Publications by authors named "E Kirdok"
With the Neolithic transition, human lifestyle shifted from hunting and gathering to farming. This change altered subsistence patterns, cultural expression, and population structures as shown by the archaeological/zooarchaeological record, as well as by stable isotope and ancient DNA data. Here, we used metagenomic data to analyse if the transitions also impacted the microbiome composition in 25 Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-gatherers and 13 Neolithic farmers from several Scandinavian Stone Age cultural contexts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrehistoric chewed pitch has proven to be a useful source of ancient DNA, both from humans and their microbiomes. Here we present the metagenomic analysis of three pieces of chewed pitch from Huseby Klev, Sweden, that were dated to 9,890-9,540 before present. The metagenomic profile exposes a Mesolithic oral microbiome that includes opportunistic oral pathogens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnalysis of microbial data from archaeological samples is a growing field with great potential for understanding ancient environments, lifestyles, and diseases. However, high error rates have been a challenge in ancient metagenomics, and the availability of computational frameworks that meet the demands of the field is limited. Here, we propose aMeta, an accurate metagenomic profiling workflow for ancient DNA designed to minimize the amount of false discoveries and computer memory requirements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - The study maps human genetic diversity across regions like Anatolia, Iran, and the Aegean, highlighting changes from the early Neolithic period to more complex societal structures using a combination of ancient and modern genomes.
- - Findings reveal that genetic diversity increased over time, with early Holocene populations in Southwest Asia and the East Mediterranean becoming more similar, followed by a divergence starting in the Bronze Age due to external gene flow, described as "the expanding mobility model."
- - The research also uncovers a trend of increasing male bias in admixture events throughout the Holocene, which is measured using specific genetic distance methods that are more effective than traditional F statistics.
The Middle East plays a central role in human history harbouring a vast diversity of ethnic, cultural and religious groups. However, much remains to be understood about past and present genomic diversity in this region. Here we present a multidisciplinary bioarchaeological analysis of two individuals dated to the late 7th and early 8th centuries, the Umayyad Era, from Tell Qarassa, an open-air site in modern-day Syria.
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