Abstract
In this study, we screen archaeological soil samples by microscopy and analyse the samples by next generation sequencing to obtain results with parasites at species level and untargeted findings of plant and animal DNA. Three separate sediment layers of an ancient man-made pond in Hoby, Denmark, ranging from 100 BC to 200 AD, were analysed by microscopy for presence of intestinal worm eggs and DNA analysis were performed to identify intestinal worms and dietary components. Ancient DNA of parasites, domestic animals and edible plants revealed a change in use of the pond over time reflecting the household practice in the adjacent Iron Age settlement. The most abundant parasite found belonged to the Ascaris genus, which was not possible to type at species level. For all sediment layers the presence of eggs of the human whipworm Trichuris trichiura and the beef tapeworm Taenia saginata suggests continuous disposal of human faeces in the pond. Moreover, the continuous findings of T. saginata further imply beef consumption and may suggest that cattle were living in the immediate surrounding of the site throughout the period. Findings of additional host-specific parasites suggest fluctuating presence of other domestic animals over time: Trichuris suis (pig), Parascaris univalens (horse), Taenia hydatigena (dog and sheep). Likewise, alternating occurrence of aDNA of edible plants may suggest changes in agricultural practices. Moreover, the composition of aDNA of parasites, plants and vertebrates suggests a significant change in the use of the ancient pond over a period of three centuries.
Highlights
Paleoparasitology investigates ancient parasites found in soil, deposits, coprolites or mummified bodies
For Taenia, the majority of sequencing reads were assigned to T. saginata and few to T. hydatigena
DNA analyses identified Parascaris univalens, not Parasitic infections and resource economy of Danish Iron Age settlement through ancient DNA sequencing observed during initial microscopy on a subsample
Summary
Paleoparasitology investigates ancient parasites found in soil, deposits, coprolites or mummified bodies. Intestinal helminths are suited for paleoparasitological studies as the wall of their eggs has developed to resist alternating exposures to microbial, chemical or physical conditions when they are naturally excreted to the external environment [1]. Ferreira et al found Trichuris eggs in 30,000 years old animal coprolites [2], and a range of helminth eggs have been identified in archaeological samples of different age and from many different global locations[3, 4, 5]. In archaeological samples of Roman age from Europe and the Mediterranean it is evident that two genera are prevalent, Trichuris spp. and Ascaris spp. Eggs of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, Fasciola spp., and Diphyllobothrium spp. have been demonstrated in samples from Germany and the Netherlands (ranging from 150 BC to 500 AD) [3]. A bog mummy from Denmark, the so-called Tollund man found in 1950 (dated to 375–210 BC [7]) was found to have been infected with T. trichiura [8]
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