ArticleNature communications2019
A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch.
Article in Nature communications, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Genomic history of early dogs in Europe.Nature · 2026Article
- Global patterns of natural selection inferred using ancient DNA.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Tracing 2500 years of human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B diversity through ancient DNA.Science advances · 2026Article
- Polygenic prediction of human complex traits using ancient DNA.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2025Review
- Ancient DNA and biomarkers from artefacts: insights into technology and cultural practices in Neolithic Europe.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Inference of human pigmentation from ancient DNA by genotype likelihoods.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Urbanization and genetic homogenization in the medieval Low Countries revealed through a ten-century paleogenomic study of the city of Sint-Truiden.Genome biology · 2025Article
- Out-of-Africa migration and clonal expansion of a recombinant Epstein-Barr virus drives frequent nasopharyngeal carcinoma in southern China.National science review · 2025Article
- Improving taxonomic inference from ancient environmental metagenomes by masking microbial-like regions in reference genomes.GigaScience · 2025Article
- Towards predicting the geographical origin of ancient samples with metagenomic data.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Pervasive findings of directional selection realize the promise of ancient DNA to elucidate human adaptation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Oral Infections in Ancient Human Skulls in 2000 BC/Iron Age, Iran.Iranian journal of public health · 2024Article
- Inferring diet, disease and antibiotic resistance from ancient human oral microbiomes.Microbial genomics · 2024Review
- Hunter-gatherers and earliest farmers in western Europe.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- The Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR) a curated compendium of ancient human genomes.Scientific data · 2024Article
- Metagenomic analysis of Mesolithic chewed pitch reveals poor oral health among stone age individuals.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
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22 authors.
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Abstract
The rise of ancient genomics has revolutionised our understanding of human prehistory but this work depends on the availability of suitable samples. Here we present a complete ancient human genome and oral microbiome sequenced from a 5700 year-old piece of chewed birch pitch from Denmark. We sequence the human genome to an average depth of 2.3× and find that the individual who chewed the pitch was female and that she was genetically more closely related to western hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe than hunter-gatherers from central Scandinavia. We also find that she likely had dark skin, dark brown hair and blue eyes. In addition, we identify DNA fragments from several bacterial and viral taxa, including Epstein-Barr virus, as well as animal and plant DNA, which may have derived from a recent meal. The results highlight the potential of chewed birch pitch as a source of ancient DNA.
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