The Poop On Ancient Man

The Globe And Mail ^ | 6-19-2004 | Jacob Berkowitz

[blam]

Hendrik Poinar is holding a small plastic vial containing some of the oldest DNA ever extracted from human remains. The snips of genetic material are from a native American who made his home 8,000 years ago in a massive cliff-side rock shelter in southwestern Texas.

[blam]

There were no Native American/American Indians as we know them today in North America 8,000 years ago. Prior to 6,000 years ago, there were other people here.

I notice a lot of anthropologists/archaeologists are beginning to call these ancient Americans, paleo-Americans.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Rebelbase]

Should I give a crap for future anthropologists?

[FairOpinion]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs -- Archeology/Antroplology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc. PING

FREEPMAIL ME to get on or off the list.

[Redcoat LI]

"I notice a lot of anthropologists/archaeologists are beginning to call these ancient Americans, paleo-Americans."

Maybe this will take some of the tar out of those snooty Indians.

[Petronski]

The Poop on Ancient Man is crusted in their hind fur.

[Lady Jag]

Coprolites weren't taken seriously until after 1970? Wow, how smart is the archeology community?

[blam]

Did Cannibalism Kill Anasazi Civilization?

"Billman discovered one other significant item, a coprolite - a pile of preserved human fecal matter - in the center of a fireplace. He concluded that after the fire had died, someone had squatted over the hearth and defecated. The coprolite has become a key part of the cannibalism puzzle. It has been analyzed for the presence of human protein, which would prove the ingestion of human flesh. The results are expected to be published this year."

The results are in and the coprolite contained human protein proving Christy Turner's theory. The Indians are mum.

[gitmo]

"Coprolites are fantastic sources of DNA. It turns out that with bones and poop from the same cave, the poops outdo the bones in terms of DNA yields by up to 10-fold," he says.

The only problem is you end up with crappy DNA samples.

[BenLurkin]

It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it.

[ScuzzyTerminator]

The snips of genetic material are from a native American...

Doesn't federal law require that the poop be given back to the Native Americans?

[Khurkris]

"It's one of the biggest crap deposits known,"

Imagine what they will say about Wash DC in the future...lol.

[Ichneumon]

The Poop on Ancient Man is crusted in their hind fur.

I hate it when that happens.

[blam]

"Doesn't federal law require that the poop be given back to the Native Americans?"

I hadn't thought about that. As soon as results start coming in that they don't like...they'll be in court wanting to bury the crap too.

[Future Useless Eater]

>> "Coprolites are fantastic sources of DNA. It turns out that with bones and poop from the same cave, the poops outdo the bones in terms of DNA yields by up to 10-fold," he says.

I wouldn't have thought poop to be a good source for DNA, but then perhaps it does contain a lot of a human's enzymes and digestive juices. Saliva works, so why not from the other end...

I say we clone one of those guys to see what he looks like, and refer to THOSE people as "native Americans".

[Lady Jag]

Are you a coprophile?

[Rytwyng]

Some years ago an anthropologist reconstruction an ancient Native American's diet by analyzing coprolites. Being a good "participatory" scientist instead of just a theoretician, he then proceeded to eat that diet himself for a time -- fish, cactus pads, etc. As I recall, he said, "I lost 20 lbs and never felt better in my life."

[Rytwyng]

an anthropologist made reconstruction of...

brain outruns keyboard sometimes...

[blam]

Probably similar to the Neanderthal diet.

[blam]

"I say we clone one of those guys to see what he looks like, and refer to THOSE people as "native Americans"."

We already have at least two reconstructed skeletons, Kennewick Man (9,300 yo) and Spirit Cave Man. Spirit Cave Man is 9,400 years old and the oldest mummy ever discovered in the Americas, he looks suprisingly like Kennewick Man.