Dental Calculus as an Alternate Source of Mitochondrial DNA for Analysis of Skeletal Remains

Authors

Jill Black, Central Washington University
Susan Kerr, Modesto Junior College
Lourdes Henebry-Deleon, Central Washington UniversityFollow
Joseph G. Lorenz, Central Washington UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Department or Administrative Unit

Anthropology and Museum Studies

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is widely used in st udies of affinities among living peoples and prehistoric populations represented by skeletal remains excavated at archaeological sites. Although many Indian groups see the utility of using mtDNA analysis as a means of connecting past and present, cultural norms regarding treatment of human remains prevent the use of destructive techniques in obtaining DNA. In this paper we discuss the utility of using dental calculus collected from a number of individuals comprising a pre-contact burial site (CA-SOL-357; A.D. 600-1000) as a possible source of mtDNA.

Comments

This article was originally published in Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.

Due to copyright restrictions, this article is not available for free download from ScholarWorks @ CWU.

Recommended Citation

Black, J., Kerr, S., Henebry-DeLeon, L., & Lorenz, J.G. (2011). Dental Calculus as an Alternate Source of Mitochondrial DNA for Analysis of Skeletal Remains. Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology, 25.

Journal

Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology