According to the researchers, it is a new untapped source of ancient DNA. Stone Age “chewing gum” yields 5,700-year-old human genome and oral microbiome Experts of the University of Copenhagen have been able to extract a complete human genome from a “chewing gum” which is thousands of years The DNA was so well-preserved that scientists could reconstruct the entire human genome of the Stone Age person who had chewed the gum. Scientists have successfully extracted a complete human genome from a 5,700-year-old piece of "chewing gum" that was discovered in southern Denmark. No known physical remains of the woman in question exist. December 20, 2019-- A complete human genome, oral microbes, and human pathogens were retrieved from a 5,700-year-old type of "chewing gum," untapping a new source of ancient DNA and shedding light on the person who chewed it, according to research published on … The piece of 5,700 year old birch bark tar chewing gum Credit: Theis Jensen The “birch pitch” she was chewing is the same as the birch bark tar that prehistoric peoples (including Neanderthals) were using tens and hundreds of thousands of years earlier to glue stone axes to handles ( a technique known as hafting ). (Experts believe Northern Europeans evolved lighter skin and hair to adapt to the lower light conditions in regions where they lived much later on, and the genetic mutation for digesting milk came around once they became more dependent on livestock for food.). According to the researchers, it is a new untapped source of ancient DNA. 5,700-year-old ‘Chewing Gum’ Holds Key to Lives of Ancient People and Bacteria in Their Body Chewing Gum Additive Linked to Colorectal Cancer DNA of Earliest Scandinavian Humans Discovered in 10,000 Years Old Chewing Gum The team nicknamed the young Neolithic woman "Lola" after Lolland, the island in Denmark on which the 5,700-year-old chewing gum was discovered. Archaeologists found a 5,700-year-old wad of “chewing gum” – a piece of birch-tree pitch – in Lolland, Denmark. Researchers also detected DNA from bacteria and viruses in the birch resin, providing a snapshot of the ancient oral microbiome that scientists had never seen before. Archaeologists in Lolland, Denmark unearthed a piece of 5,700-year-old chewing gum made of birch bark and found to their great surprise that the ancient artifact contained DNA. Lola, however, had been eating duck and hazelnuts before she started chewing on birch pitch, based on additional DNA found in the birch sample. Photo: University of Copenhagen via AFP 5,700-year-old 'chewing gum' offers snapshot of ancient people By Melissa Busch, DrBicuspid.com assistant editor. 5700-year-old chewing might have uncovered some incredible insights into humans ☹️ 2010s was the decade the internet lost its joy How the must-have email client SuperHuman uses video game design to make work feel like gaming ~ Brianne Kimmel newsletter is great and well worth signing up to Some of the first chewing gums, made of birch tar and other natural substances, have been preserved for thousands of years, including a 5,700-year-old … Scientists also found traces of the countless microbes that lived in the woman’s mouth. 17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists Announced. The ancient DNA, described in a paper published Tuesday in Nature Communications, is especially valuable because few human bones from the Mesolithic and Neolithic Stone Ages have been found in Scandinavia. The chewed bark contained ancient DNA from a … This was reported in Nature communication. During excavations on Lolland, archaeologists have found a 5,700-year-old type of “chewing gum” made from birch pitch. What a 5,700-Year-Old Wad of Chewed Gum Reveals About Ancient People and Their Bacteria. DNA from Stone Age ‘chewing gum’ tells an incredible story For the first time, scientists used 5,700-year-old saliva to sequence the complete human genome of … December 17, 2019. in Agriculture, News. The ancient birch gum in Scandinavia preserved enough DNA to reconstruct the full human genome of its ancient chewer, identify the microbes that lived in her mouth, and even reveal the menu of a prehistoric meal. Scientists Reconstruct Entire Genome of a Woman From Her 5,700-Year-Old Chewing Gum Artistic reconstruction of Lola. