CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 160Forensic and Genetic ResearchArchaeology and ancient environmental studiesPaleopathology and ancient diseases

A molecular analysis of dietary diversity for three archaic Native Americans

Open access
Poinar, Hendrik N., Kuch, Melanie, Sobolik, Kristin D., Barnes, Ian, Stankiewicz, Artur B., Kuder, Tomasz, Spaulding, W. Geofferey, Bryant, Vaughn M. +2 more·2001·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.061014798PMC PMC31832
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

DNA was extracted from three fecal samples, more than 2,000 years old, from Hinds Cave, Texas. Amplification of human mtDNA sequences showed their affiliation with contemporary Native Americans, while sequences from pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, and cottontail rabbit allowed these animals to be identified as part of the diet of these individuals. Furthermore, amplification of chloroplast DNA sequences identified eight different plants as dietary elements. These archaic humans consumed 2–4 different animal species and 4–8 different plant species during a short time period. The success rate for retrieval of DNA from paleofeces is in strong contrast to that from skeletal remains where the success rate is generally low. Thus, human paleofecal remains represent a source of ancient DNA that significantly complements and may in some cases be superior to that from skeletal tissue.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1073/pnas.061014798

Cites

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Other sources of ancient human DNA (coprolites, quids, aprons) are rare, preserved only under exceptional circumstances, and many have culturally, geographically, or temporally limited distributions.

    “However, in most cases such sources are rare, being preserved only under exceptional circumstances, and many have culturally, geographically, or temporally limited distributions.”

    From Successful enrichment and recovery of whole mitochondrial genomes from ancient human dental calculus (2016) · cites this paper as Poinar et al., 2001

    The Conclusions (page unavailable) describe paleofeces from dry caves and rock shelters as a relatively abundant source of ancient DNA, contrary to the claim that coprolites are rare. The paper does not establish the claimed cultural, geographic, or temporal limits for quids and aprons. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

No references could be resolved yet.

