ArticleMicrobiome2020
Multi-proxy analyses of a mid-15th century Middle Iron Age Bantu-speaker palaeo-faecal specimen elucidates the configuration of the 'ancestral' sub-Saharan African intestinal microbiome.
Article in Microbiome, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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6 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comprehensive metagenomic analysis of the giant panda's oral microbiome reveals distinct taxonomic and functional characteristics.Animal microbiome · 2025Article
- ParaRef: a decontaminated reference database for parasite detection in ancient and modern metagenomic datasets.Genome biology · 2025Article
- Microbiome and metabolic disorder in prolactinoma: intrinsic gender differences and extrinsic therapy effects.Pituitary · 2025Article
- Microbiome characterization of a pre-Hispanic man from Zimapán, Mexico: Insights into ancient gut microbial communities.PloS one · 2025Article
- Historic and Prehistoric Epidemics: An Overview of Sources Available for the Study of Ancient Pathogens.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Palaeoproteomic analyses of dog palaeofaeces reveal a preserved dietary and host digestive proteome.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 8 institutions in 8 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe archaeological incidence of ancient human faecal material provides a rare opportunity to explore the taxonomic composition and metabolic capacity of the ancestral human intestinal microbiome (IM). Here, we report the results of the shotgun metagenomic analyses of an ancient South African palaeo-faecal specimen.
methodsFollowing the recovery of a single desiccated palaeo-faecal specimen from Bushman Rock Shelter in Limpopo Province, South Africa, we applied a multi-proxy analytical protocol to the sample. The extraction of ancient DNA from the specimen and its subsequent shotgun metagenomic sequencing facilitated the taxonomic and metabolic characterisation of this ancient human IM.
resultsOur results indicate that the distal IM of the Neolithic 'Middle Iron Age' (c. AD 1460) Bantu-speaking individual exhibits features indicative of a largely mixed forager-agro-pastoralist diet. Subsequent comparison with the IMs of the Tyrolean Iceman (Ötzi) and contemporary Hadza hunter-gatherers, Malawian agro-pastoralists and Italians reveals that this IM precedes recent adaptation to 'Western' diets, including the consumption of coffee, tea, chocolate, citrus and soy, and the use of antibiotics, analgesics and also exposure to various toxic environmental pollutants.
conclusionsOur analyses reveal some of the causes and means by which current human IMs are likely to have responded to recent dietary changes, prescription medications and environmental pollutants, providing rare insight into human IM evolution following the advent of the Neolithic c. 12,000 years ago. Video Abtract.
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