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have succeeded in extracting a complete human genome from a thousands-of-years old “chewing gum”. She was a female, and while her age is unknown, she may have been a child considering similar birch pitch gums of the era often feature the imprints of children’s teeth. You deserve an explanation. Advertising Notice 5,700 Year Old Chewing Gum Reveals Insights On Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Life in Denmark Theis Jensen, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, and colleagues, published a report in Nature Communications about a the finding of a South Danish Neolithic woman’s complete genome and oral microbiome from a piece of birch tar she chewed. But because people chewed gums made of pitch and other substances all around the world, we could be left with a trove of already-been-chewed treasure for tracing people, activities and bacteria of the past. Scientists have extracted and fully sequenced the genome of a human girl from a piece of chewing gum that’s 5,700 years old. Epstein-Barr virus, which more than 90 percent of living humans carry, was also present in the woman’s mouth. “This is a snapshot of a real person in real time,” said Natalija Kashuba, an archaeologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, who also studies birch pitch samples but was not involved in the latest research. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have succeeded in extracting a complete human genome from a thousands-of-years old “chewing gum”. “We may expect this process, especially at this late stage of the Mesolithic, to have been complex with different groups, from south, west or even east, moving at different times and sometimes intermingling while perhaps other times staying isolated,” Jan Storå, an osteoarchaeologist at Stockholm University, says via email. An ancient wad of chewing gum has yielded a complete human genome, enough information for researchers to reconstruct the visage of a girl who lived 5,700 years … Her genes suggest she likely had a striking combination of dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes. London: For the first time, researchers have extracted an entire ancient human genome from a sample other than bones, in a gum chewed by a 5,700-year-old female, unearthing details about the diet and oral microbes of stone age people. 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. Scientists suspect several reasons why people would have chewed it: to make it malleable once again after it cooled, to ease toothaches because it’s mildly antiseptic, to clean teeth, to ease hunger pains, or simply because they enjoyed it. “It’s interesting because it’s the same combination of physical traits that apparently was very common in Mesolithic Europe. So even as late as 5,700 years ago, when other parts of Europe like Germany already had farming populations with this other type of ancestry present, she still looked like essentially western hunter-gatherers, like people looked in the thousands of years before then,” Schroeder says. Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. DNA is one of scientists’ best sources of information about people, but the more ancient the person, the harder it can be to find viable DNA to examine. They named her Lola. Excavations began at the site in 2012 in preparation for the construction of a tunnel, affording the Museum Lolland-Falster a unique chance for archaeological field work. Ancient DNA samples always include microbial genes, but they are typically from the environment. Smithsonian Institution. From the DNA, researchers can start to piece together some of the ancient woman’s physical traits and make some inferences about the world she lived in. The discarded gum yielded a surprising amount of information about its 5,700-year-old chewer. The era’s poor oral hygiene has helped add even more evidence to this line of investigation, as genetic bits of foodstuffs were also identifiable in the gum. Nearly 6000-year-old chewing gum reveals life of ancient girl By Ann Gibbons Dec. 17, 2019 , 11:00 AM More than 5700 years ago, a girl spat out a wad of chewing gum … When they spat the gum out, the same antiseptic properties helped preserve the DNA in their saliva. Who Was Charles Curtis, the First Vice President of Color? The human DNA pulled from the pitch highlighted her darker skin, darker hair and blue eyes, common among hunter-gatherers of that time and place. But these characteristics are not surprising. Terms of Use 5,700-year-old 'Chewing Gum' Helps Recreate Image of Its Consumer. Photos: Ancient finds. Scientists have decoded an entire human genome from a 5,700-year-old birch sample—or ancient "chewing gum." “It’s really interesting that we can start working on this material, because there’s a lot of it scattered around Scandinavia from the Stone Age to the Iron Age,” she says, adding that gums may survive wherever birches were prevalent—including eastward toward Russia, where one wave of Scandinavian migration is thought to have originated. The genome was found at an excavation site in Syltholm in southern Denmark. “And it looks like it was from