Scientists of the University of Round in England found that ancient human DNA is contained in a substance that is used by the heads for gluing eggs to the hair. This is reported in the article published in the Molecular Biology and Evolution magazine.
Researchers allocated a genetic material from the “cement” of females of lice on the hair of mummified remains of several thousand years. The resulting DNA was characterized by a better preservation than the genetic material obtained by other methods. The analysis made it possible to identify the features of the migration of people in Decolumbovoy South America.
Mummy belonged to people who were 1500-2000 years ago reached the Andes in the province of San Juan in Central Western Argentina. The team also studied the ancient nits on human hair, which were used in Textiles from Chile, and inclination with a mummified head, originating from the ancient people of Jiano from Amazonian Ecuador.
It turned out that the samples of “cement” contain the same DNA concentration as the teeth; Twice a large concentration than bone remains, and four times more than blood preserved inside the lice.