Comment on "DNA from Pre-Clovis Human Coprolites in Oregon, North America"
Paul Goldberg1,2,*,
Francesco Berna1,3 and
Richard I. Macphail1,4
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.
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Fig. 1. Thin-section scan (lower left) and photomicrographs of the 2007 subsample of coprolite specimen 1374-5/5D-31-2 from Paisley Cave, Oregon; detailed views of different areas (rectangles) illustrate the fibrous nature of the vegetal material within the coprolite and are indicative of a herbivore origin. Contrast these views with modern camel dung and fossil hyena coprolite in fig. S4.
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Fig. 2. Representative FTIR pattern of the 2007 subsample of coprolite specimen 1374-5/5D-31-2, which shows absorption characteristic of silicates such as feldspars, opal, quartz, and clay minerals at 465, 542, 574, 636, 695, 780, 790, 1040, and 1095 cm–1 and organic matter at 1320 and 1650 cm–1 (O-H stretching) and at 2920 and 2850 cm–1 (C-H stretching).
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