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Short description of the Project
Levänluhta, in South-West Finland, is one of the longest studied archaeological sites in Finland. Together with the nearby Käldamäki site, it is among the most intriguing Iron Age mysteries in Northern Europe. Both sites comprise unburnt human and animal remains,
fragmented and scattered within a wetland, starkly contrasting with the burial heritage of its time. Both sites yearn for modern laboratory analysis. Recent ancient DNA (aDNA) studies suggested a relatedness between the Levänluhta people and the present-day
Sámi. However, the interpretation relied on a study of merely four individuals out of the ~100 human individuals awaiting for molecular analysis in the wetlands. So far, the other marshy graveyard, Käldamäki, has undergone no aDNA research at all. In this
project, we aim not only to conceive the origin of the Levänluhta and Käldamäki peoples, but also to investigate their subsistence and disease (infections) status by analyzing their stable isotopes, and virus bio-portfolio, respectively. In addition, the time-period
of the site used as water burial is revisited with radiocarbon dating.
www.helsinki.fi/en/news/language-culture/breakthrough-in-the-discovery-of-dna-in-ancient-bones-buried-in-water
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