Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Bara Huber

Frido Welker @fridowelker.bsky.social · 23h

I'm hiring!⭐ As part of the DFF Sapere Aude-funded project MiddleEarth, I am looking for 1 postdoctoral researcher and 1 research assistant.

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Nicole Boivin @nicoleboivin.bsky.social · 3d

Interested in the kinds of information archaeologists can gain from metabolic profiling? Check out this wonderful new book and our chapter on the ancient oasis of Tayma.

This work builds on our 2022 paper on reconstructing ancient scents in Nature Human Behaviour: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Book cover for Scents of Arabia: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Olfactory Worlds

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you, Eslem 🫶

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · 3d

Available here: www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress...

Archaeopress

Archaeopress Publications

www.archaeopress.com

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · 3d

🌿✨ New Book Out! ✨🌿
Our new volume #Scents_of_Arabia: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Olfactory Worlds is now published with
@archaeopress.bsky.social

Thank you to all contributors who made this book possible!
@dai-weltweit.bsky.social
🏺🧪👩‍🔬👃

#PastScents #Heritage #Archaeology

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · 3d

Available here: www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress...

Archaeopress

Archaeopress Publications

www.archaeopress.com

Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · 12d

Congrats!! Well done Gopesh and team 🥳

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · Aug 25

So looking forward to ISBA11!! See you in Turin 💚

ISBA11 Turin @isba11.bsky.social · Aug 6

It's not too late to spend your August at the conference of the summer! Registration for ISBA11 is open until August 17th! (no puffer jacket needed)

#ISBA11 #biomoleculararchaeology #Archaeology #ISBAconference #archaeologicalconference

@isbarchaeology.bsky.social @archaeobiomics.bsky.social

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Carli Peters @carlipeters.bsky.social · Jun 3

Our latest paper is out now in Frontiers in Mammal Science: www.frontiersin.org/journals/mam...

We characterized ZooMS peptide markers for three extinct Australian megafauna species 🦴🧪

Frontiers | Collagen peptide markers for three extinct Australian megafauna species

Recent advancements in biomolecular archaeology, such as stable isotope and ancient DNA research, have expanded our understanding of megafauna extinction pro...

www.frontiersin.org

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Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · May 29

Metabolic profiling of Iron Age residues from the oasis of Qurayyah reveals the earliest material evidence for the fumigation of the drug plant Peganum harmala, used for medicinal and hygienic purposes, according to a paper in Communications Biology. go.nature.com/3HhFV6D 🏺 🧪

This is figure 2, which shows alkaloids in archeological residues linked to Peganum harmala and its psychoactive and therapeutic properties.

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Communications Biology @commsbio.nature.com · May 27

"Metabolic profiling of Iron Age residues from the oasis of Qurayyah, Northwest Arabia, reveals the earliest material evidence for the fumigation of the drug plant Peganum harmala, used in domestic contexts for medicinal and hygienic purposes.

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Metabolic profiling reveals first evidence of fumigating drug plant Peganum harmala in Iron Age Arabia - Communications Biology

Metabolic profiling of Iron Age residues from the oasis of Qurayyah, Northwest Arabia, reveals the earliest material evidence for the fumigation of the drug plant Peganum harmala, used in domestic con...

www.nature.com

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Jørgen Holm @jholm.bsky.social · May 26

Smoke and Memory: How Iron Age Arabia Burned Plants to Heal and Cleanse
www.anthropology.net/p/smoke-and-...

Smoke and Memory: How Iron Age Arabia Burned Plants to Heal and Cleanse

At a desert oasis in Qurayyah, the scent of tradition lingers 2,700 years later

www.anthropology.net

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · May 23

Same here! I only knew Syrian rue as a stubborn weed until I saw its seeds burned for the first time a few years ago in Iran – such a striking smell.

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · May 23

Nice media coverage about our new study on psychoactive and medicinal plants in the past 🌿🧪
@diepressecom.bsky.social

www.diepresse.com/19717652/sch...

Schon Eisenzeit-Menschen verwendeten psychoaktive Steppenraute

Ein österreichisch-deutsches Forschungsteam analysierte Rückstände auf archäologischen Funden – und wies die früheste Verwendung der Pflanze vor 2700 Jahren auf der Arabischen Halbinsel nach.

www.diepresse.com

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · May 23

Earliest use of psychoactive and medicinal plant ‘harmal’ identified in Iron Age Arabia | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Earliest use of psychoactive and medicinal plant ‘harmal’ identified in Iron Age Arabia

A new study uses metabolic profiling to uncover ancient knowledge systems behind therapeutic and psychoactive plant use in ancient Arabia.

www.eurekalert.org

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · May 23

This was a wonderful collaboration between @univie.ac.at @heasvienna.bsky.social, @climatecerege.bsky.social, @maxplanck.de and the Saudi Heritage Commission.

