Time capsules: Stone Age “chewing gum” offers rare window to the past

Our ability to recover ancient human genomes and microbiomes from skeletal remains has revolutionized our understanding of the population history of Europe. However, there are important gaps in our knowledge, particularly for the Mesolithic period and beyond, where skeletal remains are relatively scarce. In this project we will investigate if chewed lumps of tree resin, which are commonly found on Stone Age sites in northern Europe, provide an alternative, viable source of ancient human and microbial DNA. If the project is successful, this untapped source of ancient DNA promises many new fascinating insights into the population history of Europe and the evolution of the human oral microbiome over the past 10,000 years.