprolites.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Matthieu Le Bailly, Celine Maicher, Kevin Roche, Benjamin Dufour
Summary: Paleoparasitology is an interdisciplinary discipline that studies human and animal parasites and their evolution over time, providing valuable insights into the lifestyles of ancient populations. It contributes to issues related to food, health, hygiene, waste management, and site occupation by ancient populations, as well as the evolution of the human/animal relationship and the history of diseases. This field offers applications in archaeology and disease history by analyzing parasites in ancient remains.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2021)
Review
Food Science & Technology
Aida Vafae Eslahi, Meysam Olfatifar, Leila Zaki, Majid Pirestani, Simin Sotoodeh, Mohammad Aidin Farahvash, Aisa Maleki, Milad Badri
Summary: This study aimed to assess the global prevalence of intestinal helminthic parasites among food handlers, revealing a high prevalence of intestinal helminths among them. Preventive measures such as routine parasitological investigation, food safety, and personal sanitation training are recommended to prevent the transmission of intestinal helminths by food handlers.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ascension Ariza-Mateos, Carlos Briones, Celia Perales, Maria Teresa Bayo-Jimenez, Esteban Domingo, Jordi Gomez
Summary: The entry of a virus into the host cell alters intracellular molecular relationships, leading to the recovery of ancient cellular activities. Viruses can be used as archaeological tools to identify unexpressed activities in non-infected cells, opening new perspectives for molecular biology.
ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Andre Friese, Kohen Bauer, Clemens Glombitza, Luis Ordonez, Daniel Ariztegui, Verena B. Heuer, Aurele Vuillemin, Cynthia Henny, Sulung Nomosatryo, Rachel Simister, Dirk Wagner, Satria Bijaksana, Hendrik Vogel, Martin Melles, James M. Russell, Sean A. Crowe, Jens Kallmeyer
Summary: Research shows that methanogenesis dominates organic matter mineralization in ferruginous sediment, even with abundant reactive iron phases present. The coexistence of ferric iron and methane indicates a lack of iron-dependent methane oxidation. This suggests that methane production in low-oxygen Archaean and Proterozoic oceans could have significantly influenced Earth's early climate.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Alexander P. Boast, Jamie R. Wood, Nicola Bolstridge, George L. W. Perry, Janet M. Wilmshurst
Summary: Threatened animal species often cannot be found in their original habitats, making it difficult to fully understand their ecological niche using contemporary data alone. However, by analyzing DNA from scats and coprolites, it is possible to identify past and present species interactions of these animals. In this study, the dietary plants of the critically endangered kakapo were analyzed using DNA metabarcoding and palynological analysis. The results revealed previously unknown plant species in the kakapo's diet, indicating that contemporary data may underestimate the dietary breadth of threatened species and highlighting the potential value of coprolite analysis in conservation biology.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Harold P. Hodgins, Pengsheng Chen, Briallen Lobb, Xin Wei, Benjamin J. M. Tremblay, Michael J. Mansfield, Victoria C. Y. Lee, Pyung-Gang Lee, Jeffrey Coffin, Ana T. Duggan, Alexis E. Dolphin, Gabriel Renaud, Min Dong, Andrew C. Doxey
Summary: The analysis of microbial genomes from human archaeological samples provides insights into ancient pathogens and their relation to modern infectious diseases. This study identified bacterial genomic sequences related to modern Clostridium tetani, which causes tetanus, in ancient human samples. The study also discovered a novel variant of the tetanus neurotoxin that can induce disease in mammals.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Don E. Canfield, Mark A. van Zuilen, Sami Nabhan, Christian J. Bjerrum, Shuichang Zhang, Huajian Wang, Xiaomei Wang
Summary: Analysis of over 5,700 Raman analyses of organic matter revealed that organic matter was effectively oxidized during weathering and little was recycled into marine sediments. The study constrained minimum atmospheric oxygen levels to between 2 to 24% of present levels from 742 to 1729 Ma. The results suggest that eukaryote evolution, including early animal evolution, was not likely hindered by oxygen levels during this time interval.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Anthropology
Giada Ferrari, Angelica Cuevas, Agata T. Gondek-Wyrozemska, Rachel Ballantyne, Oliver Kersten, Albina H. Palsdottir, Inge van der Jagt, Anne Karin Hufthammer, Ingrid Ystgaard, Stephen Wickler, Gerald F. Bigelow, Jennifer Harland, Rebecca Nicholson, David Orton, Benoit Clavel, Sanne Boessenkool, James H. Barrett, Bastiaan Star
Summary: The majority of archaeological sites yield high levels of endogenous DNA, depending on excavation site and pre-extraction treatment. Balancing library preparation success and levels of endogenous DNA can be achieved through alternative extraction strategies.
