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Spent a lovely week back home in the Netherlands for the #Transformations conference in Groningen @rug.nl - learning a lot about the meso-neo transition and chatting about birch tar of course! 🧬

Our next GSEA winner is Oya Inanli, postdoctoral researcher @ucph.bsky.social, using biomolecular methods to explore the history of fermentation and domestication. More on Oya ⬇️ #society

As an added bonus to the paper being published, I was interviewed about it for Science magazine! Read all about what we can learn from DNA and biomarkers from birch tar, which I so eloquently described as a “super cool sample type” 😅🧬

Science Magazine@science.org · 10mo ago

Birch bark tar, used as chewing gum and glue, provides a rare window into life 6000 years ago. https://scim.ag/4qh8yTI

Birch bark tar, used as chewing gum and glue, provides a rare window into life 6000 years ago. https://scim.ag/4qh8yTI

Ancient chewing gum could reveal how early men and women split up their chores

Birch bark tar, used as chewing gum and glue, provides rare window into life 6000 years ago

science.org

#ProceedingsB in @science.org | Ancient DNA and biomarkers from artefacts: insights into technology and cultural practices in Neolithic Europe: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Ancient chewing gum could reveal how early men and women split up their chores

Birch bark tar, used as chewing gum and glue, provides rare window into life 6000 years ago

science.org

Bestill my birch-tar-beating heart! 😍 The genetic sex ID analysis backs up other research indicating that using (and likely making) birch tar was something women & men & children did, so that sticky-stained and strongly-scented fingers were probably quite normal in such communities... #Matriarcha 🏺

Jens Notroff@jensnotroff.com · 10mo ago

How cool is #RealArchaeology? 🏺 Well, it's "we can track down oral human & environmental #DNA from #Neolithic birch #tar which had been chewed thousands of years ago, telling us about Stone Age diet & what this tar was used for" cool. 🙌 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

How cool is #RealArchaeology? 🏺 Well, it's "we can track down oral human & environmental #DNA from #Neolithic birch #tar which had been chewed thousands of years ago, telling us about Stone Age diet & what this tar was used for" cool. 🙌 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Ancient DNA and biomarkers from artefacts: insights into technology and cultural practices in Neolithic Europe | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Birch bark tar was widely used throughout prehistoric Europe for hafting stone tools as well as various other purposes. While previous research has mainly focused on the identification and production ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

Very excited that the first chapter of my PhD is now published! 🧬 We analysed ancient DNA and biomarkers directly from artefacts, showing how birch tar provides insights into past societies, technology, resources, and health. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Ancient DNA and biomarkers from artefacts: insights into technology and cultural practices in Neolithic Europe | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Birch bark tar was widely used throughout prehistoric Europe for hafting stone tools as well as various other purposes. While previous research has mainly focused on the identification and production ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

Ancient DNA from Neolithic chewing gum reveals how Europe’s first farmers lived, worked, and ate. Birch tar preserves the intimacy of their daily lives in astonishing molecular detail. #Archaeology #Neolithic #AncientDNA #Anthropology www.anthropology.net/p/the-resin-...

The Resin That Remembered: How Ancient Birch Tar Is Rewriting the Story of Neolithic Life

New biomolecular evidence from prehistoric chewing gum reveals the intimate daily habits, diets, and toolmaking ingenuity of Europe’s first farmers.

anthropology.net

Had a great time at my first #SMBE2025 in Beijing. Really enjoyed meeting (aDNA) scientists from all over the world, and talking about ancient mastics of course! 🌏🧬