e-DNA to probe missing remains in Türkiye’s northwest
ÇANAKKALE
Researchers will conduct environmental DNA testing at an 86,000-year-old cave in the northwestern province of Çanakkale this September, aiming to solve the mystery of why no organic remains have been found despite the discovery of 40,000 stone tools.
The İnkaya Cave, nestled in the Bahadırlı village of the local Çan district, yielded zero organic materials during previous excavations. Ankara University Professor İsmail Özer from the Faculty of Language, History and Geography’s Anthropology Department and Paleoanthropology Section called the situation an anomaly.
“We are doing e-DNA, environmental DNA analysis in the field for the first time this year to identify the bacteria consuming the organic material,” he said. Experts from the university’s genetic evolution laboratory will collect soil samples to determine the region’s paleoecological structure.
