Early medieval cattle remains from a Scandinavian settlement in Dublin: genetic analysis and comparison with extant breeds

Abstract

reaction (PCR) looks set to provide another, possibly chronological, layer of information concerning the biological history of domesticated cattle. A recent study by J. F. Bailey and her colleagues demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining mtDNA sequence information from cattle specimens ranging in age from 12 000 to 500 BP (Bailey et al. 1996). Useful archaeological information was apparent in this data, including the observation that the wild European aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) may have had divergent mtDNA haplotypes compared with modern European populations. In many respects, cattle archaeological remains provide ideal subject material for studies of biomolecular archaeology. Cattle are relatively big animals with correspondingly large bones that may enhance the survival of DNA. An extensive database of cattle mtDNA control region sequences (the most informative segment of the mtDNA molecule) has become available and this provides an invaluable framework within which genetic information from ancient cattle can be assessed. Artiodactyls are su¤ciently divergent from primates such that with judicious choice of PCR primers, it should be possible to avoid the pitfall of contamination from extraneous human DNA ö a major problem for researchers working with human remains (Stoneking 1995; Lindahl 1997). Finally, the time period of interest (10 000 BP to the present) is comfortably within the accepted limits for the survival of DNA in ancient biological material (Poinar et al. 1996; Austin et al. 1997a).