Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

3 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Biology

Primer Extension Capture: Targeted Sequence Retrieval from Heavily Degraded DNA Sources

Adrian W. Briggs¹, Jeffrey M. Good¹, Richard E. Green¹, Johannes Krause¹, Tomislav Maricic¹, Udo Stenzel¹, Svante Pääbo¹

¹Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig

We present a method of targeted ancient DNA sequence retrieval, which we used to reconstruct the complete mitochondrial genomes of five Neandertal individuals. Comparison of these sequences with present day humans suggests that Neandertals had a long term low effective population size.

Biochemistry

Sampling and Pretreatment of Tooth Enamel Carbonate for Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Analysis

Alicia Ventresca Miller¹, Ricardo Fernandes^1,2, Anneke Janzen¹, Ayushi Nayak¹, Jillian Swift¹, Jana Zech¹, Nicole Boivin¹, Patrick Roberts¹

¹Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, ²School of Archaeology, University of Oxford

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of human and animal tooth enamel carbonate has been used as a proxy for individual diet and environmental reconstruction. Here, we provide a detailed description and visual documentation of bulk and sequential tooth enamel sampling as well as pretreatment of archaeological and paleontological samples.

Genetics

Optimized Bone Sampling Protocols for the Retrieval of Ancient DNA from Archaeological Remains

Cody E. Parker^1,2, Kirsten I. Bos^1,3, Wolfgang Haak^1,3, Johannes Krause^1,3

¹Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, ²School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, ³Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

The protocol presents a series of best practice protocols for the collection of bone powder from eight recommended anatomical sampling locations (specific locations on a given skeletal element) across five different skeletal elements from medieval individuals (radiocarbon dated to a period of ca. 1040-1400 CE, calibrated 2-sigma range).