At the dawn of the Neolithic era, a young woman discarded a lump of ancient chewing gum made from birch tar into a shallow, brackish lagoon that drew fishers to the coast of southern Denmark. She lived near the lagoon, itself protected from the open sea by shifting sand barriers, about 5,600 years ago, according to carbon dating of the birch tar. We didn’t expect to get the whole genome.”The 2cm-long lump of ancient gum was discovered during archaeological excavations at Syltholm on Lolland Island, before construction work on the Fehmarn tunnel to connect Denmark to Germany. It is impossible to know her age, but given that children seemed to chew birch tar, the scientists suspect she was young. “As for human DNA, these mastics may present an alternative source for DNA from where there are limited amounts of preserved bones.

Source: The Guardian December 17, 2019 16:01 UTC