Proteomic Evidence of Ancient Mongolian Dietary Dairy Sources in Ancient Dental Calculus

ABSTRACT: To investigate dairy consumption in ancient Mongolia, we analysed dental calculus samples from four Late Bronze Age (LBA, 1500-1000 BCE) individuals for proteomic evidence of milk proteins. As many archaeological sites before Mongolia's Iron Age suffer from a dearth of occupational materials, looking to biomolecular markers of dietary intake can open new investigational avenues into ancient economies. In this case, we use a previously established method of extracting proteins from calculus to explore the consumption of dairy products at LBA Khirigsuur sites in northern Mongolia's Hovsgol Aimag. Seven of nine individual's calculus contained peptides from the whey protein Beta-lactoglobulin from Ovis, Capra hircus, Bos, and general Bovidae species. Aside from proteomics, these and 16 other individuals from the site were analysed for aDNA. We found that 18 of the 20 were primarily from one genetic ancestral group, and Ancient North Eurasian (ANE). One of the outliers represents a combination of ANE and Western Steppe Herder (WSH), with the other a combination of ANE and Eastern Asian (EE). This finding, while important in its own right, evidences the earliest known dairy consumption in Mongolia, and supports a widely held assumption that pastoralism was a primary subsistence strategy in the ancient Eastern Steppes. The combined proteomic and DNA evidence suggest that Western Steppe dairy animals and technology entered Mongolia before genetic admixture.

INSTRUMENT(S): Q Exactive

ORGANISM(S): Homo Sapiens (human)

TISSUE(S): Dental Plaque

SUBMITTER: Shevan Wilkin  

LAB HEAD: Dr. Jessica Hendy

PROVIDER: PXD008217 | Pride | 2018-10-19

REPOSITORIES: Pride