A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch

Abstract

The rise of ancient genomics has revolutionised our understanding of human prehistory but this work depends on the availability of suitable samples. Here we present a complete ancienthuman genome and oral microbiome sequenced from a 5700 year-old piece of chewed birchpitch from Denmark. We sequence the human genome to an average depth of 2.3× andfindthat the individual who chewed the pitch was female and that she was genetically moreclosely related to western hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe than hunter-gatherersfrom central Scandinavia. We alsofind that she likely had dark skin, dark brown hair and blueeyes. In addition, we identify DNA fragments from several bacterial and viral taxa, including Epstein-Barr virus, as well as animal and plant DNA, which may have derived from a recentmeal. The results highlight the potential of chewed birch pitch as a source of ancient DNA.