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Gorica Veselinovic, Dragana Zivotic, Kristina Penezic, Milica Kasanin-Grubin, Nevenka Mijatovic, Jovana Malbasic, Aleksandra Sajnovic
Summary: This study utilized a multidisciplinary approach to characterize sediments from the archaeological site Vina - Belo Brdo, Serbia, shedding light on paleoenvironmental conditions during Pleistocene and Early Holocene sedimentation and their impact on human-environment interaction during the Neolithic. Organic geochemical characterization, combined with other analyses, provided insight into the depositional environments, mineralogy, and organic matter origin within the sediment samples, revealing the complexities of ancient civilizations settling in the region.
Review
Plant Sciences
Daniel Fuks, Zachary C. Dunseth
Summary: The study highlights the importance of combining different botanical proxies and geoarchaeological sedimentary analysis to assess the contribution of plant remains from dung in archaeobotanical assemblages. Multi-proxy archaeobotanical investigation provides information on seasonality, grazing range, and herding practices. Analyzing the contents of ancient dung pellets can reveal information about the species, physical characteristics, diet, and disease agents of the ancient producers.
VEGETATION HISTORY AND ARCHAEOBOTANY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Diyendo Massilani, Mike W. Morley, Susan M. Mentzer, Vera Aldeias, Benjamin Vernot, Christopher Miller, Mareike Stahlschmidt, Maxim B. Kozlikin, Michael Shunkov, Anatoly P. Derevianko, Nicholas J. Conard, Sarah Wurz, Christopher S. Henshilwood, Javi Vasquez, Elena Essel, Sarah Nagel, Julia Richter, Birgit Nickel, Richard G. Roberts, Svante Paeaebo, Viviane Slon, Paul Goldberg, Matthias Meyer
Summary: DNA preserved in ancient sediments can provide valuable genetic information about past hominin and environmental diversity. This study demonstrates that resin-impregnated archaeological sediment blocks can effectively preserve DNA from hominins and other mammals. Microsampling analysis of sediment blocks from Denisova Cave reveals significant variation in the taxonomic composition of mammalian DNA at a millimeter-scale, with DNA concentrated in small particles such as bone and feces fragments. The study also successfully extracts Neanderthal DNA from a sediment block, closely related to a previously recovered Neanderthal toe bone.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Moritz Muschick, Eliane Jemmi, Nicholas Lengacher, Stephanie Hansch, Nathan Wales, Mary A. Kishe, Salome Mwaiko, Jorunn Dieleman, Mark Alexander Lever, Walter Salzburger, Dirk Verschuren, Ole Seehausen
Summary: Tropical freshwater lakes are well-known for their biodiversity, and the East African Great Lakes in particular are famous for their cichlid fishes. This study demonstrates, for the first time, that fish fossils from tropical lake sediments contain endogenous ancient DNA (aDNA), providing valuable information on the evolutionary trajectories and diversity of these fish taxa. The preservation and success rates of aDNA differ between investigated lakes, possibly due to differences in oxygenation.