Old bones

New insights from old bones: DNA preservation and degradation in permafrost preserved mammoth remains

Despite being plagued by heavily degraded DNA in palaeontological remains, most studies addressing the state of DNA degradation have been limited to types of damage which do not pose a hindrance to Taq polymerase during PCR. Application of serial qPCR to the two fractions obtained during extraction (demineralization and protein digest) from six permafrost mammoth bones and one partially degrade...

Immunoglobulin G in 1·6 Million-year-old Fossil Bones from Venta Micena (Granada, Spain)

We studied the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) in equid fossil bones from Venta Micena (Granada, Spain), dated at 1·6 Myr old, and from Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) (0·12 Myr), and in ostensibly hominid fossils VM1960 and VM3691 (1·6 Myr) from Venta Micena and CV1 and CV2 (1·4 Myr) from Cueva Victoria (Murcia, Spain). Samples taken from the specimens were crushed to a fine powder and their mine...

Arroyo del Vizcaíno, Uruguay: a fossil-rich 30-ka-old megafaunal locality with cut-marked bones.

Human-megafauna interaction in the Americas has great scientific and ethical interest because of its implications on Pleistocene extinction. The Arroyo del Vizcaíno site near Sauce, Uruguay has already yielded over 1000 bones belonging to at least 27 individuals, mostly of the giant sloth Lestodon. The assemblage shows some taphonomic features suggestive of human presence, such as a mortality p...

Old Unreduced Posterior Dislocation of the Bones of the Forearm: Excision of the Elbow Joint

Flaked stones and old bones: biological and cultural evolution at the dawn of technology.

The appearance of Oldowan sites ca. 2.6 million years ago (Ma) may reflect one of the most important adaptive shifts in human evolution. Stone artifact manufacture, large mammal butchery, and novel transport and discard behaviors led to the accumulation of the first recognized archaeological debris. The appearance of the Oldowan sites coincides with generally cooler, drier, and more variable cl...