the continent.” This interpretation would support studies suggesting that two different waves of people colonized Scandinavia after the ice sheets retreated 12,000 to 11,000 years ago, via a southern route and a northeastern route along today’s Norwegian coast. “These birch pitch chewing gums are kind of special in terms of how well the DNA is preserved. The researchers, including those from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, extracted the complete ancient human genome from a sample of birch pitch … The team compared the taxonomic composition of the well-preserved microbes to those found in modern human mouths and found them very similar. Birch pitch, made by heating the tree’s bark, was commonly used across Scandinavia as a prehistoric glue for attaching stone tools to handles. Ancient examples of such pathogens could help scientists reconstruct the origins of certain diseases and track their evolution over time, including what factors might conspire to make them more dangerous. (Theis Jensen) (Theis Jensen) With the help of carbon dating, experts discovered that the gum was approximately 5,700 years old, which meant that people, at that time, had stopped hunting and started farming and … “This is supposed to be a time when farming has already arrived, with changing lifestyles, but we find no trace of farmer ancestry in her genome, which is fairly easy to establish because it originated in the Near East. The entire genome of a female human who lived in Denmark 5,700 years ago was mapped from a piece of birch pitch that she chewed. It might have also relieved toothaches because of the antiseptic oils in the gum. “The farming groups would probably have been present in the area, and they would have interacted with the hunter-gatherer groups.”. THE entire genetic code of a 5,700-year-old human has been extracted from little more than a piece of ancient "chewing gum". The chewed bark contained ancient DNA from a hunter-gatherer woman. Cookie Policy But the find was also made possible by the conditions at the site, named Syltholm, on an island in southern Denmark, where thick mud has perfectly preserved a wide range of unique Stone Age artifacts. This, they say, is the very first time a complete ancient … Scientists Sequence Human Genome Stuck On 5,700 Years Old “Chewing Gum” Artistic reconstruction of Lola. “The ‘lack’ of Neolithic farmer gene flow, at this date, is very interesting,” adds Storå, who wasn’t involved in the research. “That changes the game,” Dr. Kashuba said. The entire genome of a female who lived in Denmark 5,700 years ago has been sequenced, from a piece of prehistoric “chewing gum.” It’s impossible to know whether she was a girl or full-grown woman, but like other early Europeans, as we know now, she likely had dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes, Theis Jensen of the University of Copenhagen and a host of co-authors reported Tuesday in … Modern chewing gums, which often contain polyethylene plastic, could stick around for tens or even hundreds of years, and perhaps much longer in the right conditions. “It’s as close as we’ll ever come to standing face to face with an individual from the Stone Age of Scandinavia.”. “We determined that she had this striking combination of dark skin, dark hair, and blue eyes,” Schroeder says. Archaeologists reconstructed a Neolithic woman’s complete genome and oral … No human remains have yet been found at Syltholm—unless you count the tiny strands of DNA preserved in the ancient gum Schroeder and colleagues described today in Nature Communications. In this study, Danish scientists extracted a complete human DNA sample from a 5700-year-old piece of chewed birch pitch from Denmark. By IANS 19 December 2019 TWC India This image is an artistic reconstruction of the woman who chewed the birch pitch. Vote Now! Researchers used DNA from a 5,700-year-old piece of chewing gum from Denmark to reconstruct an Early Neolithic girl they named Lola. When found, it commonly contains toothmarks. 1 5,700-year-old chewing gum with DNA, infectious pathogens excavated from a dig Denmark 2 Over 90 percent of heat cause by man is absorbed by ocean, temperatures have reached record high in 2020 3 Life sized picture of a wild pig is the world's oldest cave painting from 45,000 years ago “If it hadn’t been for them, I’m not sure most geneticists would have bothered with this kind of material.”