Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 10 July 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5937, p. 148
DOI: 10.1126/science.1167531
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Technical Comments

Comment on "DNA from Pre-Clovis Human Coprolites in Oregon, North America"

Paul Goldberg,1,2,* Francesco Berna,1,3 Richard I. Macphail1,4

Gilbert et al. (Reports, 9 May 2008, p. 786) presented DNA analysis of coprolites recovered from an Oregon cave as evidence for a human presence in North America before the Clovis culture. Results of our micromorphological and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses of one of the reported coprolites are difficult to reconcile with the DNA results identifying the coprolite as human.

1 Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
2 Zentrum für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, Universität Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
3 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra "Ardito Desio," Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milano, Italy.
4 Institute of Archaeology, University College London, Gordon Square, London WC1 0PY, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: paulberg{at}bu.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Response to Comment by Goldberg et al. on "DNA from Pre-Clovis Human Coprolites in Oregon, North America".
M. Rasmussen, L. S. Cummings, M. T. P. Gilbert, V. Bryant, C. Smith, D. L. Jenkins, and E. Willerslev (2009)
Science 325, 148
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)