Tulossa muinais-DNA:ta Komin tasavallasta (50-550 jaa.)

[merimaa]

Ihan hyviä uutisia kaikille, jotka odottavat DNA-näytteitä Pohjois-Venäjältä. Uudessa virustutkimuksessa on mukana yksi myöhäisen rautakauden näyte Komin tasavallasta ja näytteitä olisi mahdollista ottaa enemmänkin, koska samalta paikalta on löydetty useiden vainajien jäänteitä.

Guellil, M., van Dorp, L., Saag, L., ... Tambets, K. (2024).
2500 Years of Human Betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B Evolution Revealed by Ancient DNA.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 5.599715v1

"The burial site of Ezhol is located in the Kortkerossky district, Komi Republic, Russia [...] on a river terrace bordering the old floodplain of the Vychegda River."

"Eight round or oval burial mounds [насыпь] of up to 0.6 m in height and with dimensions of 4.0×3.1 m to 7.3×5.5 m, and two flat graves have been investigated. There were 1 to 3 burials beneath each of the mounds. A total of 18 burials were excavated – 16 under the burial mounds and two in flat graves. [...] The dead were placed in graves [...] lying flat on their backs with heads facing the river."

"The burial site is dated to the second half of the 5th century and the first half of the 6th century CE. [...] Similar to other analogous burial sites with a combination of mounds and flat graves known in the basin of the Vychegda River and in the valley of the Izhma River, the Ezhol burial sites likely also belonged to nomadic hunter-fisher-gatherer groups which migrated from the Kama River basin."

"Ancient DNA analysis for individual EZH008 was performed using a petrous bone of a 50-year-old woman from grave 2 of burial mound IV, which was found in 2015. In addition to the woman's bones, an iron knife and a bead made of a copper-containing alloy were also found in the grave."

"Radiocarbon (AMS) dating from EZH008 yielded an age of 1896±25 BP (UBA-45348), 76–218 calCE with a probability of 95.4%, but stable isotopes indicate that the date is affected by the freshwater reservoir effect. The nitrogen and carbon values (δ 13 C – -20.9‰, δ 15 N – 11.6‰) are particularly similar in terms of nitrogen of other analysed human bones from the Ezhol burial site, according to which it was suggested that freshwater fish constituted at least 25–30% of peoples diet. Since the reservoir shift is not clear, the burial should rather be dated not to the 1st–3rd centuries CE but to a range that considers both the radiocarbon dating and the youngest possible age of the cemetery – from the second half of the 1st century to the first half of the 6th century CE."