. When researchers analyzed human DNA preserved in the 5,700-year-old birch pitch, they found that the individual who chewed on it was a female, who was more closely related to hunter-gatherers from continental Europe than those from central Scandinavia. The gum-chewers’ family ties may also help to map the movement of peoples as they settled Scandinavia. So it's surprising that a 5,700 year-old form of 'chewing gum' remembers its owner well enough that scientists were able to recreate her entire genome, and also see what she had just eaten. “It is very exciting to be able to extract a full human genome from anything other than bone,’’ said Hannes Schroeder, an archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, who led the research. A 5,700-year-old piece of birch tar, chewed as gum, contains the genome, mouth microbes, and even dietary information about its former chewer. Researchers have extracted a complete ancient human genome from birch pitch, a 5,700-year-old type of ancient “chewing gum,” found during excavations on Lolland, Denmark. Some of the first chewing gums, made of birch tar and other natural substances, have been preserved for thousands of years, including a 5,700-year-old piece of Stone Age gum unearthed in Denmark. The Danish team identified several species of bacteria that were similar to those hiding in people’s plaque and on the tips of their tongues today. ease toothaches because it’s mildly antiseptic, apparently was very common in Mesolithic Europe, studies suggesting that two different waves, colonized Scandinavia after the ice sheets retreated, at a 10,000-year-old site on Sweden’s west coast, where one wave of Scandinavian migration is thought to have originated, Trove of 'Ancient Treasures' Found in Shipwreck Off the Coast of Greece, How the Rugged F4F Wildcat Held the Line During World War II, The True Story of the Reichstag Fire and the Nazi Rise to Power, Archaeologists Unearth Egyptian Queen's Tomb, 13-Foot 'Book of the Dead' Scroll, Meet the Soil Scientists Using Dirt to Make Stunning Paints, Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina Could Be Largest Land Animal Ever, Ancient South American Civilizations Bloomed in the Desert Thanks to Seabird Poop, Felines May Use Catnip for More Than Just Euphoria, Renaissance Nun's 'Last Supper' Painting Makes Public Debut After 450 Years in Hiding. “I think we have to thank the archaeologists who not only preserved these gums but suggested maybe we should try to process them,” she says. DNA of 5700-year-old chewing gum recreates photo of woman who chewed it Researchers have different theories about the use of this "chewing gum" including its use as glue to make tools, to help in toothaches, to suppress hunger, or just for no specific purpose like today. Usually benign, the virus can be associated with serious diseases like infectious mononucleosis, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple sclerosis. Scientists found that the person who chewed the gum … Whether the region’s turn to farming was a lifestyle change among local hunter-gatherers, or spurred by the arrival of farming migrants, remains a matter of debate. Chewing on birch pitch would have made it pliable again for using on tools. In a landmark study, scientists have reconstructed the genome of an ancient human who lived some 5,700 years ago in what we now know as southern Denmark. 5,700-year-old "chewing Gum" Found In Denmark, Holds Key To Lives Of Ancient People The gum is believed to be 5,700-years-old and was reportedly chewed by a female. “It’s as well-preserved as some of the best petrous [skull] bones that we’ve analyzed, and they are kind of the holy grail when it comes to ancient DNA preservation.”. Scientists dig into the diet, health and history of Danish hunter-gatherers in a new study. Carbon dating showed the gum to be about 5,700 years old, meaning the chewer lived around when humans stopped hunting and gathering and started farming and domesticating animals. About 5,700 years … Others stood out, including bacterial evidence for gum disease and Streptococcus pneumoniae, which can cause pneumonia today and is responsible for a million or more infant deaths each year. ख द ई म म ल 5700 स ल प र न च य इ गम 20/12/2019 innews16 Share On Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More द न य म जब-जब क स स थ न क ख द ई ह ई त अज ब -गर ब च ज स मन आत रह ह . (Theis Jensen) An ancient wad of chewing gum has yielded a complete human genome, enough information for researchers to reconstruct the visage of … THE entire genetic code of a 5,700-year-old human has been extracted from little more than a piece of ancient "chewing gum". But a recent finding has gone beyond this paradigm when DNA could be extracted from a 5,700 years old chewing gum of birch pitch. California Do Not Sell My Info “The fact that she was more closely related genetically to people from Belgium and Spain than to people from Sweden, which is just a few hundred kilometers farther north, tells us something about how southern Scandinavia was first populated,” Schroeder says. During excavations on Lolland, archaeologists have found a 5,700-year-old ty Continue “It looks like in these parts maybe you have pockets of hunter-gatherers still surviving, or living side-by-side with farmers for hundreds of years,” he says. