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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2002-02 > 1014796216
From: "Allan S. Gleason" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] DNA recovered from old Nevada mining town artifacts
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 00:50:20 -0700
References: <174.41d6e61.29ab92cb@aol.com>
Finally got around to reading the article. Obviously, it was written by a young
person who thinks that 125 years ago was a long time ago, i.e. ancient history!
Mark Twain (Sam C.) was there at about that time working for the local newspaper and
wrote all sorts of satirical stuff about Virginia City - even how he and some
friends hiked up to Lake Tahoe and inadvertently started a forest fire. He also
invested in some of the mines or claimed he did - and usually lost his shirt.
Mining was a rough business and certainly many minors were injured. The only pain
killers at that time were laudinum and morphine < http://opioids.com/morphine/
> I doubt that those who recreated on drugs had access to needles. Most of them
at that time smoked opium in Chinese pipes. You certainly never threw away a needle
or a syringe - they were too valuable! You resharpened them over and over again
even when I was in the military in the 1950's we sterilized and resharpened
needles. There was no such thing as a throw-away needle! I'm sure that it was a
doctor's office where the needles were found.
Virginia City in those days was not a staid city in Virginia with its segregation
and high society. It was a rough and tumble mining camp where people from all over
the world came to get rich - and most didn't. There were many blacks in the west by
that time so finding "black" DNA on a needle shouldn't be very surprising.
You're right, Ann. Determining sex isn't that easy. I wonder if that wasn't just a
little poetic license so the reporter could mention prostitution and related
diseases - makes the story more interesting. Don't you think that only mtDNA would
have survived the time?
Allan
Also in the post Civil War era
wrote:
> This is believed to be the first time DNA has been recovered from historical
> artifacts -- in this case, a discarded syringe and six needles. According to
> the article, they were able to establish that there were at least four
> people, and at least one of African descent. I am guessing that mtDNA was
> analyzed for these conclusions.
>
> The article also mentions in passing that DNA can be used to establish
> gender. This would require nuclear DNA, probably testing the amelogenin gene
> which is found on the X and Y chromosomes. The gene on Y chromsomes is longer.
>
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&;
> u=/ap/20020225/ap_on_re_us/old_west_dna_1
>
> ==============================
> To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to:
> http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237
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