Pachacamac is a major pre-Columbian site located on Peru’s Central Coast. Covering approximately 6 km2, the site was occupied for over a thousand years before the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. In 2012, the Ychsma Project excavated a Late Intermediate Period (900 to 1470 AD) multiple tomb (Cx4) made of two funerary chambers covered by a vegetal roof, containing 89 deceased together with numerous grave goods. Over 60% of the individuals are subadults whose sex cannot be assigned based on osteological observations. Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis can be useful for sex determination, general mitochondrial lineage (haplogroup) and disease diagnosis. However, non-endogenous DNA contamination of archaeological material is a recurrent problematic, since excavation, handling and storage usually don't fit with the precautions recommended for ancient DNA analysis. Nevertheless, we obtained aDNA results from several human individuals recovered from the Cx4 context. Our objectives are to complete the demographic information and to characterize the health status of the population buried in this pilgrimage site dedicated to the eponymous healing god. Despite significant human modern contamination and low amounts of endogenous ancient DNA, our results show that sex could be assigned genetically in >80% of the cases, including subadults. Sex identification of infants, children and adolescents is crucial to fully understand this complex context and its funerary recruitment, and to perform an integrated and holistic analysis of all associated data. The genetic data were also used to estimate the presence of several pathogens using the KrakenUniq taxonomical classification tool.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
A BioBlitz is a rapid and intensive survey of a specific geographic area that brings together experts and often lay participants to assess biodiversity, typically of macrobiota that are easily observed and identifiable on-site. This concept has become popular across taxonomic fields, attracting interest globally to increase knowledge of local biodiversity. Inspired by the success of the approach, we undertook a ‘ParasiteBlitz’ at an unexplored locality (Stono Preserve, Charleston, South Carolina, USA) to determine its feasibility for parasites, whose assessment of diversity is largely neglected worldwide. We assembled a team of parasitologists with complementary expertise. Over 12 days in April 2023, we intensively screened fishes and aquatic invertebrates for parasites, and sampled sediment and water for environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding from four aquatic habitats: wetland, freshwater pond, brackish impoundment, and tidal creek. We incorporated assistance from non-parasitologists and students. Details on methodologies and results are provided in individual papers in this Special IssueCollection. Traditional methods revealed the presence of ca. 100 species of seven major metazoan parasite taxa and the eDNA survey yielded over 1,100 amplicon sequence variants identified as parasites, most with sequences unmatched in GenBank, and resulting in only a few species identified as named species in the one-year post-Blitz timeframe we imposed upon ourselves for identification. Limitations and challenges of the ParasiteBlitz are discussed, and our results support that this approach can be effective for rapid discovery of the dimensions of parasite assemblages in an understudied environment and contribute to parasitology knowledge.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
