Chronological and genetic analysis of an Upper Palaeolithic female infant 
burial from Borsuka Cave, Poland

Fewlass, Helen; Zavala, Elena I.; Fagault, Yoann; Tuna, Thibaut; Bard, Edouard; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Hajdinjak, Mateja; Wilczyński, Jarosław

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108283

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

Chronological and genetic analysis of an Upper Palaeolithic female infant burial from Borsuka Cave, Poland

MPS-Authors

/persons/resource/persons192510

Fewlass, Helen
Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons260127

Zavala, Elena I.
Advanced DNA Sequencing Techniques, Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons72760

Hublin, Jean-Jacques
Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons181056

Hajdinjak, Mateja
Advanced DNA Sequencing Techniques, Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

External Resource

No external resources are shared

Fulltext (restricted access)

There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.

Fulltext (public)

Fewlass_Chronological_iScience_2023.pdf
(Publisher version), 6MB

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Fewlass, H., Zavala, E. I., Fagault, Y., Tuna, T., Bard, E., Hublin, J.-J., et al. (2023). Chronological and genetic analysis of an Upper Palaeolithic female infant burial from Borsuka Cave, Poland. iScience, 26(12): 108283. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108283.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-1126-4

Abstract

Six infant human teeth and 112 animal tooth pendants from Borsuka Cave were identified as the oldest burial in Poland. However, uncertainties around the dating and the association of the teeth to the pendants have precluded their association with an Upper Palaeolithic archaeological industry. Using <67 mg per tooth, we combined dating and genetic analyses of two human teeth and six herbivore tooth pendants to address these questions. Our interdisciplinary approach yielded informative results despite limited sampling material, and high levels of degradation and contamination. Our results confirm the Palaeolithic origin of the human remains and herbivore pendants, and permit us to identify the infant as female and discuss the association of the assemblage with different Palaeolithic industries. This study exemplifies the progress that has been made toward minimally destructive methods and the benefits of integrating methods to maximize data retrieval from precious but highly degraded and contaminated prehistoric material.