Head Lice on South American Mummies Shed Light on Ancient Virus Spread

ancient-origins.net ^ | 29 DECEMBER, 2021 - 22:00 | ASHLEY COWIE

[BenLurkin]

Using mummy head lice cement gathered from South American mummified remains dating back 1,500-2,000 years, the study’s new analysis technique can now be used when recovered bodies are void of teeth and bones. Natural History, England, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Until the development of this new way of analyzing ancient DNA, archaeologists were restricted to samples gathered only from bone or tooth fragments . The new DNA technique was useful because most of the sampled mummies were exposed to extremely cold temperatures when they died. Lice depend on the host's head heat to gestate their eggs and they lay their eggs closer to the human scalp in colder environments, where they are better preserved.

Dr. Alejandra Perotti said, “demand for DNA samples from ancient human remains has grown in recent years” as scientific teams are more often looking at “migration and diversity in ancient human populations.” Recovering DNA from head lice cement is the perfect solution to this problem of rising scientific demand. Furthermore, the fact that nits are found on the hair and clothes of well preserved and mummified ancient humans, means there will be less need to exhume entire cemeteries looking for rare DNA-holding bone and tooth samples. For obvious reasons, South American indigenous peoples have often had issues with foreign researchers messing up their ancestors' graves in the name of science.

Analysis of the recovered DNA from nit cement revealed a genetic link between three of the mummies and humans in Amazonia around 2,000 years ago. This demonstrated that the original population of Argentina’s San Juan province had migrated from the Amazon . Furthermore, the migration pattern of human lice was mapped from the North Amazonian plains towards Central West Argentina ( San Juan Andes ).

[SunkenCiv]

Cleanup in aisle 4025454.

• Head Lice on South American Mummies Shed Light on Ancient Virus Spread [12/30/2021]