Targeted radiocarbon dating of animal bones from ritual wetland depositions in early Iron Age (Denmark)

Kveiborg, Jacob; Olsen, Jesper

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103766

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 25 publications

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“…The collagen extraction procedure followed a modified version of the widely used Longin Method (Brown et al., 1988 ; Longin, 1971 ). A more detailed description is available in Kveiborg and Olsen ( 2023 ). Due to the very small sample size (20.59 mg) of the jawbone we extracted collagen without using NaOH and Ultrafiltration (UF), since especially the latter reduces the collagen yield considerably (Jørkov et al., 2006 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Far away from home? Ancient DNA shows the presence of bicolored shrew (Crocidura leucodon) in Bronze Age Denmark

Mousavi‐Derazmahalleh,

Haue,

Kanstrup

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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An excavation of an Early Iron Age village near Aalborg in Denmark uncovered the jaws and skull fragments from a small mammal that were morphologically identified to the genus Crocidura (white‐toothed shrews). Three Crocidura species are known from prehistoric continental Europe but none of them are distributed in Scandinavia, which is why this surprising finding warranted further analyses. The bone was radiocarbon‐dated to 2840–2750 calibrated years before present (cal. BP), corresponding to the Late Bronze Age and hence earlier than the Iron Age archeological context in which it was found. Using highly optimized ancient DNA protocols, we extracted DNA from one tooth and shotgun‐sequenced the sample to reconstruct a near‐complete mitochondrial reference genome (17,317 bp, 32.6× coverage). Phylogenetic analyses determined this specimen as a bicolored shrew (Crocidura leucodon) but with a phylogenetic position basal to the clade of known sequences from this species. The confirmation of Crocidura presence in Denmark by the Late Bronze Age sheds new light on the prehistoric natural history of Scandinavia. We discuss the implications of this finding from both zoo‐archeological and ecological perspectives. Furthermore, the mitochondrial genome reconstructed in this study offers a valuable resource for future research exploring the genetic makeup and evolutionary history of Eurasian shrew populations.

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