Chronological and genetic analysis of an Upper Palaeolithic female infant burial from Borsuka Cave, Poland
Helen Fewlass,
Elena I. Zavala,
Yoann Fagault,
Thibaut Tuna,
Edouard Bard,
Jean-Jacques Hublin,
Mateja Hajdinjak,
Jarosław Wilczyński
Affiliations
Helen Fewlass
Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Ancient Genomics Lab, Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, UK; Corresponding author
Elena I. Zavala
Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA; Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA; Corresponding author
Yoann Fagault
CEREGE, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, Technopôle de l’Arbois BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 4, France
Thibaut Tuna
CEREGE, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, Technopôle de l’Arbois BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 4, France
Edouard Bard
CEREGE, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, Technopôle de l’Arbois BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 4, France
Jean-Jacques Hublin
Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Chaire de Paléoanthropologie, CIRB (UMR 7241 – U1050), Collège de France, 75231 Paris, France
Mateja Hajdinjak
Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Jarosław Wilczyński
Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Krakow, Poland
Summary: 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.
