Ancient human DNA extracted from 20,000-year-old deer tooth pendant

May 7, 2023 10:40 PM

Scraps of ancient DNA coaxed out of a deer tooth pendant show it likely hung around the neck of a woman or girl around 20,000 years ago. We don't know what she looked like, but she was related to a population of humans further east of Denisova Cave in southern Siberia, in which the pendant was unearthed. (Nature article.)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (14 comments total)

This is so cool! I'm gonna be sharing this article around a bunch, thanks for posting! The amazing science of it, the human connection - we're still making decorative objects from similar sources. I've made buttons from shed antlers. My DNA is probably in the buttons!
posted by dorey_oh at 1:04 AM on May 8, 2023 [9 favorites]

I hope archaeologist in 20,000 years will puzzle over why this woman in an industrialised society was making buttons from shed antlers, when refined hydrocarbons would be so much more cost-effective, dorey_oh.
posted by Harald74 at 2:02 AM on May 8, 2023 [9 favorites]

I'm back after reading the article, and it's very impressive what they're able to do, and non-destructively at that.
posted by Harald74 at 2:04 AM on May 8, 2023

That's awesome, but I swear all I heard was "We're gonna make Jurassic Park happen, baby!"

(My son is in a dinosaur phase and we went to see "Jurassic Park: The Exhibition" yesterday and I am dying to see a real dinosaur. They really are awesome.

The ancient human DNA is cool, too.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:12 AM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

That’s so interesting- and unexpected to me that something like a pendant made from a tooth, should carry the detail of the wearer even in the short term.
posted by rongorongo at 6:10 AM on May 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

You would imagine this technology might have forensic uses well beyond archaeology.
posted by Phanx at 6:13 AM on May 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

Alternative theory: the deer ate her.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:53 AM on May 8, 2023 [16 favorites]

Harald74, crafters gonna craft, haha! They were a bit trickier to make than I expected, but kinda neat looking. After making a few, I understood why they were $15 for 2 buttons at craft fairs!
posted by dorey_oh at 8:57 AM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

dammit came in here thinking I'd be able to make the joke "or my interpretation - proof of carnivorous prehistoric deer" only to find Faint of Butt is quicker and more clever than I am. :)
posted by martin q blank at 11:02 AM on May 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

You would imagine this technology might have forensic uses well beyond archaeology.

The forensic applications kind of came first. It takes just one nanogram of DNA (one billionth of a gram) lifted from a sample (a hair or cigarette butt left behind at a crime scene, etc.) to do a useful forensic DNA analysis. But, read the limitations of that process as laid out in that article.
posted by beagle at 12:07 PM on May 8, 2023

... crafters gonna craft...

Also, modern/ contemporary flint knappers making flint arrowheads in their backyard.
posted by porpoise at 2:28 PM on May 8, 2023

...and I am dying to see a real dinosaur. They really are awesome.

And they will find you awesomely delicious.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:47 PM on May 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

I hope archaeologist in 20,000 years will puzzle over why this woman in an industrialised society was making buttons from shed antlers, when refined hydrocarbons would be so much more cost-effective, dorey_oh.

Ritual Purposes, duh :-).
posted by nickzoic at 5:25 PM on May 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

...and I am dying to see a real dinosaur. They really are awesome.

And they will find you awesomely delicious.

Why does everyone who's actually seen these movies say that?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:24 PM on May 8, 2023