V-shaped Pits in Regions of Ancient Baekje Kingdom Paleoparasitologically Confirmed as Likely Human-Waste Reservoirs

In a paleo-parasitological analysis of soil samples obtained from V-shaped pits dating to the ancient Baekje period in Korean history, we discovered Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and Clonorchis sinensis eggs. In light of the samples' seriously contaminated state, the V-shaped pits might have served as toilets, cesspits, or dung heaps. For a long period of time, researchers scouring archaeological sites in Korea have had difficulties locating such structures. In this context then, the present report is unique because similar kind of the ancient ruins must become an ideal resource for successful sampling in our forthcoming paleoparasitological studies.

Experience on Sequencing of Mitochondrial DNA from 1200 Year Old Bone Using Cloning / 대한법의학회지

Ancient bones have undergone natural decomposition and have been exposed to external environment for long period. Ancient DNA from old bone is usually fragmented. In addition, various kinds of inhibitors are co-extracted. All these may inhibit proper sequencing reaction. Cloning is regarded as the standard method when sequencing aDNA. When cloning, each clone from the same sample may not be of same sequence, and to exact consensus sequence may be difficult. Here we present our experience on 1200 year old bone from Russia, Primorsky Kray area. We have tried to sequence for HV I, II region of mtDNA using modified mini-primer set, which consisted of 7 set to cover the HV I, II. We cloned the PCR product and sequenced all the clones. Amplification efficiency and subsequent success rates were different for each mini primer set. Loci of variation that differ from consensus sequences were rather frequent, and the pattern were variable depending on sample. Except major polymorphic sites that are important when haplogroup designation, 16129 was the most frequent site that was discarded when extracting haplogroup designation.