Many thanks to all co-authors, especially Marta Luciani and @thibaut-d.bsky.social

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · May 23

🧪 New Research Alert! 🧪

Our latest study, published in @commsbio.nature.com uncovers the earliest known evidence of the medicinal and psychoactive plant Peganum harmala (harmal) in ancient Arabia. 🏺
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

#Metabolomics 🧪 #BiomolecularArchaeology #AncientMedicine

Metabolic profiling reveals first evidence of fumigating drug plant Peganum harmala in Iron Age Arabia - Communications Biology

Metabolic profiling of Iron Age residues from the oasis of Qurayyah, Northwest Arabia, reveals the earliest material evidence for the fumigation of the drug plant Peganum harmala, used in domestic con...

www.nature.com

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Michael Petraglia @mdpetraglia.bsky.social · Apr 9

Paper alert, @nature.com. Our study reveals 8 million years of #GreenArabia. We document environmental variability - ranging over the entire course of human evolution. Arabia is a key bridge at the cross-roads of continents. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · Apr 3

🌿✨ I’m so happy to share that I’ve been awarded the #GNAA_Science_Award 2025 for Excellence in Archaeological Science and Archaeometry.

A heartfelt thank you to all my mentors, collaborators, and colleagues along the way ☺️

www.gea.mpg.de/140806/barba...

Barbara Huber Awarded GNAA Science Award 2025 for Excellence in Archaeological Science and Archaeometry

www.gea.mpg.de

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · Mar 26

🌿 Excited to share our new Research Topic:

Biomolecular Insights into Food, Medicine, and Scent in Environmental Archaeology

👇🏼 Check out the full Research Topic here:
www.frontiersin.org/research-top...

@ancientproteins.bsky.social

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Bara Huber @barahuber.bsky.social · Feb 5

Could you please add me as well? Thank you 🙏

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Welker Group @welkergroup.bsky.social · Feb 5

📣 Paper alert! 📣 In this review, available as early view in @paleoanthjourn.bsky.social, we discuss "Paleoproteomic Contributions, and Current Limitations, to Understanding Middle and Late Pleistocene Human Evolution". Thanks to all coauthors! paleoanthropology.org/ojs/index.ph...

Screenshot of the paper title. It's published in the special issue "Special Issue: What’s in a Name? Late Middle and Early Late Pleistocene Hominin Systematics" and the title of the paper is "Paleoproteomic Contributions, and Current Limitations,
to Understanding Middle and Late Pleistocene Human Evolution".

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Simon Hammann @simonhammann.bsky.social · Feb 5

Very interesting preprint from @matthewcollins.bsky.social @jessiehendy.bsky.social and others on experimental foodcrusts and recovered proteins to identify the ingredients.

It's complicated.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

An unclean slate, discrepancies between food input and recovered protein signal from experimental foodcrusts

Organic residues are a rich source of biomolecular information on ancient diets. In particular, foodcrusts, charred residues on ceramics, are commonly analysed for their lipid content and to a lesser ...

www.biorxiv.org

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Stephan Schiffels @stschiff.bsky.social · Jan 22

Excellent book review on "The trouble with ancient DNA" by my colleague Kathrin Nägele at the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #adna #books #science

The ancestral genome’s tale

Narratives that invoke ancient DNA must be crafted with care, argues an archaeologist

www.science.org

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Matthew Collins @matthewcollins.bsky.social · Dec 23

🧬 Game-changer for ancient bone analysis: AutoZooMS automates species ID using robotics & mass spec! Study at Grotte Mandrin (42-44Ka) ID'd 1200+ samples, revealing new taxa (bears, mammoths) & human remains. Future of archaeology = robots doing the heavy lifting 🦴🤖 #archaeology #ZooMS

A technical laboratory workflow diagram divided into "Protein Extraction and Digest" and "MALDI spotting and analysis" sections. Left section: Bones are placed in 48-well MTP plates, treated with 0.95mL 0.6M HCL, transferred to 96-well filter plates (10kDa/30kDa MWCO), followed by 3x centrifugation and ABC buffer addition. Right section: Samples transfer to 96-well MT plates, undergo trypsin digestion (0.1-0.2µg per sample) at 37°C, diluted with matrix solution, spotted onto 384 MALDI plate. Process concludes with a mass spectrometry spectrum showing protein peaks and bioinformatics analysis. Each step marked with gear icons requires manual intervention for centrifuge/incubator transfers. The workflow enables processing >1000 samples within 24 hours using Hamilton Microlab STAR system with 8-channel and 96-channel Multi-Probe-Head capabilities.

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