New DNA analysis gives more insight into the menu of prehistoric Greenlanders as far back as 2000 BC. Researchers found that bowhead whales, caribou and walrus were essential to survival of early Greenlanders. There weren’t any whale bones found around the investigated sites, which suggests that people scavenged whale meat elsewhere. Previously, information about the lives of Paleo-Inuit humans was limited to archaeological analysis of fossils; these findings close the gaps and could offer insight into the lifestyles of other ancient human cultures.
Authors:
Frederik Valeur Seersholm, Mikkel Winther Pedersen, Martin Jensen Søe, Hussein Shokry, Sarah Siu Tze Mak, Anthony Ruter, Maanasa Raghavan, William Fitzhugh, Kurt H. Kjær, Eske Willerslev, Morten Meldgaard, Christian M.O. Kapel & Anders Johannes Hansen
Corresponding author:
Frederik Seersholm, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Original paper published in Nature on November 8, 2016.
