5,700 years old chewing gum

By IANS 19 December 2019 TWC India This image is an artistic reconstruction of the woman who chewed the birch pitch. Scientists also found traces of the countless microbes that lived in the woman’s mouth. Cookie Policy (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 … Unless you like chewing gum. 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. A Full Genome From 5,700-Year-Old 'Chewing Gum' Gives Insights Into Prehistoric Lives Recovered from an ancient settlement, this hardened chunk of tree bark carries the DNA of the person who chewed it — and evidence of her meals. But these characteristics are not surprising. The discarded gum yielded a surprising amount of information about its 5,700-year-old chewer. 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. by Tibi Puiu. During excavations on Lolland, archaeologists have found a 5,700-year-old ty 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. This Is 'Lola,' a 5,700-Year-Old Woman Whose Entire Life Is Revealed in Her 'Chewing Gum' : Read more Brian Handwerk is a freelance writer based in Amherst, New Hampshire. The gum’s water-resistant properties helped to preserve the DNA within, as did its mild antiseptic properties which helped to prevent microbial decay. “This sample had lots of microbial DNA preserved as well.”. “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. Scientists have successfully extracted a complete human genome from a 5,700-year-old piece of "chewing gum" that was discovered in southern Denmark. The individual was part of a world that was constantly changing as groups migrated across the northern regions of Europe. Carelessly discarded chewing gum is a nuisance when fresh, but it might become a scientific treasure—if it sticks around long enough. 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. December 17, 2019. in Agriculture, News. They’re also unsure exactly why some individuals chewed it. The chewed bark contained ancient DNA from a hunter-gatherer woman. 17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists Announced. “These birch pitch chewing gums are kind of special in terms of how well the DNA is preserved. Keep up-to-date on: © 2021 Smithsonian Magazine. You deserve an explanation. Ancient people used the gooey birch pitch to fix arrowheads onto arrows and to repair a variety of stone tools. For archaeologists, the sticky stuff’s longevity can help piece together the lives of ancient peoples who masticated on the chewy tar. “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. About 5,700 years … Ancient “Chewing Gum” Reveals a 5,700-Year-Old Microbiome. Archaeologists found a 5,700-year-old wad of “chewing gum” – a piece of birch-tree pitch – in Lolland, Denmark. Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. 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 … “DNA from ancient pathogens holds great promise, and this type of mastics may be a much better source for such data than ancient bones or teeth.”. “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. 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. THE entire genetic code of a 5,700-year-old human has been extracted from little more than a piece of ancient "chewing gum". “That changes the game,” Dr. Kashuba said. 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. (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.). Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have succeeded in extracting a complete human genome from a thousands-of-years old “chewing gum”. 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. 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. Scientists have decoded an entire human genome from a 5,700-year-old birch sample—or ancient "chewing gum." 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. 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. 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 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 … During excavations on Lolland, archaeologists have found a 5,700-year-old type of “chewing gum” made from birch pitch. 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. Planned construction of the underwater tunnel, which will connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehrman, has forced archaeologists to rush to collect artifacts and fossil evidence before they are lost forever. 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 … 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. 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. And found them very similar family ties may also help to map the movement of peoples as they settled.... Copenhagen, Denmark DNA from a 5700-year-old piece of pitch from Denmark infectious mononucleosis, Hodgkin ’ longevity... 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