Molecular Genetic and Histological Analysis for the Excavated Human Bone

출토 인골의 분자유전학 및 조직학적 분석연구

The ancient biomolecular remains are the potential source for paleobiology and paleoanthropology. Especially, ancient human specimens such as bone, teeth, and hair are powerful materials to identify historical origin and migration of ancestor population from the past. However, most excavated human specimens in archaeological sites have commonly problems as natural damage and exogenous contamination. We carried out histological and molecular analyses of excavated bone from the historic sites in South Korea from the recently discovered in tumulus of Seochun and Naju. Biological deterioration of bone was observed anatomically by optical and scanning electron microscope (SEM). We extracted degraded DNA, and amplified hyper variable region (HVR) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and amelogenin of nucleus DNA. This study applied and examined the relationships between histological preservation and DNA survival in excavated bone.