Ancient bone to shed light on Anatolian history

 
May/11/2016. Researchers at Boston University have detected DNA samples in a 5,000-year-old temporal bone discovered during excavations at İzmir’s Yeşilova mound, one of the oldest excavation areas in the history of Anatolia.

The DNA sample is expected to provide important clues related to Anatolian history.

Excavations head Professor Zafer Derin said the Yeşilova mound excavations, which are backed by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, Ege University, the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and Bornova Municipality, provided new information to the fields of archaeology, science and education.

Derin said the excavations first revealed that the history of İzmir dated back to 8,500 years ago, allowing researchers to access important data on the life of the early inhabitants around İzmir and the Aegean by examining their tools.

Last year the team found a temporal bone piece from a 5,000 year-old skeleton in the region, which they sent to Boston University in the U.S., where examinations have been carried out on the bone’s DNA sample.

“DNA analysis was made on this 5,000-year-old temporal bone that we found last year. They used a method that is used only in four places in the world. The basic goal was to detect the DNA, which they managed to do. This will help us find things like the eye color, height, disease and hair color of a human who lived 5,000 years ago. We will learn if this human was European or Anatolian,” Derin stated. [...] hurriyetdailynews.com / Link 2