Coprolites, or semi-fossilised faecal matter, are archives of ancient lifestyles.
They contain a suite of lipid biomolecules (biomarkers) and are an invaluable source of palaeobiological and palaeoecological information. The identification of faecal matter through the presence of highly-specific lipid biomarkers (5β-stanols and bile acids) can be used to identify and characterise faecal input from a range of different sources and have much potential as a complementary or alternative technique to aDNA analysis.
A lipid biomarker approach has been applied to coprolites from the Paisley Caves, Oregon, with the aim of identifying the nature and timing of the earliest occupation of North America. The Paisley Caves are central to the debate of the question of how, when and why people first settled the Americas. Simultaneous aDNA analysis and radiocarbon dating of material contained within coprolites from the Paisley Caves has provided some of the earliest evidence for human occupation in North America pushing back human arrival one thousand years earlier than the more widely accepted arrival date.
They contain a suite of lipid biomolecules (biomarkers) and are an invaluable source of palaeobiological and palaeoecological information. The identification of faecal matter through the presence of highly-specific lipid biomarkers (5β-stanols and bile acids) can be used to identify and characterise faecal input from a range of different sources and have much potential as a complementary or alternative technique to aDNA analysis.
A lipid biomarker approach has been applied to coprolites from the Paisley Caves, Oregon, with the aim of identifying the nature and timing of the earliest occupation of North America. The Paisley Caves are central to the debate of the question of how, when and why people first settled the Americas. Simultaneous aDNA analysis and radiocarbon dating of material contained within coprolites from the Paisley Caves has provided some of the earliest evidence for human occupation in North America pushing back human arrival one thousand years earlier than the more widely accepted arrival date.
