Study of domestication via human dental calculus in the Early Middle Ages

The present study will show the possibility of examination domestication via human bacterial oral flora. In the historical populations is oral microbiome preserved by human dental calculus. Samples came from the Great Moravian graveyard dated back to the 9th–10th century located in ZnojmoHradistě (in the south of the Czech Republic). Since a huge amount of bacterial species in dental calculus, the metagenomic approach was suitable to use. Three variable regions of the 16S rRNA gene were sequenced. Results brought information regarding human oral bacterial composition as well as specific animal oral bacterial species. This makes it possible to observe the close relationship between human and animal in the Early Middle Ages. This is also supported by archaeological records.