Review of the article, ‘Amelogenin peptide analyses reveal female leadership in Copper Age Iberia (c. 2900–2650 BC)’
Review of the article, ‘Amelogenin peptide analyses reveal female leadership in Copper Age Iberia (c. 2900–2650 BC)’
Introduction
In this post, a review will be attempted of the article, ‘Amelogenin peptide analyses reveal female leadership in Copper Age Iberia (c. 2900–2650 BC)’.
According to that article, and as the title holds, by using amelogenin peptide analyses, scientists have managed to reveal the presence of elements of female leadership in Copper Age Iberia.
In fact, they managed to reveal the presence of a prominent female figure dating back to that age, who was wrongly believed to be a male figure, and by using amelogenin markers for sex determination, they showed that the original assumption about the figure’s sex was wrong.
Review
Overall, the researchers who were involved in writing and publishing the article in question have followed research procedures, methods, and evidence that seem to be scientifically sound, thus leading to equal sound results.
Therefore, it looks like, in Copper Age Iberia (c. 2900-2650 BC), a leading female figure lived indeed in that area, which serves as evidence of the presence of female leadership during that period.
However, there could be some questions to be raised, and which need to be addressed, in order to be able to further solidify the results.
First of all, although amelogenin is highly valuable in serving as a marker to determine sex in humans, this method is not 100% accurate.
There are various factors that affect its accuracy, and the results obtained in different populations are characterized by big discrepancies.
According to research conducted by Hirak R. Dash, Neha Rawat & Surajit Das, the “Presence of PCR inhibitors, degradation in the DNA samples and presence of mixed DNA also contribute to the discrepancy in results obtained by amelogenin analysis”.
In this case, it could be a “… degradation in the DNA samples…” that could be responsible for discrepancy in results obtained.
According to information provided on the official website of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., various reasons can cause DNA degradation, with one of these reasons being associated with the use of very old DNA samples.
When using DNA that dates as back as 2,900-2,650 BC, it would be well-justified to assume that such a DNA sample has not been perfectly preserved, and has therefore degraded with time.
Thus, a DNA sample that has degraded with time would be characterized by big discrepancies in results obtained through amelogenin peptide analysis.
This could be true when attempting to determine the sex of the Iberian figure.
In this case, the use of amelogenin alone could not suffice, and would fail to produce reliable results.
Again, Hirak, R. Dash, Neha Rawat & Surajit Das argue that additional methods and markers should be used, such as, “...STS, SRY, TSPY, DXYS156...”, to name a few, on top of the amelogenin method, in order to be able to obtain more reliable results, and draw safer conclusions.
Conclusion
The researchers who wrote the article in question did not use any additional method, technique, or marker other than amelogenin peptide analyses.
However, due to the very old age of the DNA sample used, and its subsequent degradation, these analyses should have been combined with alternative sex determination methods, as suggested by other researchers.
Therefore, it can be argued that the results obtained and conclusions drawn in that article could not be reliable as expected.
The old age and subsequent degradation of the DNA sample make it difficult to accurately and safely conclude the sex of the figure that the DNA belongs to.
According to the above discussion, using amelogenin peptide analyses alone cannot provide reliable results in this case, unless these analyses are supplemented by the use and application of additional alternative techniques and markers.
Sources and further reading:
Amelogenin peptide analyses reveal female leadership in Copper Age Iberia (c. 2900–2650 BC)
Alternatives to amelogenin markers for sex determination in humans and their forensic relevance
Archaeology: The power of the Copper Age 'Ivory Lady' revealed
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thepavsalford
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