Research works printed but not linked: 27

  1. [1]Poinar H N, Hofreiter M, Spaulding G S, Martin P S, Stankiewicz A B, Bland H, Evershed R P, Possnert G, Pääbo S. Science. 1998;281:402–406. doi: 10.1126/science.281.5375.402. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  2. [2]Shafer H J, Bryant V M. Archeological and Botanical Studies at Hinds Cave, Val Verde County, Texas. College Station: Texas A&M University Anthropology Laboratory; 1977. [Google Scholar]
  3. [3]Poinar H N, Stankiewicz B A. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1999;96:8426–8431. doi: 10.1073/pnas.96.15.8426. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  4. [4]Höss M, Pääbo S. Nucleic Acids Res. 1993;21:3913–3914. doi: 10.1093/nar/21.16.3913. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  5. [5]Krings M, Stone A, Schmitz R W, Krainitzki H, Stoneking M, Pääbo S. Cell. 1997;90:19–30. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80310-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  6. [6]Kilger C, Krings M, Poinar H N, Pääbo S. BioTechniques. 1997;22:412–414. doi: 10.2144/97223bm08. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  7. [7]Van Bergen P F, Goni M, Collinson M, Boon J J, Goth K, de Leeuw J W. Geochim Cosmochim Acta. 1994;58:3823–3844. [Google Scholar]
  8. [8]Yaylayan V A, Keyhani A, Huygues-Despointes A. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1998;443:237–244. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4899-1925-0_19. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  9. [9]Mauron J. Prog Food Nutr Sci. 1981;5:5–35. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. [10]Vasan S, Zhang X, Kapurmitou A, Bernhagen J, Teichberg S, Basgen J, Wagle D, Shih D, Terlecky I, Bucala R, et al. Nature (London) 1996;382:275–278. doi: 10.1038/382275a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  11. [11]Smith D G, Malhi R S, Eshleman J, Lorenz J G, Kaestle F A. Am J Phys Anthropol. 1999;110:271–284. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199911)110:3<271::AID-AJPA2>3.0.CO;2-C. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  12. [12]Schurr T G, Ballinger S W, Gan Y Y, Hodge J A, Merriwether D A, Lawrence D N, Knowler W C, Weiss K M, Wallace D C. Am J Hum Genet. 1990;46:613–623. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. [13]Brown M D, Hosseini S H, Torroni A, Bandelt H J, Allen J C, Schurr T G, Scozzari R, Cruciani F, Wallace D C. Am J Hum Genet. 1998;63:1852–1861. doi: 10.1086/302155. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  14. [14]Anderson S, Bankier A T, Barrell B G, de Bruijn M H L, Coulson A R, Drouin J, Eperon I C, Nierlich D P, Roe B A, Sanger F, et al. Nature (London) 1981;290:457–465. doi: 10.1038/290457a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  15. [15]Ward R H, Frazier B L, Dew-Jager K, Pääbo S. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1991;88:8720–8724. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.19.8720. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  16. [16]Burckhardt F, von Haeseler A, Meyer S. Nucleic Acids Res. 1998;27:138–142. doi: 10.1093/nar/27.1.138. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  17. [17]Sobolik K D. Prehistoric Diet and Subsistence in the Lower Pecos as Reflected in Coprolites from Baker Cave, Val Verde County, Texas. University of Texas, Austin: Texas Archeological Research Laboratory; 1991. [Google Scholar]
  18. [18]Davis W B. The Mammals of Texas. Texas A&M University, College Station: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; 1974. , Bulletin 41. [Google Scholar]
  19. [19]Schmidly D J. The Mammals of Trans-Pecos Texas: Including Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. College Station: Texas A&M Univ. Press; 1977. [Google Scholar]
  20. [20]Lord K J. Ph.D. thesis. College Station: Texas A&M University; 1984. [Google Scholar]
  21. [21]Sobolik K D. N Am Archeol. 1993;14:227–244. [Google Scholar]
  22. [22]Stiner M C, Munro N D, Surovell T A. Curr Anthropol. 2000;41:39–74. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. [23]Sobolik K D. Tex J Sci. 1990;44:23–32. [Google Scholar]
  24. [24]Hofreiter M, Poinar H N, Spaulding G S, Martin P S, Possnert G, Pääbo S. Mol Ecol. 2000;9:1975–1984. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.2000.01106.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  25. [25]Handt O, Krings M, Ward R, Pääbo S. Am J Hum Genet. 1996;59:368–376. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. [26]Marlar R A, Leonard B L, Billman B R, Lambert P M, Marlar J E. Nature (London) 2000;407:74–78. doi: 10.1038/35024064. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  27. [27]Morell V. Science. 1998;280:190–192. doi: 10.1126/science.280.5361.190. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Poinar, H. N., Kuch, M., Sobolik, K. D., Barnes, I., Stankiewicz, A. B., Kuder, T., Spaulding, W. G., Bryant, V. M., Cooper, A., & Pääbo, S.
Affiliations
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Inselstrasse 22, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Anthropology and Institute of Quaternary and Climate Studies, University of Maine, 5773 South Stevens Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5773; Shell International Exploration and Production, Inc., 3737 Bellaire Boulevard, Houston, TX 77025; Departments of Biological Anthropology and Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6QS, United Kingdom; Department of Geology, Southern Illinois University,...
Corresponding author
Poinar, Hendrik N.
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
2001-04-10
Volume
98
Issue
8
Pages
4317-4322
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.061014798
PMC
PMC31832
OpenAlex
W2170432008
Cited by
160
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 8
FWCI
3.47
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CORE Scholar (Wright State University) (submittedVersion)
  • Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
  • OakTrust (Texas A&M University Libraries) (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Paleopathology and ancient diseases
Keywords
dietary diversity, ancient DNA, paleofeces, Native Americans, chloroplast DNA, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, cottontail rabbits, plant remains, zooarchaeology, paleodiet
MeSH terms
Animals, Base Sequence, Diet, DNA, Mitochondrial, Feces, Fossils, Humans, Indians, North American, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Molecular Sequence Data, Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid, Texas

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review