Bulk-bone ancient metagenomics reveals the transport of South Asian fish across the Himalayas in the 8th century CE

IF 2.6 1区地球科学 Q1 ANTHROPOLOGY

Journal of Archaeological Science Pub Date : 2025-02-09 DOI:10.1016/j.jas.2025.106157

Qing Wang , Jingkun Ran , Zhengquan Gu , Shungang Chen , Jianglong Guo , Yuanyang Cai , Yu Gao , Shalini Sharma , Jishuai Yang , Yongco , Yan Tong , Yucheng Wang , Xiaoyan Yang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Fish was an important component of (pre)historical consumption products. The study of (pre)historical fish products has been impeded by the morphological identifications in zooarchaeological research, based on poorly preserved fish bones. In this study, we applied the Bulk Bone Shotgun Metagenomic (BBSM) approach to unidentifiable bone fragments excavated from the Kongsangqiao site (dated to 652–768 CE) located on the southern slope of the central Himalayas. Among other species, the low-land South Asian fish species Rohu (Labeo rohita) was identified, marking the first discovery of a South Asian fish species on the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau. This new evidence suggests that fish may have been carried by travelers departing from South Asia to provide necessary nutritional sustenance and energy for their long-distance journeys, or was exported from the low-land South Asian plain to the Tibetan Plateau along the ancient Tubo-Nepal Road. The results also show the great potential of ancient DNA analysis on unidentifiable bone fragments in enhancing our understanding of the history of fish utilization.

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来源期刊

Journal of Archaeological Science 地学-地球科学综合

CiteScore

6.10

自引率

7.10%

发文量

112

审稿时长

49 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Archaeological Science is aimed at archaeologists and scientists with particular interests in advancing the development and application of scientific techniques and methodologies to all areas of archaeology. This established monthly journal publishes focus articles, original research papers and major review articles, of wide archaeological significance. The journal provides an international forum for archaeologists and scientists from widely different scientific backgrounds who share a common interest in developing and applying scientific methods to inform major debates through improving the quality and reliability of scientific information derived from archaeological research.