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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Ancient DNA and Forensic Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1505059
Integrating Paleoparasitological, Paleogenetic, and Archaeological Data to Understand the Paleoecological Scenario of pre-Columbian Archaeological Site Gruta do Gentio II, Brazil
Provisionally accepted- 1 Laboratório de Parasitologia Integrativa e Paleoparasitologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz – IOC/FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2 Instituto de Arqueologia Brasileira - IAB, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Paleoparasitology and paleogenetics is the study parasites in ancient remains from latrines, mummified individuals, and coprolites, that is fossilized or desiccated feces. Paleoparasitological studies in Brazil began with analyses of coprolites from the Gruta do Gentio II (GGII) archaeological site, the oldest site related to the Una ceramist tradition (12,000 to 410 BP), Brazil. The GGII archaeological site contained numerous human burials, lithics, and cultural artifacts such as basketry, ceremonial ornaments, and unique pottery of the Una tradition. Coprolites of GGII were submitted to paleoparasitological, and paleogenetic analyses for parasite identification and coprolite origin. In addition, the archaeological characterization of the GGII site was integrated into paleo analyses for proposing a paleoecological scenario. Five taxa of parasites, including Ancylostomidae, Echinostoma sp., Spirometra sp., and Trichostrongylus sp., and three different morphotypes of Capillariidae were recognized in multiple coprolites that were distributed heterogeneously in several stratigraphical layers. The origin of coprolites was genetically defined as five species of mammals, humans, felines as Panthera onca and Leopardus pardalis, and marsupials as Didelphis albiventris and Philander opossum. This is the first study in Brazil that identified both, parasites and species of animals in Pleistocene/Holocene producers of coprolites with geographical and temporal information. The integration of paleoparasitology, paleogenetics, and archaeology is essential to propose paleoecological scenarios from the past of Brazil.
Keywords: ANCIENT DNA, Coprolites, DNA barcoding, Paleogenetic, Paleoparasitology
Received: 02 Oct 2024; Accepted: 08 Nov 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Gurjão, Brito, Neto, Dias and Iñiguez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Alena M. Iñiguez, Laboratório de Parasitologia Integrativa e Paleoparasitologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz – IOC/FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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