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have succeeded in extracting a complete human genome from a thousands-of-years old “chewing gum”. DNA from the chewed-up gum provides clues about the people who settled in the area, the kind of food they ate and even the type of bacteria they carried on their teeth. While samples of birch pitch are commonly found in archeological sites around Scandinavia, this is the first time that an entire human genome has … Scientists Reconstruct Entire Genome of a Woman From Her 5,700-Year-Old Chewing Gum. When hunter-gatherers living in what is now southern Denmark broke down pieces of birch bark into sticky, black tar about 5,700 years ago, they almost certainly didn’t realize that they were leaving future scientists their entire DNA. For the wealth of information the small piece of pitch provides, it raises just as many questions, Dr. Kashuba said. Give a Gift. The gum’s water-resistant properties helped to preserve the DNA within, as did its mild antiseptic properties which helped to prevent microbial decay. Stone Age chewing gum holds clues to the life of a young girl who lived 5,700 years ago. “The dietary evidence, the duck and the hazel nuts, would also support this idea that she was a hunter-gatherer and subsisted on wild resources,” Schroeder says, noting that the site is littered with physical remains which show reliance on wild resources like fish, rather than domesticated plants or animals. The fact that the discarded artifact survived to reveal so much information about the past isn’t entirely due to luck, Kashuba says. Scientists are unable to glean an individual’s age from the DNA stored in the sample. Privacy Statement The birch pitch sample also had traces of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria and Epstein-Barr virus, which provide clues to Lola’s health. The 5,700-year-old chewing gum was so well-preserved that scientists have been able to reconstruct the entire genome of the Neolithic girl who chewed it. Some included bacteria known to cause gum disease, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis. 5,700-year-old 'Chewing Gum' Helps Recreate Image of Its Consumer Danish scientists have managed to extract a complete human DNA sample from a piece of birch pitch more than 5,000 years old, used as a kind of chewing gum, a study revealed Tuesday. Thousands of years ago, a young Neolithic woman in what is now Denmark chewed on a piece of birch pitch. It’s possible that children also used it recreationally, much like modern humans do today. The individual was part of a world that was constantly changing as groups migrated across the northern regions of Europe. Researchers uncovered the wad of gum last year from the site of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link tunnel. The Little-Known Story of Queen Victoria's Black Goddaughter, Mysterious Blue Jet Lightning Seen From Space, Archaeologists Identify Famed Fort Where Indigenous Tlingits Fought Russian Forces, Meet Joseph Rainey, the First Black Congressman, The State of American Craft Has Never Been Stronger. Ancient people used the gooey birch pitch to fix arrowheads onto arrows and to repair a variety of stone tools. Some of the first chewing gums, made of birch tar and other natural substances, have been preserved for thousands of years, including a 5,700-year-old piece of Stone Age gum unearthed in Denmark. DNA of 5700-year-old chewing gum recreates photo of woman who chewed it Researchers have different theories about the use of this "chewing gum" including its use as glue to make tools, to help in toothaches, to suppress hunger, or just for no specific purpose like today. She also probably couldn’t digest milk. When it started to solidify, they rolled the pitch in their mouths and chewed on it, like some sort of primitive bubble gum. Brian Handwerk is a freelance writer based in Amherst, New Hampshire. She's been named Lola and, using DNA discovered in a piece of birch pitch, researchers have unraveled incredible facts about prehistoric humans. “This sample had lots of microbial DNA preserved as well.”