Using new tools on old weapons
A Queensland scientist's use of ancient DNA to reveal what our prehistoric ancestors used stone weapons and tools for has boosted techniques available to modern archaeologists.
Dr Tom Loy of the University of Queensland pioneered this new study of molecular archaeology and UQ is now Australia's only world-class centre for this research, and one of the few in the world.
He began investigating this method of determining exactly what ancient stone artefacts were used for 20 years ago.
The clue to his breakthrough came when Dr Loy, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the School of Social Science, discovered that he couldn't reproduce the polish found on many old stone artefacts by mechanical means.
He examined some through intense magnification and determined that the tiny fissures and cracks in the stone contained minute particles of blood, pollen, hairs, starch and feathers.
The discovery of a way to speed up the analysis of ancient DNA enabled his research to be carried even further - for example, to determine whether the blood belonged to a bird, a fish or an animal.
Dr Loy's work attracted international attention and controversy - so much so that he's the only scientist named in both the book and the movie of Jurassic Park.
Some scientists doubted that ancient DNA and associated molecules could be identified in stone objects more than about 12,000 years old, the date of the oldest North American artefacts.
That played a big part in Dr Loy's decision to move to Australia to teach in 1987, because our stone tools and weapons date back 60,000 years.
By the time he moved to the University of Queensland in 1995, he'd shown that his technique was successful when applied to these much older implements.
Later this year Dr Loy will publish the results of his studies of two million year old artefacts from South Africa.
"We've identified blood, starch, hairs and pollen," he said. "We've even managed, we think, to identify a species of edible plant."
Dr Loy, born in California but now an Australian citizen, is happily settled in the Smart State.
"This is a smart place in which to work, because science is so strong at UQ," he said.
"This course of study has become very popular. I've got 15 PhD students and eight honours students and I'm sure they'll all get jobs. Our first student to complete a PhD immediately obtained a research job in Canada."
Dr Loy and his team are now looking at commercial applications of their techniques.
The team has been able to damage modern DNA in its efforts to determine whether damaged ancient DNA can be repaired.
"Now we can use modern DNA for training purposes and so conserve the really valuable ancient material, " he said.
"We are working to establish an international standard for determining the condition of ancient DNA."
Last reviewed 19 January 2006