On 14 August at 10:15, Biancamaria Bonucci will defend her doctoral thesis "Reading the archaeological record through ancient biomolecules: preservation, disease landscapes, and human-microbe interactions in the past".
Supervisors:
Christiana Lyn Scheib, University of Cambridge, UK
Professor Kristiina Tambets, University of Tartu
Antonio de Dios Martinez, University of Tartu
Oponent:
Associate Professor Camilla Speller, University of British Columbia, Canada
Summary
Archaeological remains are often studied as traces of people: their bones, teeth, objects, and burial places. This thesis looks at our past from another, invisible perspective: microbes. The DNA and proteins they leave behind can survive for centuries or even millennia in archaeological materials, offering new ways to study health, disease, environments, and human contact with animals.
Using ancient DNA and ancient protein analysis, this work explores how different materials preserve biological information. It shows that not only teeth and bones, but also often overlooked materials such as mineral concretions attached to human remains and sediments stuck to bones, can preserve valuable traces of past life. These materials can contain human, microbial, animal, and environmental signals, sometimes allowing researchers to obtain information while reducing damage to precious archaeological remains.
The thesis also investigates how ancient DNA can help trace ancient infectious diseases even without historical or skeletal evidence of it. In a medieval cemetery in Sint-Truiden, in present-day Belgium, microbial screening revealed evidence of several pathogens, including the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis, even though written sources do not record plague in the city at that time. This shows how molecular evidence can reveal disease events that left little or no historical trace. Another study focuses on prehistoric Europe, where Yersinia pestis was found together with the zoonotic bacterium Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, pointing to complex relationships between humans, animals, and microbes in the past.
Overall, this thesis shows that all the archaeological remains can tell tales. When studied through microbial archaeology, they can preserve hidden biological stories about preservation, infection, environment, and everyday human-microbe interactions. By combining archaeology, ancient DNA, and ancient proteins, this work helps expand the archaeological record beyond what can be seen with the naked eye.
The defence can also be followed via Zoom.
https://ut-ee.zoom.us/j/94291375379?pwd=xTGNSmS9feEZEbIeSxrSUazmAT2Twf.1
Meeting ID: 942 9137 5379
Passcode: 497615
