Palaeoproteomic and Genomic Analyses of Bronze Age Population from Unětice Culture, Moravia, Czech Republic
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Mitogenome research offers an intriguing insight into the history, origin, contacts, and variability of past populations and has become a standard part of the study of past populations. Ancient dental calculus is also a well-known and valuable source of information that is used to investigate health, diet, migrations, or habits in the context of biomolecular archaeology. The studied individuals were excavated at a Bronze Age site of Brno-Tuřany, Moravia region, Czech Republic. They belonged to the Unětice culture, dated to 2300-1600 BC. For the present study, we decided to combine both approaches: genomic analysis of mitochondrial DNA in 16 individuals and proteomic analysis of dental calculus in 8 individuals. Sampling, decontamination, ancient DNA extraction, library preparation, and the first stages of protein extraction were carried out in the specialised facility for ancient biomolecules in the Laboratory of Biological and Molecular Anthropology. DNA was purified using silica columns and the whole mitogenome libraries were prepared according to Šenovská et al. (2021) with mtDNA capture. The proteins were extracted with the FASP protocol modified for ancient biomolecules. LC-MS/MS analysis was performed on timsTOF Pro combined with nanoElute (Bruker). Based on mtDNA, the population from Brno-Tuřany was very variable and six general haplogroups were found: N (1), W (1), H (4), V (2), K (1), and the most frequent U (7). No shared haplotype occurred between the studied individuals. The identified dietary proteins originated from, e.g. Bos sp., Ovis/Capra sp., Triticum aestivum or Brassica sp. The biomolecular approach in archaeology therefore offers new insights into past populations. |
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