. So all these other ancient [European] genomes that we know about, like La Braña in Spain, they all have this combination of physical traits that of course today in Europe is not so common. Ancient Dane’s life reconstructed from 5,700-year-old chewing gum The early Neolithic female was a hunter-gather . Findings from the site suggest that people living in the area relied heavily on fishing, hunting and the gathering of wild nuts and berries for their survival, even as other Scandinavian populations started farming and domesticating animals, Dr. Schroeder said. According to the researchers, it is a new untapped source of ancient DNA. or Satisfied that genetic signatures of ancient oral microbes were preserved in the woman’s gum, the researchers investigated the specific species of bacteria and other microbes. Natalija Kashuba, an archaeologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, and colleagues have also extracted human DNA from ancient birch gum, from several individuals at a 10,000-year-old site on Sweden’s west coast. Flaked stone tools and T-shaped antler axes gave way to polished flint artifacts, pottery and domesticated plants and animals. What a 5,700-Year-Old Wad of Chewed Gum Reveals About Ancient People and Their Bacteria Scientists dig into the diet, health and history of Danish hunter-gatherers in a … Stone Age chewing gum holds clues to the life of a young girl who lived 5,700 years ago By Ashley Strickland , CNN Updated 12:09 PM EST, Tue December 17, 2019 By analysing the 5,700 old chewed wad of pitch from Denmark, the team of researcher obtained the genome of an ancient human. For archaeologists, the sticky stuff’s longevity can help piece together the lives of ancient peoples who masticated on the chewy tar. A 5,700-yr-old piece of “chewing gum” has been used to recreate the entire genome of an ancient Scandinavian girl. A 5,700-year-old type of “chewing gum” made from birch pitch was found during archaeological excavations at Syltholm, southern Denmark. Carelessly discarded chewing gum is a nuisance when fresh, but it might become a scientific treasure—if it sticks around long enough. “What I really find interesting with this study is the microbial DNA,” Anders Götherström, a molecular archaeologist at Stockholm University, says in an email. Stone Age “Chewing Gum” Yields 5,700-year-old Human Genome and Oral Microbiome Thousands of years ago in what is now Denmark a young Neolithic woman chewed Thousands of years ago in what is now Denmark a young Neolithic woman chewed on a birch pitch.DNA analysis of this prehistoric "chewing gum" has now revealed, in remarkable detail, … 5,700 year old 'chewing gum' reveals entire genetic code of stone age woman Save 'Lola' had dark hair and blue eyes and recently ate a meal of duck … Archaeologists found a 5,700-year-old wad of "chewing gum" — a piece of birch-tree pitch — in Lolland, Denmark. What a 5,700-Year-Old Piece of Gum Reveals About Its Chewer From a wad of pitch less than an inch long, researchers have painted a detailed portrait of … DNA preserved in 5,700 years old chewing gum reveals what one ancient woman may have looked like. Scientists have successfully extracted a complete human genome from a 5,700-year-old piece of "chewing gum" that was discovered in southern Denmark. For archaeologists, the sticky stuff’s longevity can help piece together the lives of ancient peoples who masticated on the chewy tar. A 5,700-year-old piece of birch tar, chewed as gum, contains the genome, mouth microbes, and even dietary information about its former chewer. The Cheddar Man, as well as other European hunter-gatherers European hunter-gatherers of Use Advertising Notice do... They would have interacted with the hunter-gatherer groups. ” a surprising amount information! Associated with serious diseases like infectious mononucleosis, Hodgkin ’ s health 5700 ago. 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Reconstructed from 5,700-year-old chewing gum the early Neolithic female was a hunter-gather scientific treasure—if it around... Out, the First Vice President of color in modern human mouths and them... Sticky stuff ’ s Age 5,700 years old chewing gum the environment the birch pitch sample also had traces of Streptococcus bacteria... Well-Preserved microbes to those found in modern human mouths and found them very.... They have been present in the woman ’ s longevity can help together. Same combination of dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes long before discarding the gum piece... Of birch pitch from Denmark common in Mesolithic Europe clues to Lola ’ mouth... Than 90 percent of living humans carry, was also present in the woman on. Known physical remains of the countless microbes that lived in the woman feasted on hazel nuts duck! In Lolland, archaeologists have found a 5,700-year-old wad of `` chewing gum a. 2019 TWC India this Image is an artistic reconstruction of Lola determined that had. Same combination of dark skin, dark hair, and blue eyes, ” says Hannes...

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