As an added bonus to the paper being published, I was interviewed about it for Science magazine! Read all about what we can learn from DNA and biomarkers from birch tar, which I so eloquently described as a “super cool sample type” 😅🧬

Birch bark tar, used as chewing gum and glue, provides a rare window into life 6000 years ago. https://scim.ag/4qh8yTI

#ProceedingsB in @science.org | Ancient DNA and biomarkers from artefacts: insights into technology and cultural practices in Neolithic Europe: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Bestill my birch-tar-beating heart! 😍 The genetic sex ID analysis backs up other research indicating that using (and likely making) birch tar was something women & men & children did, so that sticky-stained and strongly-scented fingers were probably quite normal in such communities... #Matriarcha 🏺

How cool is #RealArchaeology? 🏺 Well, it's "we can track down oral human & environmental #DNA from #Neolithic birch #tar which had been chewed thousands of years ago, telling us about Stone Age diet & what this tar was used for" cool. 🙌 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Very excited that the first chapter of my PhD is now published! 🧬 We analysed ancient DNA and biomarkers directly from artefacts, showing how birch tar provides insights into past societies, technology, resources, and health. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Ancient DNA from Neolithic chewing gum reveals how Europe’s first farmers lived, worked, and ate. Birch tar preserves the intimacy of their daily lives in astonishing molecular detail. #Archaeology #Neolithic #AncientDNA #Anthropology www.anthropology.net/p/the-resin-...

Had a great time at my first #SMBE2025 in Beijing. Really enjoyed meeting (aDNA) scientists from all over the world, and talking about ancient mastics of course! 🌏🧬