Far away from home? Ancient DNA shows the presence of bicolored shrew (Crocidura leucodon) in Bronze Age Denmark

TY - JOUR

T1 - Far away from home?

T2 - Ancient DNA shows the presence of bicolored shrew (Crocidura leucodon) in Bronze Age Denmark

AU - Mousavi-Derazmahalleh, Mahsa

AU - Haue, Niels

AU - Kanstrup, Marie

AU - Laursen, Jørgen T

AU - Lukehurst, Sherralee S

AU - Kveiborg, Jacob

AU - Allentoft, Morten E

PY - 2024/7

Y1 - 2024/7

N2 - An excavation of an Early Iron Age village near Aalborg in Denmark uncovered the jaws and skull fragments from a small mammal that were morphologically identified to the genus Crocidura (white-toothed shrews). Three Crocidura species are known from prehistoric continental Europe but none of them are distributed in Scandinavia, which is why this surprising finding warranted further analyses. The bone was radiocarbon-dated to 2840-2750 calibrated years before present (cal. BP), corresponding to the Late Bronze Age and hence earlier than the Iron Age archeological context in which it was found. Using highly optimized ancient DNA protocols, we extracted DNA from one tooth and shotgun-sequenced the sample to reconstruct a near-complete mitochondrial reference genome (17,317 bp, 32.6× coverage). Phylogenetic analyses determined this specimen as a bicolored shrew (Crocidura leucodon) but with a phylogenetic position basal to the clade of known sequences from this species. The confirmation of Crocidura presence in Denmark by the Late Bronze Age sheds new light on the prehistoric natural history of Scandinavia. We discuss the implications of this finding from both zoo-archeological and ecological perspectives. Furthermore, the mitochondrial genome reconstructed in this study offers a valuable resource for future research exploring the genetic makeup and evolutionary history of Eurasian shrew populations.

AB - An excavation of an Early Iron Age village near Aalborg in Denmark uncovered the jaws and skull fragments from a small mammal that were morphologically identified to the genus Crocidura (white-toothed shrews). Three Crocidura species are known from prehistoric continental Europe but none of them are distributed in Scandinavia, which is why this surprising finding warranted further analyses. The bone was radiocarbon-dated to 2840-2750 calibrated years before present (cal. BP), corresponding to the Late Bronze Age and hence earlier than the Iron Age archeological context in which it was found. Using highly optimized ancient DNA protocols, we extracted DNA from one tooth and shotgun-sequenced the sample to reconstruct a near-complete mitochondrial reference genome (17,317 bp, 32.6× coverage). Phylogenetic analyses determined this specimen as a bicolored shrew (Crocidura leucodon) but with a phylogenetic position basal to the clade of known sequences from this species. The confirmation of Crocidura presence in Denmark by the Late Bronze Age sheds new light on the prehistoric natural history of Scandinavia. We discuss the implications of this finding from both zoo-archeological and ecological perspectives. Furthermore, the mitochondrial genome reconstructed in this study offers a valuable resource for future research exploring the genetic makeup and evolutionary history of Eurasian shrew populations.

KW - Bronzealder

KW - Faunahistorie

KW - Pattedyr

KW - Zooarkæologi

KW - aDNA

KW - markspidsmus

KW - bicolored shrew

KW - Bronze Age Denmark

KW - mitochondrial genome

KW - white-toothed shrews

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85197380188&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/ece3.11680

DO - 10.1002/ece3.11680

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38957694

SN - 2045-7758

VL - 14

JO - Ecology and Evolution

JF - Ecology and Evolution

IS - 7

M1 - e11680

ER -